Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Heliostationary orbit
An heliostationary orbit is an heliocentric orbit of approximately 24,360,000 km radius (0.162 84 AU, a little less than half of Mercury's orbital radius), with an eccentricity of zero and an inclination (to the Sun's equator) of zero. Its distinguishing characteristic is that a body in such an orbit has a period of revolution roughly equal to the Sun's equatorial period of rotation and appears to continuously hover above the same spot of the Sun's surface. A solar observation probe could be placed on such an orbit in the near future.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details