The local space context of Philadelphia 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 | 39.952° N, 75.164° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 1,573,916 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland | 214 km SSW (210°) | 38.286° N, 76.408° W | gcat-sites |
| Vize Expedition 6, 1978 (SU017921) | 218 km S (176°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1964 Croatan MRF Expedition | 218 km S (176°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1965 Croatan MRF Expedition | 218 km S (176°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| Naval Air Ordnance Test Station, Chincoteague, Virginia | 225 km S (187°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Island Main Base, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Chincoteague, Virginia | 225 km S (187°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Virginia | 238 km S (187°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia | 238 km S (187°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Ninigret State Park (Charlestown NAS), Charlestown, Rhode Island | 334 km ENE (61°) | 41.360° N, 71.670° W | gcat-sites |
| USS Rushmore U. Michigan Cruise 1956 | 355 km E (88°) | 40.000° N, 71.000° W | gcat-sites |
| Terrier intercept test area off US Atlantic coast (RI/Mass?) | 485 km E (81°) | 40.500° N, 69.500° W | gcat-sites |
| USS Staten Island, 1953 Arctic expedition (Operation MUSHRAT) | 486 km NE (54°) | 42.430° N, 70.370° W | gcat-sites |
| North Truro Air Force Station | 487 km ENE (60°) | 42.030° N, 70.050° W | gcat-sites |
| Plattsburgh AFB, NY | 541 km NNE (14°) | 44.653° N, 73.469° W | gcat-sites |
| Plattsburgh AFB or other FB-111 base | 542 km NNE (14°) | 44.660° N, 73.460° W | gcat-sites |
| … and 6 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electron | 6x HawkEye 360 | 237 km S (187°) | 37.833° N, 75.488° W | launchlibrary |
| Neutron | Maiden Flight | 237 km S (187°) | 37.832° N, 75.490° W | launchlibrary |
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, 19,983 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 39.952° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,268 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 43.8° 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 Philadelphia in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.