The local space context of San Jose 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
37.339° N, 121.895° W
GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
population
997,368 inhabitants
GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0
On the ground within 1000 km
Launch sites — 34 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
52 km NW (307°)
37.620° N, 122.370° W
gcat-sites
Beale AFB, California
204 km N (11°)
39.140° N, 121.440° W
gcat-sites
Vandenberg AFB, California
310 km SSE (158°)
34.750° N, 120.620° W
gcat-sites
Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
310 km SSE (158°)
34.750° N, 120.620° W
gcat-sites
South Vandenberg AFB, California
323 km SSE (159°)
34.630° N, 120.610° W
gcat-sites
South Base, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
323 km SSE (159°)
34.630° N, 120.610° W
gcat-sites
Naval Missile Facility, Point Arguello, California
324 km SSE (159°)
34.620° N, 120.600° W
gcat-sites
Mud Lake, Nevada
413 km ENE (77°)
38.100° N, 117.300° W
gcat-sites
Mojave Spaceport, California
423 km SE (126°)
35.049° N, 118.136° W
gcat-sites
Friends of Amateur Rocketry, Randsburg, California
428 km ESE (120°)
35.348° N, 117.809° W
gcat-sites
Naval Missile and Astronautics Center, Point Mugu, California
437 km SE (144°)
34.120° N, 119.120° W
gcat-sites
Black Rock Desert, Nevada
455 km NNE (31°)
40.830° N, 119.140° W
gcat-sites
Tonopah Test Range, Nevada
456 km E (83°)
37.750° N, 116.750° W
gcat-sites
Edwards AFB, California
457 km SE (125°)
34.900° N, 117.800° W
gcat-sites
Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California
466 km ESE (113°)
35.580° N, 117.170° W
gcat-sites
… and 19 more within 1000 km
Ground stations and transmitting sites — 2 within 1000 km
Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer E
322 km SSE (159°)
34.632° N, 120.611° W
launchlibrary
… and 10 more within 1000 km
Nuclear detonations — 940 within 1000 km
site
distance · bearing
position
source layer
SHOAL
370 km NE (55°)
39.200° N, 118.380° W
nuclear-tests
PAJARA
473 km E (92°)
37.060° N, 116.570° W
nuclear-tests
PALANQUIN
474 km E (89°)
37.260° N, 116.540° W
nuclear-tests
STILTON
475 km E (88°)
37.330° N, 116.520° W
nuclear-tests
DELAMAR
476 km E (90°)
37.248° N, 116.509° W
nuclear-tests
TAFI
477 km E (89°)
37.300° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
KASH
477 km E (89°)
37.300° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
DARWIN
477 km E (89°)
37.265° N, 116.499° W
nuclear-tests
KNICKERBOCKER
478 km E (90°)
37.210° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
BUTEO
478 km E (90°)
37.200° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
BENHAM
478 km E (90°)
37.200° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
MOLBO
478 km E (90°)
37.200° N, 116.500° W
nuclear-tests
TENABOO
478 km E (90°)
37.248° N, 116.494° W
nuclear-tests
HANDLEY
478 km E (89°)
37.300° N, 116.490° W
nuclear-tests
HORNITOS
478 km E (89°)
37.263° N, 116.491° W
nuclear-tests
… and 925 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, 20,020 fly orbits whose ground
track reaches 37.339° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other
3,231 never reach this latitude.
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
46.7° 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
Tonight's sky and pass times. They depend on the hour, so a static page would print a
stale number. Open the live scene in a browser: /sim.html#sel=EARTH&tn=1,
then stand at San Jose in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.
Anything not catalogued. A site absent from the source catalogues is absent here; an
empty list means «not in the registry», not «nothing there».
Precision beyond the sources. Positions carry the precision their catalogue published.