How does a geostationary satellite remain over the same spot on Earth?
In: Planetary Science
If you are close to the earth, like the space station (ISS), then it takes about 90 minutes to go around the earth. If you are very far from the earth, like the moon, it could take weeks to go around the earth. The further you are, the longer it takes to go around the planet.
If you do the math, there is an exact distance from the earth where the time to go around the earth happens to match the time it takes for the earth to rotate. This distance is about 22,300 miles.
Such an orbit it is called geosynchronous. If that orbit is perfectly along the equator, it’s called geostationary and the object will appear to sit motionless in the sky. It’s actually orbiting the earth, but the Earth happens to be turning under it at the same speed.
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