A question to any that understandorbotal mechanics. 
Is it possible to have an orbital path that observed from the ground that tracks from northeast to southwest?

Because if not - I saw a HIGH flying aircraft at over an hour before sunrise...

There's no rule against it. Some orbits decay faster than others, so they're less likely to be chosen for a parking orbit.

But for fun, trace that trace out and see what major airports are in line with the UFO.

Nothing preventing such an orbit. It would be a polar orbit, or a bit retrograde, but nothing in the orbital mechanics itself makes that impossible.

Why it would be done *economically* is another question.

You can have an orbit in any direction, but usually they are along the equator because the rocket can gain "free" speed by using the Earths rotation. You can have "retrograde" orbits which orbit the equator in the opposite direction but the launch would need much more fuel, also "polar" orbits which go north/south, used to cover the whole surface of the Earth as it rotates underneath (also used to piss off flat Earthers!)

(November 30, 2020 at 8:57 am)zebo-the-fat Wrote: You can have an orbit in any direction, but usually they are along the equator because the rocket can gain "free" speed by using the Earths rotation. You can have "retrograde" orbits which orbit the equator in the opposite direction but the launch would need much more fuel, also "polar" orbits which go north/south, used to cover the whole surface of the Earth as it rotates underneath (also used to piss off flat Earthers!)

Yeah - I got the polar orbit part- was on watch when SARSAT went online in 1981 (?) . The techs explained that... I just thought they alway had to travel west to east..... What would be the advantage of one going east to west?

rare, but done:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial...rade_orbit

Considering the rareness - it was probably an extreme high altitude aircraft.

(November 30, 2020 at 7:44 am)onlinebiker Wrote: A question to any that understandorbotal mechanics. 
Is it possible to have an orbital path that observed from the ground that tracks from northeast to southwest?

Because if not - I saw a HIGH flying aircraft at over an hour before sunrise...

There is no rule against it, but that does sound irregular.  Such an orbit would be retrograde, requiring a lot of extra fuel to create.