The local space context of Madrid 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 | 40.416° N, 3.703° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 3,255,944 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estacion de sondeos atmosfericos de El Arenosillo, Huelva, Espana | 454 km SW (216°) | 37.096° N, 6.742° W | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de Lancement de Missiles (former CEL) | 483 km NNE (24°) | 44.362° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de Landes, Biscarosse, Landes, France | 492 km NNE (23°) | 44.450° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| DGA Essais de missiles, Site Landes, Biscarosse, Landes, France | 492 km NNE (23°) | 44.450° N, 1.250° W | gcat-sites |
| Base aerienne 120, Cazaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 505 km NNE (24°) | 44.540° N, 1.113° W | gcat-sites |
| Le Cardonnet, Montpelier, France | 701 km ENE (57°) | 43.580° N, 3.640° E | gcat-sites |
| Zone de lancement SNLE, Golfe de Gascogne, Bretagne | 790 km N (356°) | 47.500° N, 4.500° W | gcat-sites |
| Zone de lancement SNLE, Baie d'Audierne | 803 km N (358°) | 47.630° N, 4.050° W | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais de la Mediterranee, Ile du Levant, Var, France | 893 km ENE (68°) | 43.050° N, 6.470° E | gcat-sites |
| Centre d'Essais et de Recherches d'Engins Speciaux, Ile du Levant, Var | 893 km ENE (68°) | 43.050° N, 6.470° E | gcat-sites |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSN Madrid | 46 km W (272°) | 40.431° N, 4.248° W | signals |
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, 19,971 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 40.416° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,280 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 43.3° 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 Madrid in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.