orbital period

Also known as revolution period, astronomical period, astronomical time period, astronomical horological period, astronomical orbit period, period of orbit, year

time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit around another object, and applies in astronomy to mostly either planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets, exoplanets orbiting other stars, or binary stars

AI overview

An orbital period is the time it takes for one object to complete one full orbit around another object, such as a planet orbiting the Sun or a moon orbiting a planet. Knowing an object's orbital period helps astronomers understand and predict the motions of celestial objects throughout space.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets, exoplanets orbiting other stars, or binary stars. It may also refer to the time it takes a satellite orbiting a planet or moon to complete one orbit.

For celestial objects in general, the orbital period is determined by a 360° revolution of one body around its primary, e.g. Earth around the Sun.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “orbital period” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

orbital period

Encyclopedic overview

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