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Old 10th February 2009 | 18:52
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Rainboe
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Joined: Jan 2005
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From: Hampshire, UK
Geostationary satellites orbit about 24,000 miles out, and hovering over a small area of the Earth's surface in Equatorial regions, aren't much good from that range taking close up photos vertically overhead! Their use is weather region photos and broadcast transmissions. For the higher latitudes, they are no use at all for Google Earth. The lower orbit satellites cover a far wider latitude band (depending on the inclination of the orbit) with a far lower altitude and can take far better resolution pictures with a proper overhead view. This geostationary shot of Europe Met Office: Europe: Infrared satellite imagery is an example, slightly deformed image to show corrected scale from top to bottom (ie boost Iceland a bit because it is further from the camera than Spain).
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