Apsis is a term in celestial mechanics meaning ‘one of the two points in the elliptic orbit of a planetary body at which it is respectively at its greatest and least distance from the body about which it revolves’ (Oxford English Dictionary). The apsides is the plural of apsis and the ‘line of apsides’ is the major axis that in graphical representations joins those two points (Krogdahl, 1962). (Apsidal is an adjectival form.)
Derived from Greek and Latin, apsis, meaning an arch or loop, in its anglicized form apse, refers to the architectural recess form in temples going back to Roman times, or later to the east end of Christian churches. (It is used in distinction to the ‘basis’ or ‘base’.) In the 18th century the term apsis and apside (the Italian form) were adopted in astronomy in a loose way for identifying the major axis of a planetary orbit.
A series of related and analogous terms are applied to the two apices of any orbital major axis, with greatest and least differences in...
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Fairbridge, R.W. (1997). Apsis, apsides . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_17
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