Molniya orbit
Molniya orbit noun: a highly elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.74, inclination of 63.4 degrees, an argument of perigee of −90 degrees, and an orbital period of half a sidereal day, around the Earth.
Noun
Molniya orbit (plural Molniya orbits)
- A highly elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.74, inclination of 63.4 degrees, an argument of perigee of −90 degrees, and an orbital period of half a sidereal day, around the Earth.
- By analogy, the equivalent orbit for the southern hemisphere, with the argument of perigee changed to +90 degrees.
- Both the northern and southern hemisphere orbits for the Earth.
- By analogy, equivalent orbits for other bodies, which provide low apparent motion across the dome of the sky at apoapsis, allowing long duration communications/observation with low tracking rates at polar latitudes.
- The orbits around Earth and other bodies with these qualities.
Forms of Molniya orbit
| plural | Molniya orbits |
|---|
Origin of Molniya orbit
From Russian мо́лния (mólnija, “lightning”) + orbit. The Russian word was used as the name for a series of Soviet/Russian communications satellites, and the orbits which they were placed in.
Questions about Molniya orbit
- What does Molniya orbit mean?
- Molniya orbit means a highly elliptical orbit with an eccentricity of 0.74, inclination of 63.4 degrees, an argument of perigee of −90 degrees, and an orbital period of half a sidereal day, around the Earth.
- What part of speech is Molniya orbit?
- Molniya orbit is a noun.
- What is the plural of Molniya orbit?
- The plural of Molniya orbit is Molniya orbits.
Words near Molniya orbit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Molniya orbit (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “Molniya orbit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/molniya_orbit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.