eli5: I’ve heard orbit described as continuously falling past or missing the Earth, how then do objects in geosynchronous orbit above a single point not fall out of the sky?

Question

eli5: I’ve heard orbit described as continuously falling past or missing the Earth, how then do objects in geosynchronous orbit above a single point not fall out of the sky?

In: 2204

Answer 1

Things in low orbit zip around the planet every 90 minutes or so. The moon, on the other hand, is in a very high orbit, and takes almost a month to orbit the earth. Somewhere in between, there is a circular orbit whose period is exactly 24 hours – it orbits around the earth at the same rate the planet spins. This is called a geosynchronous orbit. If it’s above the equator, there is no north/south drift, so the satellite stays above one spot on the surface – this is a geostationary orbit.