Where does this come from, and can I check it?

At that height one lap takes exactly a day, so the satellite hangs still. The figure is taken from ESA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a space fact?

Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Geostationary orbit sits 35,786 kilometres up

At that height one lap takes exactly a day, so the satellite hangs still A satellite must match Earth's rotation to stay over one point, which fixes both altitude and speed at about 3 kilometres a second. The band is a single crowded ring above the equator. Weather and television satellites cluster there. It sits in Mondo's space collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

ESA

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Technology trivia

More facts like this

Geostationary satellites sit 35,786 kilometres upAt that height one orbit takes a day, so the craft appears to hang still Sun-synchronous orbits keep the same local timeThese near-polar paths precess to match the Sun's apparent yearly motion Molniya orbits loiter over high latitudesA 12 hour ellipse with a distant apogee serves northern Russia for hours at a time Satellites in low orbit slowly sinkThin air still reaches the space station and drags it down each day Molniya orbits linger over high latitudesA satellite on a long ellipse spends most of each twelve hour orbit crawling across the northern sky Earth orbit holds millions of artificial space debris fragmentsDefunct satellites and paint flecks orbit Earth at high orbital velocities

Tags: orbits, satellites, geostationary

Geostationary orbit sits 35,786 kilometres up: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: At that height one lap takes exactly a day, so the satellite hangs still. The figure is taken from ESA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a space fact?: Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.