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Roche limit

Roche limit noun: the closest a satellite can approach its parent body before the gravitational forces holding it together are overwhelmed by tidal forces pulling it apart.

Noun

Roche limit (plural Roche limits)

  1. The closest a satellite can approach its parent body before the gravitational forces holding it together are overwhelmed by tidal forces pulling it apart.
    • It might be argued, therefore, that Jupiter is so massive and its gravitational field so intense that it swept out the matter within its Roche limit very effectively.1979, Isaac Asimov, The Road to Infinity, Doubleday, page 145
    • The prelunar mass must first be moved outside the Roche limit if accumulation is to occur.1986, William K. Hartmann, Roger J. Phillips, G. Jeffrey Taylor, editors, Origin of the Moon, Lunar and Planetary Institute, page 91
    Synonyms:
    Roche radius

Synonyms of Roche limit

Forms of Roche limit

pluralRoche limits

Origin of Roche limit

Named after French astronomer Édouard Roche, who first calculated the limit in 1848.

Questions about Roche limit

What does Roche limit mean?
Roche limit means the closest a satellite can approach its parent body before the gravitational forces holding it together are overwhelmed by tidal forces pulling it apart.
What part of speech is Roche limit?
Roche limit is a noun.
What is the plural of Roche limit?
The plural of Roche limit is Roche limits.

Words near Roche limit in the dictionary

  1. Rocha
  2. rochambeau
  3. Rochdale
  4. Rochdale principles
  5. roche
  6. Roche limit
  7. Roche limits
  8. Roche lobe
  9. Roche lobes
  10. roche moutonnée
  11. Roche radii

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Roche limit (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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