Possible Satellite orbits (circular orbits only) There are 6 satellites shown in "orbit"
around the center object (the Earth). The RED one is the
geo-synchronous orbit (1 orbit = 24 hours).
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Description
This animation illustrates satellites
around the Earth (pretend you are above the North pole of the Earth,
looking down). Of special significance is the location of the
Geo-sychronous orbit (that's the orbit that takes 24 hours - thus the
satellite will stay at the same point above the Equator -- that's the RED
orbit, and notice the line on the Earth that rotates with the 24 hour
period). If you zoom out, you will see the Moon's orbit also.
Zooming in, you can see the orbit that
would occur right at the Earth's radius (i.e. at the surface of the Earth)
... we really can't orbit a satellite at that location, but Bug Bunny can
throw a baseball around the Earth! (He used it to prove that the Earth was
round .. and his data? ... Travel stamps when the baseball came back!)
[Note : the orbits you are seeing are reasonable approximations of the
true orbits ... but if you pick a very short time step (1 second) and zoom
in, you will see strange behavior (based on the approximation/graphics
that is being used ... trust me, that's not what the satellites do!)
Credits :
Original Physlet problem authored by Wolfgang Christian. Modified
extensively by Dr. Scott Schneider