of the spacecraft over Earth's surface, this formula gives a Sun-synchronous inclination of 98.7°.

Note that according to this approximation equals -1 when the semi-major axis equals , which means that only lower orbits can be Sun-synchronous. The period can be in the range from 88 minutes for a very low orbit ( = , = 96°) to 3.8 hours ( = , but this orbit would be equatorial, with = 180°). A period longer than 3.8 hours may be possible by using an eccentric orbit with < but > .