The Collaborative International Dictionary
Appulse \Ap"pulse\ (?; 277), n. [L. appulsus, fr. appellere, appulsum, to drive to; ad + pellere to drive: cf. F. appulse.]
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A driving or running towards; approach; impulse; also, the act of striking against.
In all consonants there is an appulse of the organs.
--Holder. (Astron.) The near approach of one heavenly body to another, or to the meridian; a coming into conjunction; as, the appulse of the moon to a star, or of a star to the meridian.
Wiktionary
n. 1 An energetic movement towards or against something 2 (context astronomy English) conjunction or occultation 3 (context astronomy English) a close approach of two heavenly bodies
Wikipedia
Appulse is an astronomical term that refers to the closest approach of one celestial object to another, as seen from a third body. Usually it refers to the close approach of two planets together in the sky, or of the Moon to a star or planet as the Moon follows its monthly orbit around Earth, as seen by an observer located on Earth.
An appulse is related to a conjunction but the definitions differ in detail. Whereas an appulse occurs when the separation between two bodies is at its minimum, a conjunction occurs at the instant when the two bodies have the same right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude. In general, the precise time of an appulse will be different from that of a conjunction. It is possible in some particular cases for an appulse to occur but no conjunction.
Where the celestial bodies come so close together that one actually passes over the other, the event is known as an occultation.
An appulse is an apparent phenomenon caused by perspective only: there is no close physical approach in space between the two objects involved and scientists insist that appulses have no direct effect on the Earth. They can be interesting naked-eye events for general observers when they involve bright planets and the Moon.
Usage examples of "appulse".
This arises from the possible appulse of the comet to the planet Pallas, whose mass, being so small, would more sensibly be disturbed by such an appulse than the earth.
It may be added that the authors of the theory do not insist upon the appulse of two suns as the only way in which the planetesimals may have originated, but it is the only supposition that has been worked out.
Yet, in our experience, the rays or appulses have sufficient force to arrive at the senses, but not enough to reach the quick, and compel the reproduction of themselves in speech.