Originally Posted by
galaxy flyer
Thanks, FlyVMO! I guessed the cosine bit and found the velocity of the earth is 903 knots, but the effect of altitude is still a mystery.
GF
Thats got me thinking!
If we make the numbers easy. 1 deg is 60nm so 360 degs is 21600 (at the equator) Over 24 hours that is 900 kts.
So 21600 is the circumference. Divided by Pi and then by 2 gives a radius of 3437 nm. Flying at 7 miles say, so our radius is now 3444 and therefore our circumference is now 21643 and over 24 hours that comes to 902 kts. So therefore the higher you go the faster you would need to go to keep up with the sun. (Makes sense really, I suppose thats why 'geo-stationary' satellites are doing about 15,000 kts to keep up, cos they are so high)
Think I have that right!
Leezy, not sure about your question, I think though you are asking the same question, ie what speed would you have to go to keep 'geo-stationary' whilst the earth revolves under you. In which case I think it is the answer above (depending on your Lat obviously).