In the late 50s after Sputnik was launched, I used to see it crossing the sky at sunset from my parents’ backyard in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The sunlight would reflect from the satellite’s skin and I would see it like a small moving star in the early evening. Today there are hundreds of satellites up there, but do I ever see any? No. Why is this? Is it the polluted atmosphere? Orbits that aren’t visible from LA? The satellites are too high (although I understood Sputnik was rather high at 500 miles)? Too much city light in the atmosphere? Nonreflective skins? –Melissa Mills, Sherman Oaks, California
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Not enough publicity, more like it, although the things you mentioned also play a role. Satellite viewings were a big deal in the late 50s. Times and tips for best viewing were featured in the papers and people used to organize satellite-watching parties. (Surely you remember the aluminum lawn chairs.) Today satellites have joined touch-tone phones and color TV on the list of technological marvels we now take for granted, so you don’t get all the helpful hints.
The brightest objects in the sky these days are the Russian Mir space station and the Hubble Space Telescope (visible in the southern U.S.). Check out the satellite-viewing section on CompuServe’s astronomy forum for spotting tips. If you’re serious about this you can buy a satellite-tracking program for your PC, download orbital data, and make what was once an idle childhood diversion into a lifetime obsession. But satellites are up there if you know where to look.
Two-thousand: Three syllables. Okay, but leads to four-syllable names for 2001, 2002, etc.
