The local space context of Barcelona as this registry holds it — the catalogued human footprint on the ground around it, the orbits that can pass overhead, and the geostationary belt seen from here.
| position | 41.389° N, 2.159° E | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 1,686,208 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Cardonnet, Montpelier, France | 272 km NNE (26°) | 43.580° N, 3.640° E | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de la Mediterranee, Ile du Levant, Var, France | 400 km ENE (61°) | 43.050° N, 6.470° E | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais et de Recherches d'Engins Speciaux, Ile du Levant, Var | 400 km ENE (61°) | 43.050° N, 6.470° E | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de Lancement de Missiles (former CEL) | 432 km NW (321°) | 44.362° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de Landes, Biscarosse, Landes, France | 439 km NW (322°) | 44.450° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| DGA Essais de missiles, Site Landes, Biscarosse, Landes, France | 439 km NW (322°) | 44.450° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| Base aerienne 120, Cazaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 440 km NW (324°) | 44.540° N, 1.113° W | gcat-sites |
| Poligono Sperimentale e di Addestramento Interforze del Salto di Quirra | 646 km ESE (106°) | 39.600° N, 9.430° E | gcat-sites |
| Salto di Quirra (San Lorenzo), Perdas de Fogu, Sardegna | 646 km ESE (106°) | 39.600° N, 9.430° E | gcat-sites |
| Zone de lancement SNLE, Baie d'Audierne | 850 km NNW (327°) | 47.630° N, 4.050° W | gcat-sites |
| Vernon, Eure, France | 857 km N (357°) | 49.080° N, 1.480° E | gcat-sites |
| Zone de lancement SNLE, Golfe de Gascogne, Bretagne | 860 km NW (324°) | 47.500° N, 4.500° W | gcat-sites |
| Camp de Suippes, Marne, France | 883 km NNE (11°) | 49.150° N, 4.530° E | gcat-sites |
| Estacion de sondeos atmosfericos de El Arenosillo, Huelva, Espana | 902 km WSW (241°) | 37.096° N, 6.742° W | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area, Merzig, N of Saar | 961 km NNE (20°) | 49.450° N, 6.600° E | gcat-sites |
| … and 1 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSN Madrid | 549 km W (261°) | 40.431° N, 4.248° W | signals |
Distances are great-circle on a sphere of mean radius 6,371 km; bearings are initial true bearings from the city. Each position is the source catalogue's own, read back from the registry.
Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit on 2026-10-18, 19,948 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 41.389° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,303 never reach this latitude.
| space station | inclination | can pass overhead |
|---|---|---|
| Bai Xiang | 85.0° | yes |
| International Space Station (+3 docked records) | 51.6° | yes |
| Kosmos-382 | 55.9° | yes |
| Tianhe | 41.5° | yes |
Computed: an orbit's equatorial inclination bounds the latitudes its track reaches (inclination i, or 180° − i when retrograde), from the orbital elements the registry holds. «Can pass overhead» is geometry, not a schedule — when, and whether it is lit and visible, depends on the hour.
The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands 42.2° above the horizon due south — the elevation to aim at for a satellite at this city's own longitude. Computed: spherical Earth (equatorial radius 6,378.137 km), circular orbit of one sidereal day (42,164 km); good to a few tenths of a degree.
/sim.html#sel=EARTH&tn=1,
then stand at Barcelona in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.