Seeking Satellites

Resource by NASA, European Space Agency.
Artist's rendering of our Earth's orbiting satellites,
visible as a ring from space.

One of my favorite nitetime gazing games is looking for satellites. In this image of our Earth, courtesy of NASA, an artist has shown the hazy halo of our buzzing satellites. Though exaggerated in the image, the multitude is quite real.

From space Earth has a ring, of debris.

I'll ignore the potential for a "go green" speech here and just appreciate the magic of spotting these satellites among the immobile starshine of the night. In the silent darkness of the twisting realm above us, little stars skate across our dark field like snails on a wet window.Lying back, eyes wide open and ready to take in the faintness of starlight, you may just glimpse these tiny wonders.

Slowly...slowly...it makes it transearth orbit. Though moving at over 17,000 miles per hour(thats 15 trips around the earth a day) the bullet glides through space with uninterreupted grace. The constant glow of its reflective material marks the earthbound boundary of gravitational orbitting. You can nearly hear the faint...dat....dat....dat....of its internal computers and atomic clock settings. An abandoned victory of the tickerings of man. Watch for them. With an open, glazed eye, seek out satellites. Traveling relics of our kind's knowledge in this great big universe.

NASA