Makhachkala (RU)

The local space context of Makhachkala 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.

position42.978° N, 47.500° EGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
population596,356 inhabitantsGeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0

On the ground within 1000 km

Launch sites — 25 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
Makhachkala missile base, Makhachkala, Dagestan31 km S (180°)42.700° N, 47.500° Egcat-sites
Ordzhonikidze missile base, Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz), S Ossetia232 km W (272°)43.020° N, 44.650° Egcat-sites
North Ossetia? Possible Iskander launch point285 km W (272°)43.000° N, 44.000° Egcat-sites
Unknown Iskander launch site, Armenia398 km SW (220°)40.180° N, 44.510° Egcat-sites
Ashuluk, Rossiya496 km N (5°)47.422° N, 48.034° Egcat-sites
Tabriz Missile Base S567 km SSW (192°)37.978° N, 46.176° Egcat-sites
Rize-Artvin Havalimani586 km WSW (252°)41.169° N, 40.829° Egcat-sites
Vladimirovka Poligon600 km N (351°)48.300° N, 46.200° Egcat-sites
GTsMP-4 MO RF, Znamensk (Kapustin Yar), Rossiya628 km NNW (348°)48.500° N, 45.800° Egcat-sites
GTsP-4, Kapustin Yar, Volgograd, Rossiya628 km NNW (348°)48.500° N, 45.800° Egcat-sites
Tactical launch site, Urda, Kazakhstan643 km N (360°)48.760° N, 47.480° Egcat-sites
Makat tactical missile base, Atyrau, Kazakstan690 km NE (39°)47.650° N, 53.320° Egcat-sites
Derecik missile base711 km SSW (204°)37.074° N, 44.304° Egcat-sites
Emba test range, Kazakshtan772 km NE (51°)47.100° N, 55.420° Egcat-sites
Missile base, Kurdistan province, Iran786 km S (190°)36.000° N, 46.000° Egcat-sites
… and 10 more within 1000 km

Nuclear detonations — 67 within 1000 km

sitedistance · bearingpositionsource layer
VEGA421 km N (7°)46.730° N, 48.197° Enuclear-tests
VEGA422 km N (7°)46.743° N, 48.213° Enuclear-tests
VEGA423 km N (7°)46.748° N, 48.215° Enuclear-tests
VEGA424 km N (8°)46.754° N, 48.270° Enuclear-tests
VEGA427 km N (8°)46.780° N, 48.300° Enuclear-tests
VEGA428 km N (8°)46.790° N, 48.270° Enuclear-tests
VEGA428 km N (8°)46.790° N, 48.290° Enuclear-tests
VEGA429 km N (8°)46.796° N, 48.297° Enuclear-tests
VEGA431 km N (8°)46.817° N, 48.279° Enuclear-tests
VEGA431 km N (8°)46.816° N, 48.291° Enuclear-tests
VEGA432 km N (8°)46.820° N, 48.280° Enuclear-tests
VEGA432 km N (5°)46.843° N, 48.023° Enuclear-tests
VEGA433 km N (7°)46.837° N, 48.231° Enuclear-tests
VEGA436 km N (8°)46.860° N, 48.272° Enuclear-tests
USSR test 2445182449 km N (5°)47.000° N, 48.000° Enuclear-tests
… and 52 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.

What can pass overhead

Of the 23,251 artificial objects the registry places in Earth orbit on 2026-10-18, 19,905 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 42.978° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,346 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°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 from here

The geostationary belt arcs across the southern sky and stands 40.4° 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