Perigean spring tide Perigean spring tide A proxigean spring tide (also known as a perigean spring tide) is a tide that occurs three or four times per year when the Moon's perigee (its closest point to Earth during its 29.5-day elliptical orbit) coincides with a spring tide (when the Earth, Sun and Moon are nearly aligned every two weeks). This tide usually adds only a couple of inches to normal spring tides. The Moon's orbit around Earth is elliptical, which causes the Moon to be closer to Earth and farther away at different times. The Moon and the Sun are aligned every two
Low Earth orbit radius. However, an object in orbit is, by definition, in free fall, since there is no force holding it up. As a result objects in orbit, including people, experience a sense of weightlessness, even though they are not actually without weight. Objects in LEO encounter atmospheric drag from gases in the thermosphere (approximately 80–500 km above the surface) or exosphere (approximately 500 km and up), depending on orbit height. Due to atmospheric drag, satellites do not usually orbit below 300 km. Objects in LEO orbit Earth between the denser part of the atmosphere and below the inner Van Allen radiation