Tuesday, April 18, 2000
It’s a bird! It’s a plane!
No, it’s... a satellite?
By Emily Lu
Staff Writer

Have you ever been staring up at a starry sky and noticed something that looks like a moving star? It’s not as big or bright as a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere (a "shooting star"), and it doesn’t blink red and white (a plane). It’s just a tiny speck of light that seems to move at a constant speed across the sky. What is it?

That unidentified flying object is a satellite. By definition, a satellite is any object that orbits around another object. For example, the Moon is a natural satellite of Earth. But there are also plenty of man-made satellites going around this planet of ours. They are the machines we’ve created to give us global communication systems, forecast the weather, and perform
scientific research.

A point of light that smoothly travels through the constellations is just such an artificial satellite reflecting the Sun. Sometimes, it is possible to see an unstable satellite as a blinking
point of light, smoothly traveling through the constellations. It blinks as the machine aimlessly tumbles in its orbit, only reflecting the Sun’s light while it is in certain positions.

In addition to our natural satellite and all the artificial satellites, there is also all sorts of space "junk" that is circling Earth. According to the United States Space Command, over 8,000 objects larger than a softball currently orbit Earth. They need to keep track of all this junk, because at 17,000 mph (a typical speed for an object orbiting close to Earth) even a little chunk of rock becomes something you’d want to avoid.

One night, take some time to see if you can spot an artificial satellite drifting among the stars. Chances are that if you are patient and just look up for a little while, you will see a smoothly sailing speck of light. Shortly after sunset may be the best time to view them, but they are visible throughout the night. That moving point is not a UFO or runaway star, but something that has been put there by humankind with a purpose.