English edit

Etymology edit

helio- +‎ synchronous

Adjective edit

heliosynchronous (not comparable)

  1. Describing an orbit around the Earth where each passage in the same direction along a given latitude will occur throughout the year at the same true solar time.
    Synonym: Sun-synchronous
    • 1987, Pierre Lellouche, Satellite warfare: a challenge for the international community, Institut français des relations internationales, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, United Nations:
      A heliosynchronous orbit is an orbit [around the Earth] whose plane precesses by [a little less than] one degree a day around the line of the poles, thus keeping the same position in relation to the Earth-Sun line.
  2. Describing an orbit around the Sun in which the period of revolution is the same as the Sun's period of rotation.

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