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Perigee | astronomy | Britannica
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Periastron and apastron refer to an orbit around a star, and perijove and apojove refer to an orbit around Jupiter.</p><a class="read-more" href="/science/apse-astronomy#ref20331">Read More</a></li></ul></section><section><h3>Earth-Moon system</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/24/151224-050-E79BBF39/side-Earth-Moon-spacecraft-way-Jupiter-Galileo.jpg?w=300" alt="near and far sides of Earth's Moon" data-width="1600" data-height="843" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Moon/Distinctive-features#ref514551" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Moon: Principal characteristics of the Earth-Moon system</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…when the Moon is near perigee, observers along the path of the Moon’s dark inner shadow (umbra) see a total eclipse. If the Moon is near apogee, it does not quite cover the Sun; the resulting eclipse is annular, and observers can see a thin ring of the solar disk…</p><a class="read-more" href="/place/Moon/Distinctive-features#ref514551">Read More</a></li></ul></section><section><h3>full moon</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/208796-050-47869FC7/full-moon.jpg?w=300" alt="full moon" data-width="1600" data-height="1600" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/full-Moon-lunar-phase#ref1306540" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">full moon</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…orbit closest to Earth (perigee), it can appear from Earth as much as 14 percent larger in the sky than at its farthest point (apogee). When a full moon occurs close to the perigee, it is often regarded as a supermoon, a term coined in the 1970s. This phenomenon…</p><a class="read-more" href="/science/full-Moon-lunar-phase#ref1306540">Read More</a></li></ul></section></section></div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320" data-page="1"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script> <!-- Ortto ebmwprod capture code --> <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"INDEX","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":451758,"pageLength":0,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"INDEX","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>