Meanings
- pluralplural of apastron
If we suppose the apastra of the two stars to occur simultaneously, there will be two minima, “but the maxima will be constant.”
1892, J[ohn] Ellard Gore, “The Meteoritic Hypothesis”, in The Visible Universe: Chapters on the Origin and Construction of the Heavens, London: Crosby Lockwood and Son, […], page 1142 more examples
But if both motions proceed in the same sense, then the binary stars will traverse that half of their galactic orbit with their apastra forward.
1976, Soviet Astronomy, volume 19, page 336The rotation involved is that of the location of the peri- and apastra, i.e. the line of apsides of the ellipse: it is thus called apsidal motion.
2007, Edwin Budding, Osman Demircan, “Period changes: observational aspects”, in Introduction to Astronomical Photometry (Cambridge Observing Handbooks for Research Astronomers; issue 6), 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 291
Cite this entry
apastra. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apastra
“apastra.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apastra. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apastra,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apastra.
Source: apastra on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.