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

  • Cinner@lemmy.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    9 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
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      9 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.

      • Cinner@lemmy.worldB
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Heard of them (UFOs sub, lots of heavy reading, skimming the physics parts) but never knew what they were. That’s a great understandable explanation, and fascinating, thanks.

      • Cinner@lemmy.worldB
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 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.