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I’ve noticed that satellite pass predictions for the same location can show a pass one evening and a much earlier or later one on another day. I had assumed a satellite would cross a city at roughly the same local time each orbit, but that does not seem to hold for every satellite.
How much do orbit shape, orbital inclination, and the rotation of Earth affect the timing? I’m trying to understand how a satellite’s ground track relates to what an observer on the surface sees, rather than just how to look up a pass forecast.
