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apocynthion
Jul. 30th, 2021 07:51 amapocynthion (a-poh-SIN-thee-on) - n., the point in an orbit around the Earth's Moon that is most distant from that body.
The general term for the most distant point of an elliptical orbit is apoapsis, but orbits around some bodies have specialized terms, such as aphelion for our sun, apogee for the Earth, and this one. Contrast pericynthion, the point of the orbit closest to our Moon. So in this diagram,
Thanks, WikiMedia!
if 3 is our Moon, the apocynthion is 1. This is not the only name for this point, and there's no consensus on whether to call this the apocynthion, apolune, or aposelene. The roots here are Ancient Greek apo-, away (originally a preposition meaning from/away from) + Cynthia, an epithet of Artemis (after her birthplace on Mt. Cynthus on Delos), who was sometimes conflated with Selene, goddess of the Moon.
And that wraps up an undeclared theme week of posting the longest words in my queue, which was looking pretty backed up. (For what it's worth, this didn't work, as I've added far more than five words at the same time.) Next week will be a declared theme (you'll just have to wait to find out what).
---L.
The general term for the most distant point of an elliptical orbit is apoapsis, but orbits around some bodies have specialized terms, such as aphelion for our sun, apogee for the Earth, and this one. Contrast pericynthion, the point of the orbit closest to our Moon. So in this diagram,
Thanks, WikiMedia!
if 3 is our Moon, the apocynthion is 1. This is not the only name for this point, and there's no consensus on whether to call this the apocynthion, apolune, or aposelene. The roots here are Ancient Greek apo-, away (originally a preposition meaning from/away from) + Cynthia, an epithet of Artemis (after her birthplace on Mt. Cynthus on Delos), who was sometimes conflated with Selene, goddess of the Moon.
And that wraps up an undeclared theme week of posting the longest words in my queue, which was looking pretty backed up. (For what it's worth, this didn't work, as I've added far more than five words at the same time.) Next week will be a declared theme (you'll just have to wait to find out what).
---L.
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