Today Online is published by Anthony R. Curtis who welcomes comments via e-mail Copyright 2000. A Most people think of satellites as flying east-west, circling the globe above the equator. While many satellites do fly in such low equatorial orbits, there also are many polar-orbiting satellites.
Different satellites fly around Earth on different orbital paths.
Polar-orbiting satellites provide a more global view of Earth. Polar satellites look down on Earth's entire surface, passing above the North and South Poles several times a day. As the satellite loops around the globe, Earth seems to rotate under the orbit. Equatorial and polar satellites mostly fly at low altitudes between 100 and 1,000 miles. To an observer on the ground, they seem to climb up from the horizon, pass overhead, and fall below the horizon several times a day.