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Anyone else a bit unnerved by the number of visible satellites?
I have always know there are satellites going around the earth, but more often that not now when I casually inspect the night sky I see at least one moving satellite. It’s obvious and no need for any telescope. It feels so different than when I was younger: instead of a sense of wonder at the scale of the universe and nature, it’s a constant reminder of the pervasiveness of humanity’s technology and scope for surveillance.
I don’t really have a specific point from this post other than to express a sorrow for the loss of a night sky from my youth.
Personally I like it because it makes me think I live in the future I thought I would when I was a child. Many, many other things have fallen short of my childhood future but the night sky isn't one of them, all we need now is a giant orbital space station that would be visible to the naked eye :)
Ah yes, a nice visible space station that only the insanely rich are allowed to live on while they extract the rest of the wealth and resources from earth and we all suffer and die. Just like the movie Elysium.
Honestly at this point I'd take even that. I miss the night sky. When I was a kid, even in the city I could look outside and see much of the stars. Being at my grandparents' place in the country (rural but not remote) and seeing the spill of the Milky Way was amazing. But the sky has gotten less and less visible as I've gotten older. I never get to see it anymore, without traveling into basically the wilderness. I think it's been decades since I last saw it unobstructed. I don't think I could see a satellite moving across the sky on even the clearest night, at least not here. I'm doing good to see Orion's Belt most of the year.
The point on surveillance hits home for me. Soon we are never going to be able to escape cameras pointed at us all the time and we won't have any privacy, in or out of our homes. Soon it will be frivolous to record everyone all the time.