perihelion
pronunciation
How to pronounce perihelion in British English:
UK [ˌperɪ'hi:lɪən]
How to pronounce perihelion in American English:
US [ˌperɪ'hilɪrn]
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- Noun:
- periapsis in solar orbit; the point in the orbit of a planet or comet where it is nearest to the sun
Word Origin
- perihelion (n.)
- "point at which a celestial body is nearest the Sun," 1680s, coined in Modern Latin (perihelium) by Kepler (1596) from Latinizations of Greek peri "near" (see peri-) + helios "sun" (see sol). Subsequently re-Greeked.
Example
- 1. How much does the direction of perihelion change each orbit ?
- 2. According to marsden 's calculations , this comet reaches its closest point to the sun ( perihelion ) on march 18th .
- 3. Although predicting the brightness of comets with any degree of accuracy is very difficult , hale-bopp met or exceeded most predictions when it passed perihelion on april 1 , 1997 . The comet was dubbed the great comet of 1997 .