Page 5 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Orbiting the Earth
Just as the Earth makes a journey, or orbit, around the Sun, and the Moon makes an orbit around the Earth, so any object, given the right conditions, can be made to go into orbit around the Earth.
It is possible to shape this orbit so the object moves more slowly than the rotAtion of the Earth, faster than the rotation of the Earth, or the same speed as the Earth. When it goes faster or slower, the object is always moving over different parts of the Earth. That is useful for satellites surveying the Earth’s surface, for example.
When an object is traveling at the same speed as the Earth, it stays permanently over exactly the same spot. That is called a geostAtionAry orbit. Such a fixed position is useful for producing a network of satellites that can look down on the whole of the Earth, for exchanging communications, for example, or for helping with global positioning.
 The orbiting hubble Space teleScope.
For more on satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope see Volume 8: What satellites see.
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