Solar Synodic Period

Author: Tianjiang Shuo

Website: https://cislunarspace.cn

Definition

In the Earth-Moon rotating frame, the time for the Sun to complete one full cycle relative to the Earth-Moon line. The ratio T_sun/T_m is approximately 1.0809. Constraining the resonant orbit period to an integer multiple of the solar synodic period (T = k·T_sun) keeps the initial solar phase angle constant over long durations, locking the observation geometry at its optimal value — a strategy for enhancing long-term observation performance in cislunar space.

Application Value

Solar Synodic Period is used to evaluate the observation performance of cislunar spacecraft, guiding mission planning and constellation deployment.

References

  • Ding et al., 2025 — Cislunar Space Situational Awareness via Earth-Moon Resonant Orbits
Improve this page
Last Updated:
Contributors: ouyangjiahong, Ou Yang Jiahong