PHP coding example to get data from database

Hell ao all!
Can anyone give me an example of PHP coding to get data from my own table in the WordPress 3 database.
I have an example in Joomla PHP:

function getSats() {
	$db = JFactory::getDBO();
	$sql = "SELECT * FROM jos_alphajob_sats";
	$db->setQuery($sql);
	$data = $db->loadObjectList();
	return($data);
}

The above table are named “alphajob_sats” in the new WordPress database. There are 5 records (rows) with 2 fields (columns) named “sats_id” and “sats”.

I will be very pleased if anyone can help me over this hurdle!