The local space context of Datong 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 | 40.094° N, 113.291° E | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 3,105,591 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiyuan weixing fashe zhongxin | 295 km SSW (192°) | 37.500° N, 112.600° E | gcat-sites |
| 51St Base, Fengrun, Tangshan, Hebei province | 410 km E (92°) | 39.856° N, 118.093° E | gcat-sites |
| 806th Brigade missile base, Huanglong, Shaanxi province | 571 km SSW (207°) | 35.474° N, 110.447° E | gcat-sites |
| 822 Brigade missile base, Laiwu, Shangdong province | 578 km SE (137°) | 36.235° N, 117.716° E | gcat-sites |
| Sainshand meteorological rocket station | 593 km NNW (335°) | 44.890° N, 110.140° E | gcat-sites |
| Space Pioneer Gongyi Static Test Site | 599 km S (182°) | 34.709° N, 113.051° E | gcat-sites |
| Huludao Shipyard test site | 639 km E (82°) | 40.700° N, 120.800° E | gcat-sites |
| Jilantai Missile Test Ground, Nei Monggol province | 657 km W (270°) | 39.850° N, 105.580° E | gcat-sites |
| Jinzhou missile base, Liaoning province | 676 km ENE (77°) | 41.190° N, 121.170° E | gcat-sites |
| Bayan Hot test range | 676 km W (260°) | 38.758° N, 105.608° E | gcat-sites |
| Bohai launch area (Some Yellow Sea launches may also be here) | 678 km ESE (103°) | 38.500° N, 120.900° E | gcat-sites |
| 410 Brigate Missile Base, Dengshahe, Liaoning province | 756 km E (94°) | 39.229° N, 122.054° E | gcat-sites |
| Jianggezhuang Submarine Base | 776 km ESE (123°) | 36.104° N, 120.579° E | gcat-sites |
| Haiyang test site, Shandong | 780 km ESE (115°) | 36.800° N, 121.200° E | gcat-sites |
| Huang Hai CZ-11 launch zone | 904 km SE (127°) | 34.900° N, 121.190° E | gcat-sites |
| … and 4 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| MUSCOVY | 415 km SE (145°) | 37.017° N, 115.995° E | nuclear-tests |
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, 19,972 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 40.094° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,279 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 43.6° 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 Datong in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.