The local space context of Riga 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 | 56.946° N, 24.106° E | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 742,572 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leba (Ustka), Slupsk, Pomerania, Polska | 474 km WSW (242°) | 54.780° N, 17.550° E | gcat-sites |
| Heidekraut, Tucheler Heide, Deutschland (now Polska) | 536 km SW (229°) | 53.600° N, 18.000° E | gcat-sites |
| Centralny Poligon Sil Powietrzynch | 539 km WSW (244°) | 54.550° N, 16.610° E | gcat-sites |
| Belarus missile launch sites in Russian invasion of Ukraine | 634 km SSE (148°) | 52.000° N, 29.000° E | gcat-sites |
| Centrum Szkolenia Wojsk Ladowych Drawsko | 657 km WSW (237°) | 53.433° N, 15.764° E | gcat-sites |
| Heersversuchsstelle Peenemunde, Usedom, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 717 km WSW (249°) | 54.173° N, 13.801° E | gcat-sites |
| Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager, Blizna, Krakow, Polska | 765 km SSW (192°) | 50.200° N, 21.800° E | gcat-sites |
| Zingst Range, MMR-06 pad, DDR | 778 km WSW (252°) | 54.200° N, 12.700° E | gcat-sites |
| ATACMS launch location, Ukraine | 836 km SSE (147°) | 50.450° N, 30.520° E | gcat-sites |
| Teykovo Missile Base, Russia | 992 km E (85°) | 56.700° N, 40.440° E | gcat-sites |
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, 9,745 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 56.946° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 13,506 never reach this latitude.
| space station | inclination | can pass overhead |
|---|---|---|
| Bai Xiang | 85.0° | yes |
| International Space Station (+3 docked records) | 51.6° | no — its track stops at 51.6° |
| Kosmos-382 | 55.9° | no — its track stops at 55.9° |
| 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 25.2° 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 Riga in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.