apastron
|a-pas-tron|
🇺🇸
/əˈpæstrən/
🇬🇧
/əˈpæstrɒn/
farthest orbital point from a star
Etymology
'apastron' originates from Greek, specifically from the elements 'apo-' and 'astron', where 'apo-' meant 'away from' and 'astron' meant 'star'.
'apastron' was formed in New/Modern Latin from the Greek elements and was adopted into technical English astronomy vocabulary to name the point in an orbit farthest from a star.
Initially the components meant 'away from' + 'star', and the combined term evolved to denote specifically 'the point in an orbit farthest from the star'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the point in the orbit of a body (especially in a binary star system) at which it is farthest from the star or primary around which it revolves; the counterpart of periastron.
At apastron, the two stars in the binary system are farthest apart.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/14 19:36