The Eyes in the Sky

There are more than 12,000 objects in orbit around the Earth: commercial, military, scientific and navigational satellites.

Most of the time, when you see a picture of the Earth, you only see the land masses and the oceans.  Maybe, cloud cover as well.  Rarely do we ever really think about, or see, what is floating around our Earth.

When I saw this picture (somewhere in a news article, I am sure), I was absolutely gobsmacked. Really, I had no words.  I guess while I had always known that satellites flew around our planet performing their various functions, I never really imagined that there would be so many!

I used to worry about the legacy that we, as a collective, were leaving behind.  The consumer waste that we have piled up is staggering to say the least.  I know that we also dump tons of garbage and other crap into the oceans, lakes and rivers.  Never did I stop to think what we were filling up our skies with.

If we ever were lucky enough to be visited by aliens, I guess I’d worry about them making their way through the “satellite barrier” without incident.  Next time I use a GPS device, watch cable television, make an international phone call or any of the other mundane tasks we take for granted that utilitize an ‘eye in the sky’… well, I’ll just take a moment to reflect on how much is literally hanging over our heads!