The local space context of Bishkek 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
42.870° N, 74.590° E
GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
population
900,000 inhabitants
GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
On the ground within 1000 km
Launch sites — 6 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
Sary Shagan Antimissile Test Center (NIIP-A, GNIIP-10), Balkash
413 km NNW (341°)
46.380° N, 72.870° E
gcat-sites
Sary Ozek missile base, Kazakhstan
565 km W (277°)
43.300° N, 67.650° E
gcat-sites
Kattakurgan missile base, Samarkand region
766 km WSW (247°)
39.900° N, 66.300° E
gcat-sites
Korla Missile Test Center, Launch site near Urumqi, China
979 km E (95°)
41.537° N, 86.353° E
gcat-sites
GIK-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
983 km WNW (295°)
46.000° N, 63.000° E
gcat-sites
NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
983 km WNW (295°)
46.000° N, 63.000° E
gcat-sites
Ground stations and transmitting sites — 1 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
Semipalatinsk Test Site
853 km NNE (19°)
50.070° N, 78.430° E
nuclear-tests
Announced launches (their pads) — 3 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
Soyuz 2.1a | Soyuz MS-29
941 km WNW (295°)
45.996° N, 63.564° E
launchlibrary
Soyuz 2.1b | Progress MS-35 (96P)
941 km WNW (295°)
45.996° N, 63.564° E
launchlibrary
Soyuz 2.1b | Progress MS-36 (97P)
941 km WNW (295°)
45.996° N, 63.564° E
launchlibrary
Nuclear detonations — 486 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
JOE 1
581 km N (10°)
48.000° N, 76.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2433914
581 km N (10°)
48.000° N, 76.000° E
nuclear-tests
JOE 3
581 km N (10°)
48.000° N, 76.000° E
nuclear-tests
MERIDIAN
587 km W (271°)
42.700° N, 67.400° E
nuclear-tests
CHINA test 2448120
592 km ESE (102°)
41.567° N, 81.567° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2446051
601 km NNE (17°)
48.000° N, 77.000° E
nuclear-tests
MERIDIAN
620 km WNW (302°)
45.600° N, 67.800° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2440734
666 km NNE (24°)
48.300° N, 78.200° E
nuclear-tests
TELKEM-2
714 km SSE (155°)
37.000° N, 78.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2446028
731 km NNE (20°)
49.000° N, 78.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2447057
731 km NNE (20°)
49.000° N, 78.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2447085
731 km NNE (20°)
49.000° N, 78.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2447055
731 km NNE (20°)
49.000° N, 78.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2445424
762 km NNE (25°)
49.000° N, 79.000° E
nuclear-tests
USSR test 2445544
762 km NNE (25°)
49.000° N, 79.000° E
nuclear-tests
… and 471 more within 1000 km
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.
What can pass overhead
Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit
on 2026-10-18, 19,908 fly orbits whose ground
track reaches 42.870° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other
3,343 never reach this latitude.
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 from here
The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands
40.5° 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.
What this page does not know
Tonight's sky and pass times. They depend on the hour, so a static page would print a
stale number. Open the live scene in a browser: /sim.html#sel=EARTH&tn=1,
then stand at Bishkek in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.
Anything not catalogued. A site absent from the source catalogues is absent here; an
empty list means «not in the registry», not «nothing there».
Precision beyond the sources. Positions carry the precision their catalogue published.