The local space context of Washington 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 | 38.895° N, 77.036° W | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|---|
| population | 689,545 inhabitants | GeoNames (geonames.org) — CC BY 4.0 |
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland | 87 km SE (141°) | 38.286° N, 76.408° W | gcat-sites |
| Naval Air Ordnance Test Station, Chincoteague, Virginia | 173 km SE (127°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Island Main Base, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Chincoteague, Virginia | 173 km SE (127°) | 37.938° N, 75.463° W | gcat-sites |
| Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Virginia | 180 km SE (131°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia | 180 km SE (131°) | 37.830° N, 75.480° W | gcat-sites |
| Vize Expedition 6, 1978 (SU017921) | 203 km ESE (119°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1964 Croatan MRF Expedition | 203 km ESE (119°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| 1965 Croatan MRF Expedition | 203 km ESE (119°) | 38.000° N, 75.000° W | gcat-sites |
| Hampstead, North Carolina, 1 mi W of Topsail Beach | 507 km S (186°) | 34.360° N, 77.640° W | gcat-sites |
| Ninigret State Park (Charlestown NAS), Charlestown, Rhode Island | 532 km ENE (57°) | 41.360° N, 71.670° W | gcat-sites |
| USS Rushmore U. Michigan Cruise 1956 | 533 km ENE (75°) | 40.000° N, 71.000° W | gcat-sites |
| USS Turner, Aegis NTW test launch area, 150 km off N Carolina | 645 km SSE (151°) | 33.754° N, 73.689° W | gcat-sites |
| Terrier intercept test area off US Atlantic coast (RI/Mass?) | 669 km ENE (72°) | 40.500° N, 69.500° W | gcat-sites |
| USS Staten Island, 1953 Arctic expedition (Operation MUSHRAT) | 686 km NE (53°) | 42.430° N, 70.370° W | gcat-sites |
| North Truro Air Force Station | 686 km ENE (57°) | 42.030° N, 70.050° W | gcat-sites |
| … and 6 more within 1000 km | |||
| site | distance · bearing | position | source layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neutron | Maiden Flight | 179 km SE (131°) | 37.832° N, 75.490° W | launchlibrary |
| Electron | 6x HawkEye 360 | 179 km SE (131°) | 37.833° N, 75.488° 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, 20,002 fly orbits whose ground track reaches 38.895° N, so they can pass directly overhead; the other 3,249 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 45.0° 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 Washington in Stargazing — it computes which satellites are visible now, from this
registry, in your browser.