Question

When is the moon nearest to Earth during its orbit?
A) At apogee
B) At perihelion
C) During an eclipse
D) During perigee

Answer 1

Hint: The moon is the natural satellite of Earth. It revolves around the Earth in an elliptical orbit. The progress of the Moon from one perigee to the next is known as the anomalistic lunar cycle and lasts 27 days, 13 hours and 18 minutes.

Complete step by step answer:
Every planet in the solar system has one or more natural satellites. These satellites revolve around the planet in fixed orbits. This occurs along with the revolution of the planet around the sun. Thus, the satellite along with the planet rotates and revolves around the sun within a period of time.
As we said that there are fixed orbits for the satellites, there are times during the revolution that the satellite will come closer to the planet. This feature works on the basis of the shape of the orbit. In the case of the moon, the orbit is in elliptical shape. So, there will be points when it comes closer to the planet and points when it is very far away from the planet. These points are named as perigee and apogee for their identification. Apogee is the point in the elliptical orbit when the satellite is far away from the planet and perigee is the point in the orbit when the satellite comes closest to the planet.
Also, we cannot correctly say the approach of moon to these points from the phase of moon, that is, these two factors are not synced

So, the correct answer is Option D.

Note: The Moon passes through the perigee and apogee about once in a month. The time taken by the Moon to travel from perigee to perigee is called an anomalistic month.
Every planet in the solar system has its own satellites. These satellites rotate and revolve around the planet through orbits of different shapes. The Moon travels in an elliptical orbit, with one of its focal points being the Earth. This indicates that there is always a change in the gap between the Earth and the Moon. It is at its perigee when the Moon is nearest to the Earth, and it is at its apogee when it is furthest away.