Well, actually there is a caveat: the distance to the satellite is never
exactly 22500 miles. Depending on whether the orbit is measured from the
surface of the earth (which is obviously the case for regular
non-geosynchronous satellites) or the center of the earth (which I think
is done with the 22500 mi figure) the satellite is either farther away or
closer, depending on the location of the observer and the orbit of the
satellite. The difference is substantial: up to 4000 miles.
geosynchronous orbit is 22500 miles from the *surface* of the earth.
-- Brett
>
> Well, actually there is a caveat: the distance to the satellite is never
> exactly 22500 miles. Depending on whether the orbit is measured from the
> surface of the earth (which is obviously the case for regular
> non-geosynchronous satellites) or the center of the earth (which I think
> is done with the 22500 mi figure) the satellite is either farther away or
> closer, depending on the location of the observer and the orbit of the
> satellite. The difference is substantial: up to 4000 miles.
geosynchronous orbit is 22500 miles from the *surface* of the earth.
well sorta... it's ~35787km above mean sea-level which is around
22,366 miles. That altitude is about 42164km above a point represting the
earths center of gravity on the equitorial plane.
there's a copy of the wireless world (1945) article by arthur c clarke
here:
http://www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/ACC.ETRelays.html
the actual distance from you to the sattelite will vary based on your
location but the distance from the point over the equater where it sits to
the sattelite will remain constant...
Ok, this means if the satellite is just over the horizon it's actually
26500 miles away.