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24 Aug, 2015 13:08

Spectacular space map shows 14,000 satellites orbiting Earth

Spectacular space map shows 14,000 satellites orbiting Earth

Since Sputnik 1 captured the world’s imagination in 1957, thousands of artificial satellites have followed suit in orbiting Earth. Now a software designer’s ingenious map documents how man-made objects there are in space, and how many actually work.

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The visual map produced by Richie Carmichael, who’s based in California, show there are a total of 14,022 satellites orbiting planet Earth. However, 76 percent of those no longer work and are just junk traveling through space.

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The satellites don’t just orbit our planet in a regular circle; they have all sorts of strange trajectories, as they pass by, while it gives the viewer a whole new idea about just how crowded space actually is.

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Russian satellites make up a hefty number of those artificial objects flying around the earth in space. They can be made out as the red dots in the graphic above.

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