the Daily Whale - 24 October 1991

A synchronous orbit around the earth is called geosynchronous. “Geo-” means Earth, and it’s from Greek, so purists insist that the word for a synchronous orbit around some other body must follow that body’s Greek name. Mars has areosynchronous, for example.

A synchronous orbit around asteroid 2201 Oljato would be unstable. And that’s a good thing—what’s Greek for Oljato? English could stand some central planning.