Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
orbital element
Directory
References
Images
orbital elements orienting the ellipse
Discover
Currency. Money. Cash. Dollars. Bills. Pile of ten, twenty, fifty, and hundred dollar bills.
6 Questions About the History of Money and Banking Answered
Candles Burning On Table In Church
What Is the Most Widely Practiced Religion in the World?
illustration of the walking titanosaurus, Patagotitan mayorum
Titanosaurs: 8 of the World's Biggest Dinosaurs
Shah Jahan. Taj Mahal. Mughal architecture. Emperor Shah Jahan fifth Mughal Emperor (reigned 1628-1658) India, Himachal Pradesh, Basohli or Jammu and Kashmir, Mankot, circa 1690 Drawings; Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper (see notes)
6 Important Mughal Emperors
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) standing on rock, side view, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
The Fastest Animals on Earth
Two chicks near an egg with a white background (poultry, chick, chickens, birds).
What Do Eggs Have to Do with Easter?
Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

orbital element

astronomy
Also known as: orbital parameter

Learn about this topic in these articles:

celestial mechanics

  • geocentric system
    In celestial mechanics: Kepler’s laws of planetary motion

    …most distant point in the orbit A is the aphelion. The term helion refers specifically to the Sun as the primary body about which the planet is orbiting. As the points P and A are also called apses, periapse and apoapse are often used to designate the corresponding points in…

    Read More

description

  • Earth's orbit
    In orbit

    …six geometric properties called its elements; from them the future positions of the planet can be calculated. The elements are (1) the inclination of the orbit plane and (2) the longitude of the ascending node, which fix the orbit plane; (3) the semimajor axis, (4) the eccentricity and (5) the…

    Read More
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information using Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.
aphelion
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Earth's orbit Anomaly A-aphelion; B-perihelion; C-centre of the orbit; E-eccentric anomaly; P-planet; S-Sun; V-true anomaly
Quizzes
The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet
Space Odyssey
Related Questions
Read Next
Solar system illustration. (planets; sun)
Why Are Planets Round?
This close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 7, 2007. This image is centered on Utopia Planitia
Do Hurricanes Happen on Other Planets?
Spiral Galaxy type Sa-Sb or Sa/Sb in the constellation Virgo. The majestic Sombrero Galaxy Messier 104 (M104) or NGC 4594. The team took six pictures of the galaxy, stitched them together to create the final composite image. Photo from May-June 2003
9 Britannica Articles That Explain the Meaning of Life
Solar System with the sun and planets amid stars. Illustration Venus Mercury Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Neptune Uranus space orbit
Understanding Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
Galaxy clusters like Abell 2744 can act as a natural cosmic lens, magnifying light from more distant, background objects through gravity. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect light from the first stars in the universe if they are gravitationally lensed by such clusters. (astronomy, space exploration, galaxies)
How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?
Discover
Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)
7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks
pg 229Nazi parade features a banner proclaiming, "Death to Marxism."The possibility of a peaceful Germany after World War I was precluded entirely by the terms of the Versailles Treaty and theintransigent hostility of France and England. Stripped of indu
Were the Nazis Socialists?
Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
9 Mind-Altering Plants
July, 2006, Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121. See attached for full caption information.
Will Light-Speed Space Travel Ever Be Possible?
illustration of the walking titanosaurus, Patagotitan mayorum
Titanosaurs: 8 of the World's Biggest Dinosaurs
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) standing on rock, side view, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya
The Fastest Animals on Earth
Nazi Germany, Nazi SS troops marching with victory standards at the Party Day rally in Nuremberg, Germany, 1933. (Schutzstaffel, Nazi Party, Nurnberg)
Why Was Nazi Germany Called the Third Reich?
Earth's orbit
Earth's orbit Earth's orbit around the Sun. Earth orbits around the Sun with a period of one year.

aphelion

astronomy
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: • Article History

aphelion, in astronomy, the point in the orbit of a planet, comet, or other body most distant from the Sun. When Earth is at its aphelion in early July, it is about 4,800,000 km (3,000,000 miles) farther from the Sun than when at its perihelion in early January. Corresponding terms for describing the most distant orbital point of bodies moving around centres of force other than the Sun include apogee (for farthest point from Earth) and aposaturnium (for farthest point from Saturn). The apogee of Earth’s Moon, for instance, is about 50,000 km (31,000 miles) more distant from Earth than its closest orbital point (perigee). The word apocentre is a general term for the farthest point in a body’s orbit from the body it circles.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information using Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.