The local space context of London 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 | 51.508° N, 0.126° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 8,961,989 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| V-2 launch area, Serooskerke, Walcheren, Holland | 257 km E (87°) | 51.551° N, 3.590° E | gcat-sites |
| Vernon, Eure, France | 293 km SSE (156°) | 49.080° N, 1.480° E | gcat-sites |
| Aberporth Range | 312 km WNW (285°) | 52.138° N, 4.555° W | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area near Den Haag-Wassenaar | 317 km ENE (76°) | 52.130° N, 4.380° E | gcat-sites |
| Cornwall Airport Newquay | 362 km WSW (253°) | 50.441° N, 5.008° W | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area, Beukenhorst mansion, Vught, Nederlanden | 374 km E (86°) | 51.624° N, 5.289° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area, Stavorem, Friesland | 407 km ENE (65°) | 52.900° N, 5.400° E | gcat-sites |
| Camp de Suippes, Marne, France | 422 km SE (127°) | 49.150° N, 4.530° E | gcat-sites |
| Artillerie Schietkamp, t'Harde | 426 km ENE (74°) | 52.395° N, 5.923° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch areas, Fraiture, Vielsalm, Ardennes | 435 km ESE (106°) | 50.258° N, 5.752° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch areas, Houffalize, Belgium | 447 km ESE (109°) | 50.040° N, 5.790° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area at Hellendoorn/Eelerberg | 460 km ENE (75°) | 52.410° N, 6.430° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area, Zwolle-Hellendoorn-Enschede | 461 km ENE (75°) | 52.400° N, 6.450° E | gcat-sites |
| Unknown V2 WWII launch site, Europe | 462 km ESE (109°) | 50.000° N, 6.000° E | gcat-sites |
| V-2 launch area, Enschede, Nederlanden | 488 km ENE (78°) | 52.220° N, 6.890° E | gcat-sites |
| … and 19 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.
Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit on 2026-10-18, 15,711 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 51.508° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 7,540 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° | no — its track stops at 41.5° |
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 31.0° 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 London in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.