Great video simplifying the ground tracks of satellites! I also appreciate the mention elliptical and geosynchronous/geostationary orbits. Many people overlook those. There is just one matter I would mention and that's the difference between the two geo orbits. Geostationary are, as you described, a single point ground track. Geosynchronous however are not limited to a "vertical line" and can take a number of shapes in their ground tracks, i.e. figure eights or even tear drop. But again, really great video simplifying the dynamics. Thank you.
+Elena Lopez It's not quite a perfect sine wave because the Earth's axis is tilted and the Earth is spinning while the space station orbits, meaning the wave gets shifted slightly on each orbit, otherwise it would effectively be a perfect sine wave (with the proper coefficients) and it would always pass over the same path above the Earth
I am actually investigating the equation of the groundtrack and I seem to get y= arctan(K sin(Ft)) where K and F are constants and t is time and y would represnt the latitude and x= Ft for x representing the longitud this latitude and longitude are supposed to show the position of the satellite at any time, if it were to start at longitude and latitude 0
@@leavemealone9351 SATELLITE Phones work off satellites, Cell phones do not. They are not the same thing. Cell phones use the towers, but GPS uses Satellites regardless of what flat-earthers want you to think. As for curvature being called horizon, well, I can play word games too. The atmoSPHERE is called the atmosphere because it covers a SPHERE. A hemiSPHERE is called a hemisphere because it is one half of a SPHERE. I bet you omitted those questions. As for Airplane, also called aeroplane or plane, are any of a class of fixed-wing aircraft that is heavier than air, propelled by a screw propeller or a high-velocity jet, and supported by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings. Has nothing to do with the shape of the earth or the land it flys over. Stop with the government crap. Government and scientific consensus are not the same thing. Don't mix politics with science. Politicians are mostly scientifically illiterate, just like anyone that believes the earth is flat.
Best explained video. I was hoping u too draw a orbit on flibe nd then flatten it out. But drawing on rolled paper nd then showing how it looked like a wave on flat plane solves the purpose. Thanks for such a informative video nd in end explaining how other orbit looks like on map.
one small correction, the satellite described at 5:01, is not in a geosynchronous orbit, but rather a geostationary orbit. the difference is that a geostationary satellite has an orbital period of 1 sidereal day, and is over the equator. whereas geosynchronous orbits have an orbital period of 1 day, but have an inclination higher then 0, meaning it makes the shape of a figure eight. edit: correction to myself: a geosynchronous can also be geostationary, geostationary is just one specific orbit under the umbrella of geosynchronous orbits.
CGP who now? Haha Joke aside this was a great and interesting explanation of something that has bugged me for years! The reason I couldn't... _reason_ it out is because I assumed that the ISS orbited a path parallel with the equator! I didn't know it was a caddywompus orbit! Great video! You earned my sub for sure and I hope you keep making content.
Just FYI, a satellite in GEOs plot point most commonly looks like a figure-8 or infinity symbol based on some orbital mechanics, not just a dot or a line. Some might have tighter coverage, but it’s point isn’t always exact.
You should add that due to earths tilt and rotation that although the satellite or say the ISS is travelling in the exact orbit every orbit, it does not pass over the same area
outstanding work! Wondered this since watching the Apollo flights! One question - you say that a geosynchronous orbit would appear in the same place, like a dot. Actually that would be a geostationary orbit. A geosynchronous orbit would appear as a figure 8. Right or wrong?
Geostationary is a special case of geosynchronous. Geosynchronous just means its orbital period matches the period of rotation of the Earth, such that it returns to the same position above the surface once a day. Geostationary means that it is also a perfect circle equatorial orbit and perpetually stays over the same position above the surface.
You can also draw it with the measure tool on Google Maps, zoom out as much as possible and draw the orbit, after that you press the "dissable global view" (symbol of a sphere) and you'll get the sine wave, it's great.
Thank you for answering a question that I have had for a very long time. Since the early 60's as a matter of fact. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work.
His definition of geosynchronous was wrong. He described geostationary. Geosynchronous means its orbital period is with a sidereal day (360 degree rotation of earth). An oval shaped orbit that isn't along the equator will not appear as a dot on a ground track. A geostationary orbit is "locked in place" with the earth and will appear as a dot on a ground track.
Geostationary orbits are just a special subset of geosynchronous orbits and I actually did allude to that slightly in saying their ground tracks would be a dot (i.e. geostationary) or at most a vertical line (i.e. all other geosynchronous orbits) but figured the minutia of all that isn't needed for an introductory style video like this, more appropriate for someone like yourself that's clearly somewhat versed in orbital dynamics
What bothers me is that why its orbit passed on the certain places.....why not its circle just sits on the equator and circle there and why not its circle pass north pole and south pole that is a circle also.....what if I want it to pass right above south Pacific Ocean since the orbit always go to north pacific
If I understand your question correctly, the reason the path doesn't stay in the same place and pass over the same area every time is because it is effectively orbiting in a stationary circle but the Earth itself spins within that orbit once per day, so it takes ~90 minutes to make one complete orbit and is back in the same spot, but it's not over the same place on Earth because the Earth has spun
thanks man! can you help with one more problem it took a lot of time for me to understand what is going on with the moon and earth orbits as they are at an angle of 5° and it also rotates around earth called Apsidal precession and that retrograde motion of line of nodes and all that. i want to say that please make one single video giving us explanation of all these things and making it understand in a simpler way. i hope that you will see to it, thank you!
I kinda figured it put , but couldnt demonstrate it or imagine it perfectly. I related it to the orbital path and the axis of rotation , just couldnt nail the 2d 3d aspect of it
Nice! Figuring that much out in just a few minutes is impressive in itself, it took me years of brooding about it whenever I saw one of these maps and hours once I actually sat down to try and crack it.
Thank you so much. This has been messing with me and could not get it even reading science magazines and websites. The illustration was money. Thanks bro!
Thanks for taking the time to make this video. Of course it's about 12 years too late for me. It always intrigued me too when I saw the satellite orbit maps. I couldn't quite figure it out in my head and then I would forget about it by the time the movie was over and I wouldn't think about it until the next movie that had it. Finally It just popped into my head while I had some freetime and I decided to figure it out for myself. I had always done really well in science and math including trigonometry. It was so amazing when it finally clicked in my head. I still get goosebumps thinking about that eureka moment. It's so awesome when you take the time to solve a problem on your own instead of just looking up the answer. Plus when you go through every step to solve it you are far more likely to remember it then if someone just gave you the answer. Thanks again. I know how time consuming producing videos can be.
great video. Another question I have is: Why is the wave always on a slightly different spot a every orbit on the I.s.s? Wouldn't that mean that there is a constant force slightly pushing it's to change it's direction? (which isn't possible)
Nope, the ISS is in an unchanging orbit, it just looks like it's shifting each subsequent time around on a map of the Earth because the Earth is spinning below it.
