Okuzeka
Astronomy & Space vocabulary · Orbits & Gravity

Apogee

Meaning in astronomy & space, with examples

/ˈæpədʒiː/nounAdvanced term

In astronomy & space, apogee means: The point in an orbit around Earth where a satellite or the Moon is farthest from Earth. The closest point is called the perigee.

In Turkish: yeröte, apoje

How it is used

Used in orbital mechanics and satellite operations; engines are often fired at apogee to raise or circularise an orbit. For orbits around the Sun the matching words are aphelion and perihelion. A full Moon near perigee is popularly called a 'supermoon'.

Example sentences

  1. The satellite will fire its engine at apogee to circularise its orbit.

  2. At apogee the Moon looks slightly smaller than at perigee.

Common collocations

  • apogee and perigee
  • apogee burn
  • apogee altitude
  • raise the apogee
  • orbitThe curved path that an object such as a planet, moon or satellite follows around another object because of gravity. As a verb, it means to move along this path.
  • Kepler's lawsThree rules published by Johannes Kepler in the early 1600s: planets move in ellipses, they move faster when closer to the Sun, and orbit size is linked to orbital period.
  • geostationary orbitA circular orbit about 35,786 km above the equator in which a satellite takes one day to circle Earth, so it seems to stay fixed over the same spot.
  • moonA natural object that orbits a planet or a dwarf planet. Written as 'the Moon', it means Earth's only natural satellite.

More terms: Orbits & Gravity

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: