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orbitally

orbitally

1 7.2
To move along a path around a planet or star
  • adverb
  • /ˈɔːrbɪtəli/
  • Specialized
: orbitalmente
  • The satellite was positioned orbitally to monitor the Earth below.

Examples

  • In astronomy, two bodies are said to be orbitally stable if their paths do not intersect.

  • How orbitally stable is it in that band of life possibility?

    Blog text (17)

  • The next best (actually, better) candidate is the Last Interglacial, about 125 kyr ago, again due to orbitally driven high insolation: the ice was likely very low, but we can't say whether it was completely ice-free in summer or not.

    Blog text (9)

  • On long-term time scales, changes in the hydrological cycle, and subsequently changes in the annual monsoon activity, are driven by orbitally forced insolation variability (Clemens et al. 1991).

    Academic text (2018)

  • Scientists studied the orbitally defined region around the planet to understand its gravitational effects.

Surface Forms

orbitally positive

Morphology

orbitally = orbital (transparent) = orbit + al + ly

The adverb is clearly formed from the adjective 'orbital' + '-ly', and 'orbital' is transparently derived from 'orbit' in the astronomical sense.

Etymology

Orbitally comes from orbit, from Latin orbita, which meant 'path' or 'wheel track'. So orbitally means 'in a way that follows a path around' something, like a spacecraft around a planet.