Perigee

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Categories: Articles to be merged since January 2008 | Celestial mechanics | Astrodynamics | Orbit of the Moon

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Apsis. (Discuss)

This is about the orbital parameter. For the quarterly publication, see Perigee: Publication for the Arts.

Perigee is the point at which an object in orbit around the Earth – either the Moon or a spacecraft, satellite, or other body – makes its closest approach to the Earth. Often the term is used in a broader sense to define the point in an orbit where the orbiting body is closest to the body it orbits.

The Greek prefix "peri" means close or near. The suffix "gee", derived from Gaea, means Earth.

Perigee is part of the broader family of apses, astronomical terms which denote distances of orbiting bodies. Since all orbits are elliptical, each orbit contains both a nearest point and a farthest point.