In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics a parabolic trajectory is an orbit with the eccentricity equal to 1. When moving away from the source it is called an escape orbit, otherwise a capture orbit.

Under standard assumptions a body traveling along an escape orbit will coast to infinity, with velocity relative to the central body tending to zero, and therefore will never return. Parabolic trajectory is a minimum-energy escape trajectory.

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	Parabola - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1359 words) The most well-known instance of the parabola in the history of physics is the trajectory of a particle or body in motion under the influence of a uniform gravitational field without air resistance (for instance, a baseball flying through the air, neglecting air friction). The parabolic trajectory of projectiles was discovered experimentally by Galileo in the early 17th century, who performed experiments with balls rolling on inclined planes. The most well-known instance is the parabolic reflector, which is a mirror or similar reflective device that concentrates light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation to a common focal point. Parabolic microphone: Definition and Links by Encyclopedian.com (332 words) A parabolic microphone uses a parabolic reflector to collect and focus sound waves onto a microphone receiver, in much the same way that a parabolic antenna (e.g. Parabolic microphones are generally not used for standard recording applications, because they tend to have poor low-frequency response as a side effect of their design. Sound entering the parabolic dish from the front axis is reflected into a sphere around the "focus" of the dish, where the microphone element is located.
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