List of orbits

This is a list of types of gravitational orbit classified by various characteristics.

[1] The following is a list of types of orbits: For orbits centered about planets other than Earth and Mars and for the dwarf planet Pluto, the orbit names incorporating Greek terminology are not as established and much less commonly used: For Earth orbiting satellites below the height of about 800 km, the atmospheric drag is the major orbit perturbing force out of all non-gravitational forces.

[11] Above 800 km, solar radiation pressure causes the largest orbital perturbations.

[12] However, the atmospheric drag strongly depends on the density of the upper atmosphere, which is related to the solar activity, therefore the height at which the impact of the atmospheric drag is similar to solar radiation pressure varies depending on the phase of the solar cycle.

Radial orbits can be either open or closed.

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 . [ a ] The Moon 's orbit is around 9 times larger (in radius and length) than geostationary orbit. [ b ]
The three most important Earth Orbits and the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belt
Various Earth orbits to scale:
  • the innermost, the red dotted line represents the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS);
  • cyan represents low Earth orbit,
  • yellow represents medium Earth orbit,
  • The green dashed line represents the orbit of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and
  • the outermost, the black dashed line represents geostationary orbit.
Geostationary orbit as seen from the north celestial pole . To an observer on the rotating Earth, the red and yellow satellites appear stationary in the sky above Singapore and Africa respectively.
Pyramid orbit
A diagram showing the five Lagrangian points in a two-body system with one body far more massive than the other (e.g. the Sun and the Earth). In such a system, L 3 – L 5 are situated slightly outside of the secondary's orbit despite their appearance in this small scale diagram.