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Geostationary orbit. A 5° × 6° view of a part of the geostationary belt, showing several geostationary satellites. Those with inclination 0° form a diagonal belt across the image; a few objects with small inclinations to the Equator are visible above this line. The satellites are pinpoint, while stars have created star trails due to Earth's ...
The geostationary satellite (green) always remains above the same marked spot on the equator (brown). A geostationary equatorial orbit (GEO) is a circular geosynchronous orbit in the plane of the Earth's equator with a radius of approximately 42,164 km (26,199 mi) (measured from the center of the Earth). [21]: 156 A satellite in such an orbit ...
A geostationary satellite is in orbit around the Earth at an altitude where it orbits at the same rate as the Earth turns. An observer at any place where the satellite is visible will always see it in exactly the same spot in the sky, unlike stars and planets that move continuously. Geostationary satellites appear to be fixed over one spot ...
For a satellite orbiting the Earth directly above the Equator, the plane of the satellite's orbit is the same as the Earth's equatorial plane, and the satellite's orbital inclination is 0°. The general case for a circular orbit is that it is tilted, spending half an orbit over the northern hemisphere and half over the southern.
A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's surface that traces the movement of an imaginary line between the satellite and the center of the Earth. In other words, the ground track is the set of points at which the satellite will pass directly overhead, or cross the zenith, in the frame of reference of a ground observer.
[1] [9] Although terms are often used interchangeably, technically a geosynchronous orbit matches the Earth's rotational period, but the definition does not require it to have zero orbital inclination to the equator, and thus is not stationary above a given point on the equator, but may oscillate north and south during the course of a day. Thus ...
A geostationary satellite therefore ideally remains stationary relative to the Earth's surface, staying over a single point on the equator. No real satellite is exactly geostationary, so real ones trace small analemmas in the sky. Since the sizes of the orbits of geosynchronous satellites are similar to the size of the Earth, substantial ...
In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit (GEO). Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous orbit (GSO) or GEO are often put into a GTO as ...