periapsis

Noun

periapsis (plural periapsides or periapsises or periapses)

1. The point of a body's (elliptical) orbit in a 2-body gravitational system such that the distance between the two bodies (measured from their respective centres of mass) is at its minimum.
   • Figure 5-19. Sun-Venus-Orbiter geometry illustrates how the periapsis moves around the planet during the Venusian sidereal year to sample day and night hemispheres. Because the planet rotates in a retrograde direction, it takes more than one Venusian sidereal year for periapsis to move over all...1983, Richard O. Fimmel, Laurence Colin, Eric Burgess, Pioneer Venus, NASA SP-461, page 109
   • We don't always want to burn near periapsis. Suppose we want to change the height at periapsis. The most efficient place to change the radius of periapsis is at apoapsis. Consider applying #92;Deltav at some other point in the orbit. In this case both periapsis and apoapsis will change. If we apply...2001, D. A. Vallado, Fundamentals of Astrodynamics and Applications, Springer, page 325
2. The minimum distance between the two bodies in such a system.