culmination

(kəl·mə′nā·shən)

(astronomy) The position of a heavenly body when at highest apparent altitude. For a heavenly body which is continually above the horizon, the position of lowest apparent altitude.
(geology) A high point on the axis of a fold.

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The instant at which a celestial object reaches its highest altitude above the horizon as Earth's rotation carries it across the sky; in other words, the moment the object crosses the observer's meridian (the north-south line in the sky). Upper culmination (also known as culmination above pole for circumpolar stars and the Moon) is the crossing closer to the observer's zenith; lower culmination (or culmination below pole) is the crossing farther from the zenith. Alternative names for culmination are meridian passage and transit.

noun

1. The highest point or state: acme, apex, apogee, climax, crest, crown, height, meridian, peak, pinnacle, summit, top, zenith. Informal payoff. Medicine fastigium. See high/low.
2. The condition of being fulfilled: consummation, fruition, fulfillment, materialization, realization. See do/not do, happy/unhappy.