A
geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated
GSO) is an
orbit around the
Earth with an
orbital period of one
sidereal day, intentionally matching the Earth's
sidereal rotation period (approximately 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds). The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on the surface of the Earth, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day. Over the course of a day, the object's position in the sky traces out a path, typically in a figure-8 form, whose precise characteristics depend on the orbit's
inclination and
eccentricity.