Roche limit: Meaning and Definition of

Roche' lim"it

Pronunciation: (rōsh Fr. rôsh), [key]
  1. the minimum distance below which a moon orbiting a celestial body would be disrupted by tidal forces or below which a moon would not have formed.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.