An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The situation in which two orbiting objects exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other and therefore their orbital frequencies are related by a ratio of two small → integers. Orbital resonance often results in an unstable interaction in which bodies exchange momentum and shift orbits until the resonance disappears. The resonance increases the eccentricity until a body approaches a planet too closely and the body is slung away.

See also: → orbital; → resonance.