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Definition 2024


peribothron

peribothron

English

Noun

peribothron (plural peribothra)

  1. The point in an elliptical orbit around a black hole where the orbiting body is closest to the black hole.
    • 2003 Augustvolume=592, A Gould& AC Quillen, “Sagittarius A* companion S0-2: a probe of very high mass star formation”, in The Astrophysical Journal:
      We also examine the final peribothra q of these orbits to ensure that they are consistent with the observed value for S0-2.
    • 2006 July, LM Dray, AR King, & MB Davies, “Young stars in the Galactic Centre: a potential intermediate-mass star origin”, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume 372:
      On subsequent peribothra further tidal interactions take place, gradually causing the orbit to decay.
    • 2011, C Wegg & JN Bode, “Multiple tidal disruptions as an indicator of binary supermassive black hole systems”, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters:
      Galaxies harboring an isolated SMBH at their center are expected to quickly clear a "loss cone" of orbits whose angular momenta about the black hole are low enough that their peribothra lie inside rt .