perigee

Noun

perigee (plural perigees)

1. The point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is closest to the Earth: the periapsis of an Earth orbiter.
   • As the moon wheels around Earth every 28 days and shows us a progressively greater and then stingier slice of its sun-lightened face, the distance between the moon and Earth changes, too. At the nearest point along its egg-shaped orbit, its perigee, the moon may be 26,000 miles closer to us than it...2014 September 7, Natalie Angier, “The Moon comes around again [print version: Revisiting a moon that still has secrets to reveal: Supermoon revives interest in its violent origins and hidden face...
2. (broadly) The point, in an orbit about any planet, that is closest to the planet: the periapsis of any satellite.
   • Conjunctions of I and II [Io and Europa] occur when they are near perigee and apogee respectively; conjunctions of II and III [Europa and Ganymede] occur when II [Europa] is near perigee.1995, John H. Rogers, The Giant Planet Jupiter, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 335
   • The resolution of the images obtained by this American probe [Messenger] will depend on its altitude [above Mercury] at any one time: about ten meters at perigee (200km altitude), but only one 1 km at apogee (15000km).2002, Serge Brunier, Solar System Voyage, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 36
3. (possibly archaic outside astrology) The point, in any trajectory of an object in space, where it is closest to the Earth.