Honchō (JP)

The local space context of Honchō 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.

position35.701° N, 139.987° EGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
population644,668 inhabitantsGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0

On the ground within 1000 km

Launch sites — 11 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Niijima, Nippon166 km SSW (203°)34.330° N, 139.270° Egcat-sites
Sendai, Japan297 km NNE (16°)38.270° N, 140.900° Egcat-sites
Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, South Australia404 km W (259°)34.940° N, 135.630° Egcat-sites
Ryori, Sanrikucho, Japan404 km NNE (23°)39.030° N, 141.830° Egcat-sites
Akita Rocket Range (ATC)430 km N (1°)39.571° N, 140.057° Egcat-sites
Spaceport Kii, Kanagawa445 km WSW (239°)33.544° N, 135.889° Egcat-sites
Obuchi (Obachi?), Aomori, Honshu, Nippon576 km NNE (15°)40.700° N, 141.730° Egcat-sites
Interstellar Technologies Test Site, Taiki, Hokkaido814 km NNE (21°)42.506° N, 143.457° Egcat-sites
Kagoshima Space Center, Kagoshima, Kyushu, Nippon962 km WSW (242°)31.250° N, 131.079° Egcat-sites
Uchinoura Space Center, Kagoshima (formerly Kagoshima)962 km WSW (242°)31.250° N, 131.079° Egcat-sites
R-11 launch point in 1958 (Pacific, but location unknown)1,000 km ENE (58°)40.000° N, 150.000° Egcat-sites

Announced launches (their pads) — 1 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Epsilon S | JV-LOTUSat-1962 km WSW (242°)31.251° N, 131.082° Elaunchlibrary

Nuclear detonations — 2 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Hiroshima (Little Boy)701 km W (260°)34.395° N, 132.455° Enukes
Nagasaki (Fat Man)985 km WSW (254°)32.773° N, 129.863° Enukes

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, 20,049 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 35.701° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,202 never reach this latitude.

space stationinclinationcan pass overhead
Bai Xiang85.0°yes
International Space Station (+3 docked records)51.6°yes
Kosmos-38255.9°yes
Tianhe41.5°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 from here

The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands 48.6° 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.

What this page does not know