• Email


Thank you for helping us expand this topic!
The topic perihelion is discussed in the following articles:
  • orbit of

    • comets

      TITLE: comet
      SECTION: Types of orbits
      ...the inclination of the orbital plane to the plane of the ecliptic; Ω, the longitude of the ascending node measured eastward from the vernal equinox; and ω, the angular distance of perihelion from the ascending node (also called the argument of perihelion). The three most frequently used orbital elements within the plane of the orbit are q, the perihelion distance in...
    • Mercury

      TITLE: relativity
      SECTION: Experimental evidence for general relativity
      ...19th century, it was found that Mercury does not return to exactly the same spot every time it completes its elliptical orbit. Instead, the ellipse rotates slowly in space, so that on each orbit the perihelion—the point of closest approach to the Sun—moves to a slightly different angle. Newton’s law of gravity could not explain this perihelion shift, but general relativity gave the...
      TITLE: Mercury (planet)
      SECTION: Orbital and rotational effects
    • Pluto

      TITLE: Pluto
      SECTION: Basic astronomical data
  • relationship to apsis

    TITLE: apse (astronomy)
    ...the focus is the pericentre, or periapsis, and that farthest from it is the apocentre, or apoapsis. Specific terms can be used for individual bodies: if the Sun is the centre, the specific terms perihelion and aphelion are generally used; if the Earth, perigee and apogee. Periastron and apastron refer to an orbit around a star, and perijove and apojove refer to an orbit around Jupiter.
  • significance in

    • celestial mechanics

      TITLE: celestial mechanics
      SECTION: Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
    • Earth’s atomsphere

      TITLE: atmosphere
      SECTION: Distribution of heat from the Sun
What made you want to look up perihelion?
Please select the sections you want to print
Select All
MLA style:
"perihelion". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
APA style:
perihelion. (2014). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/451791/perihelion
Harvard style:
Chicago Manual of Style:
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "perihelion", accessed December 28, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/451791/perihelion.


Editing Tools:
We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.
(Please limit to 900 characters)

Or click Continue to submit anonymously: