hephaistosynchronous (Memory Alpha:Reference Desk)Edit

In reference to page 129 of the novel Spock's World.

...The Enterprise arrives at Vulcan...

"Standard orbit," Sulu announced. "Fourteen thousand miles hephaistosynchronous."

I searched but no luck with the word hephaistosynchronous.

Any ideas on this one would be greatly appreciated.

Hephaistos, or Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire and the forge, his Roman equivalent is Vulcan. I guess that "hephaistosynchronous" is meant to be a synchronous orbit around Vulcan, just like geosynchronous is an orbit around earth. -- Cid Highwind 10:25, 6 Jul 2005 (UTC)

A geosynchronous orbit can appear stationary to ground observers. Perhaps hephaistosynchronous refers to a geostationary orbit over the desert region called The Forge.