Lunar orbit Lunar orbit In astronomy, lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is the orbit of an object around the Moon. As used in the space program, this refers not to the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, but to orbits by various manned or unmanned spacecraft around the Moon. The altitude at apoapsis (point farthest from the surface) for a lunar orbit is known as apolune, apocynthion, or aposelene, while the periapsis (point closest to the surface) is known as perilune, pericynthion, or periselene, from names or epithets of the moon goddess. Low lunar orbit (LLO)—orbits below altitude—are
Orbit orbital period. See also Kepler's Third Law. The application of certain orbits or orbital maneuvers to specific useful purposes have been the subject of patents. Some bodies are tidally locked with other bodies, meaning that one side of the celestial body is permanently facing its host object. This is the case for Sun-Mercury, Earth-Moon and Pluto-Charon system. Orbit In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved trajectory of an object, such as the trajectory of a planet around a star or a natural satellite around a planet. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating trajectory, although it may also refer