The local space context of Handan 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 | 36.610° N, 114.488° E | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 1,358,318 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiyuan weixing fashe zhongxin | 195 km WNW (301°) | 37.500° N, 112.600° E | gcat-sites |
| Space Pioneer Gongyi Static Test Site | 248 km SSW (212°) | 34.709° N, 113.051° E | gcat-sites |
| 822 Brigade missile base, Laiwu, Shangdong province | 292 km E (97°) | 36.235° N, 117.716° E | gcat-sites |
| 806th Brigade missile base, Huanglong, Shaanxi province | 385 km WSW (252°) | 35.474° N, 110.447° E | gcat-sites |
| 51St Base, Fengrun, Tangshan, Hebei province | 479 km NE (40°) | 39.856° N, 118.093° E | gcat-sites |
| Jianggezhuang Submarine Base | 548 km E (94°) | 36.104° N, 120.579° E | gcat-sites |
| Haiyang test site, Shandong | 599 km E (86°) | 36.800° N, 121.200° E | gcat-sites |
| Bohai launch area (Some Yellow Sea launches may also be here) | 603 km ENE (68°) | 38.500° N, 120.900° E | gcat-sites |
| Huang Hai CZ-11 launch zone | 634 km ESE (105°) | 34.900° N, 121.190° E | gcat-sites |
| Huludao Shipyard test site | 712 km NE (48°) | 40.700° N, 120.800° E | gcat-sites |
| 410 Brigate Missile Base, Dengshahe, Liaoning province | 724 km ENE (64°) | 39.229° N, 122.054° E | gcat-sites |
| Shijiedu sounding rocket site, Anhui Province | 766 km SE (144°) | 30.950° N, 119.220° E | gcat-sites |
| Jinzhou missile base, Liaoning province | 770 km NE (47°) | 41.190° N, 121.170° E | gcat-sites |
| Yellow Sea launch area | 788 km E (101°) | 35.000° N, 123.000° E | gcat-sites |
| Bayan Hot test range | 817 km WNW (290°) | 38.758° N, 105.608° E | gcat-sites |
| … and 13 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| MUSCOVY | 142 km ENE (71°) | 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, 20,034 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 36.610° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,217 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 47.5° 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.
/sim.html#sel=EARTH&tn=1,
then stand at Handan in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.