Longitude of the ascending node Longitude of the ascending node The longitude of the ascending node (☊ or Ω) is one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space. It is the angle from a reference direction, called the "origin of longitude", to the direction of the ascending node, measured in a reference plane. The ascending node is the point where the orbit of the object passes through the plane of reference, as seen in the adjacent image. Commonly used reference planes and origins of longitude include: In the case of a binary star known only from visual observations,
Longitude of the periapsis with part of it being measured in the plane of reference and the rest being measured in the plane of the orbit. Likewise, any angle derived from the longitude of periapsis (e.g., mean longitude and true longitude) will also be compound. Sometimes, the term "longitude of periapsis" is used to refer to "ω", the angle between the ascending node and the periapsis. That usage of the term is especially common in discussions of binary stars and exoplanets. However, the angle ω is less ambiguously known as the argument of periapsis. "ϖ" is the sum of the longitude of ascending node