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jackinsomniac t1_j0vlvee wrote

100%. This is actually a pretty bad issue with space terminology. E.g. When talking about your highest altitude and lowest altitude for an orbit, for earth it's apogee or perigee. But the -"gee" suffix is specific to Earth, Gaia. So if you start orbiting the Moon, these same terms change to apolune or perilune, to reference the Moon's name, Luna. And should change based on the name of whatever planet is being orbited.

KSP has done a great job making the more agnostic terms, apoapsis vs. periapsis, more commonplace. And I wish more people picked up on it. It's embarrassing to watch supposedly knowledgeable people try to describe the orbit of a Mars satellite using "apogee" and "perigee".

Edit: just to make clear how simple it could be, and how confusing it actually is:

There's only 2 prefixes:

  • apo- (highest)
  • peri- (lowest)

But the suffix is supposed to change based on the name of the body being orbited. When instead, there's a suffix that's agnostic to the body's name: -apsis. Which could be used for any orbit of any body. Even if it still has a stupid scientific name, like TRAPPIST-7

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