Aphelion, Azimuth, Corona, Parallax, Perihelion, Zenith meaning

[nogoodscallywag]

I cannot for the life of me find what these mean!

APHELION, AZIMUTH, CORONA, PARALLAX, PERIHELION, ZENITH

[CrystalSeas]

Link to a dictionary

They are all astronomical terms that describe things like orbits and the sun,

[pithica42]

In the context of the game, they're often meant to differentiate between the item level of laser weapons.

[Claxon]

From an in game perspective it's completely a marketing gimmick/ naming convention to differentiate between models of weapons.

[WhiteWeasel]

nogoodscallywag wrote:

I cannot for the life of me find what these mean!

APHELION, AZIMUTH, CORONA, PARALLAX, PERIHELION, ZENITH

While you can look up the more technical definitions, I'll give you the shorthand's. But as states above, they are just in-game prefixes to differentiate item level.

Aphelion is the location of an orbit where an object is furthest from it's parent body, and perihelion is the nearest.

Azimuth is the horizontal axis of a spherical coordinate system, (like star navigation) while zenith is the vertical.

Parrallax is the is the apparent difference in location or motion of distant objects based on where the observer is. Like how the ground rushes past you in a car, but mountains in the distance hardly seem to move.

Corona is the outermost layer of plasma that surrounds the sun.

[Pax Miles]

Claxon wrote:

From an in game perspective it's completely a marketing gimmick/ naming convention to differentiate between models of weapons.

True, but at the same time it allows them to go back later and make a new version of the same weapon without running into naming issues (or making players feel they need to model their models differently).

Now if they want to call something a laser rifle, they still can. They don't need to always use that laser rifle's profile, they can make a new one that better suits a particular setting or scenario. And it can still be called a laser rifle without any confusion, not just an Azimuth Laser Rifle.

[avr]

WhiteWeasel wrote:

Aphelion is the location of an orbit where an object is furthest from it's parent body, and perihelion is the nearest.

-helion refers to the sun, i.e. a solar orbit. Apoapsis and periapsis are the terms for general orbits. [/pedant]

[AideenFB]

avr wrote:

WhiteWeasel wrote:

Aphelion is the location of an orbit where an object is furthest from it's parent body, and perihelion is the nearest.

-helion refers to the sun, i.e. a solar orbit. Apoapsis and periapsis are the terms for general orbits. [/pedant]

To continue:)

Zenith is defined as: the point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an observer.

Actually has nothing to do with the vertical axis of anything except the observer, and is entirely relative to the observers orientation in relation to whatever rock you happen to be standing on. When that bird crap landed on your head.... he let it go while at your zenith.... [/Extra Pedant]

[Hitdice]

What's a nadir, though? :P

[AideenFB]

You were relative to the bird when it dropped it's bomb. :P