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What is a periastron?

What is a periastron? Here are some definitions.

Noun
  1. (astronomy) That point of the orbit of a celestial body which is closest to the star around which the body is orbiting.
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Periastron and apastron refer to an orbit around a star, and perijove and apojove refer to an orbit around Jupiter.
Also, relativistic advance of periastron has been studied and confirmed in certain binary stars with elliptical orbits.
Astronomers observe dramatic changes in the system during the months before and after periastron.
The stellar orbit winds up around the black hole within the tidal radius, which allows the tidal field to squeeze the star twice, before and after the passage at periastron.

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