Geostationary orbit
![Two geostationary satellites in same orbit](/Images/godic/202501/04/Geostationaryjava3D2843.gif")
![A 5 × 6 degree view of a part of the geostationary belt, showing several geostationary satellites. Those with inclination 0° form a diagonal belt across the image; a few objects with small inclinations to the equator are visible above this line. The satellites are pinpoint, while stars have created small trails due to the Earth's rotation.](/Images/godic/202501/04/Geosats_compilation2843.jpg")
![Comparison of geostationary Earth orbit with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Compass (medium Earth orbit) satellite navigation system orbits with the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and Iridium constellation orbits, and the nominal size of the Earth.[lower-alpha 1] The Moon's orbit is around 9 times larger (in radius and length) than geostationary orbit.[lower-alpha 2]](/Images/godic/202501/04/Comparison_satellite_navigation_orbits.svg2843.png")
A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit or geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometres (22,236 mi) above the Earth's equator and following the direction of the Earth's rotation. An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to the Earth's rotational period (one sidereal day) and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers. Communications satellites and weather satellites are often placed in geostationary orbits, so that the satellite antennas (located on Earth) that communicate with them do not have to rotate to track them, but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites are located. Using this characteristic, ocean color satellites with visible and near-infrared light sensors (e.g. the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI)) can also be operated in geostationary orbit in order to monitor sensitive changes of ocean environments.