The local space context of Columbus 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 | 39.961° N, 82.999° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 913,175 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wurtsmith AFB | 500 km N (357°) | 44.452° N, 83.380° W | gcat-sites |
| Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland | 598 km ESE (106°) | 38.286° N, 76.408° W | gcat-sites |
| Naval Air Ordnance Test Station, Chincoteague, Virginia | 689 km ESE (107°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Island Main Base, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Chincoteague, Virginia | 689 km ESE (107°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Virginia | 692 km ESE (108°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia | 692 km ESE (108°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Vize Expedition 6, 1978 (SU017921) | 725 km ESE (105°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1964 Croatan MRF Expedition | 725 km ESE (105°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1965 Croatan MRF Expedition | 725 km ESE (105°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| Hampstead, North Carolina, 1 mi W of Topsail Beach | 783 km SE (141°) | 34.360° N, 77.640° W | gcat-sites |
| Robins AFB, Georgia | 816 km S (184°) | 32.640° N, 83.592° W | gcat-sites |
| POMFLANT, Polaris Missile Facility, Atlantic | 836 km SSE (160°) | 32.850° N, 79.950° W | gcat-sites |
| Keweenaw Rocket Launch Site (KRLS), Michigan | 913 km NNW (337°) | 47.430° N, 87.720° W | gcat-sites |
| Plattsburgh AFB, NY | 940 km NE (53°) | 44.653° N, 73.469° W | gcat-sites |
| Plattsburgh AFB or other FB-111 base | 941 km NE (53°) | 44.660° N, 73.460° W | gcat-sites |
| … and 2 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neutron | Maiden Flight | 691 km ESE (108°) | 37.832° N, 75.490° W | launchlibrary |
| Electron | 6x HawkEye 360 | 691 km ESE (108°) | 37.833° N, 75.488° W | launchlibrary |
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, 19,983 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 39.961° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,268 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 43.8° 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 Columbus in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.