apogee

plural apogees · alternative apogée

1. astronomyThe point, in an orbit about the Earth, that is farthest from the Earth: the apoapsis of an Earth orbiter.
2. broadlyastronomyThe point, in an orbit about any planet, that is farthest from the planet: the apoapsis of any satellite.

   [Nereid’s] apogee—farthest point from Neptune—is five times the distance of its perigee—its closest point.

   2010, Ruth Walker, Mary M. Shaffrey, et al., Exploring Space: The High Frontier, Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 129

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   Conjunctions of I and II [Io and Europa] occur when they are near perigee and apogee respectively; conjunctions of II and III [Europa and Ganymede] occur when II [Europa] is near perigee.

   1995, John H. Rogers, The Giant Planet Jupiter, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 335

   The resolution of the images obtained by this American probe [Messenger] will depend on its altitude [above Mercury] at any one time: about ten meters at perigee (200km altitude), but only one 1 km at apogee (15000km).

   2002, Serge Brunier, Solar System Voyage, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 36

3. possibly archaic outside astrologyThe point, in any trajectory of an object in space, where it is farthest from the Earth.
4. figurativelyThe highest point.

   The cult of the chief executive reached its apogee in the nineteen-nineties, a period when C.E.O.s seemed not so much to serve their companies as to embody them.

   2004 March 22, The New Yorker

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   Another manifestation, significantly reaching its apogee in the midst of Antonine virtues, was the growing popularity of adoxographical exercises. Mock panegyrics were dashed off, not just by sardonic intellectuals such as Lucian, but also by trained courtiers and polished encomiasts of the stamp of [Marcus Cornelius] Fronto.

   1979, Carl Deroux, editor, Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History [Collection Latomus; 164], volume 1, Brussels: Latomus, →OCLC, page 111

   The apogee of Ming China […] came in the half century following his [the Hongwu Emperor's] death. Of this period, the initial two decades were dominated by his son, the Yongle emperor (1360–1424), who was a much more successful Oriental version of Richard III.

   2014 September 15, Martin Gayford, “There's more to Ming than a vase [print version: 16 August 2014, pp. R6–R7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)

   Synonyms: acme, climax, culmination, pinnacle, zenith