Like distance from the Earth. And do some of them “sit” in one place, like always over North America?

  • Cinner@lemmy.worldB
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    8 months ago

    That’s crazy. TIL about geostationary satellites. I didn’t think a satellite could ‘stay still’ in space above an area and have wrongly told people it’s not possible. I have some comment edits to make.

    • Heggico@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Wait till you hear about legrange points. These are points where 2 massive object (like the sun and earth) create a sort of pocket where a satellite can orbit “nothing”. I have massively simplyfied it, off course.

    • Ashy@lemmy.wtf
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      8 months ago

      Well, the satellite isn’t standing still in space. It’s orbing Earth. It just happens to oribt Earth at the exact same speed and direction as the earth is rotating so it just looks like it’s standing still.

      • Cinner@lemmy.worldB
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        8 months ago

        Not sure why I can’t see your reply. I could have worded that better. I didn’t think a satellite could stay above a fixed location on Earth, but now it makes sense - it just rotates at the same speed and orbit of Earth.