The meaning of Curtate and additional information.

Curtate(a.) Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic.

Curtation(n.) The interval by which the curtate distance of a planet is less than the true distance.