Solar System course of its year. A body's closest approach to the Sun is called its "perihelion", whereas its most distant point from the Sun is called its "aphelion". The orbits of the planets are nearly circular, but many comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects follow highly elliptical orbits. The positions of the bodies in the Solar System can be predicted using numerical models. Although the Sun dominates the system by mass, it accounts for only about 2% of the angular momentum. The planets, dominated by Jupiter, account for most of the rest of the angular momentum due to the combination of
Solar conjunction the line of sight to an interior planet (Mercury or Venus) being very close to the solar disk. If the planet passes directly in front of the sun, a solar transit occurs. Solar conjunction Solar conjunction occurs when a planet or other solar system object is on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth. From an Earth reference, the sun will pass between the Earth and the object. Communication with any spacecraft in solar conjunction will be severely limited due to the sun's interference on radio transmissions from the spacecraft. When in reference to Satellite Communications, solar conjunction