Definition of "perihelion" [per•i•hel•ion]

• The point nearest the sun in the orbit of a planet or other celestial body. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Thus it can be seen that while the sun is travelling through space, it is at the same time giving rise to the electro-magnetic Aether waves, which, by their repelling power, repel the Earth from the sun in the direction that the sun is travelling, and hence the half-circle is elongated into that part of the elliptic orbit known as the perihelion, which is that part of the orbit where the distance of any planet from the sun is the least."
• "The point at which a planet is closest to the sun is called the perihelion point, and if Newton’s theory is correct, a planet should return to precisely the same perihelion as it orbits the sun each year."
• "An effect of this change is that the time of year that Earth is closest to the Sun, called perihelion, varies through the cycle."