A
geostationary orbit,
geostationary Earth orbit or
geosynchronous equatorial orbit (
GEO) is a circular
orbit 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) which 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.
