Semilatus rectum ($\ell$)

The distance from a focus to a conic section along a line perpendicular to its symmetry axis. In focus-centred polar coordinates, an ellipse may be written $r(1-e\cos \theta )=\ell$, where $e$ is its eccentricity of a conic.

The distance from a focus of a conic section to the curve measured perpendicular to its principal axis. In the focus-based polar coordinates equation $r=p/(1+e\cos \varphi )$ it is the length $p$, where $e$ is the eccentricity. For an ellipse, $p=a(1-e^2)=b^2/a$. For a Newtonian Kepler orbit, $p=j^2/(GM)$ with $j$ the specific angular momentum.