@YtuMaMaTambien:
Satellites in geosynchronous orbits are NOT spy sats. those are communications satellites (phone, TV radio).. Spy sats fly in low orbit and have to spin a lot faster then earth so they don't fall down into our living-rooms..

LordieLordie

well, most of spy satellites we can see in our sky are most likely not US owned.. why would we spy on ourselves? (uh... never mind that)..

LordieLordie

So wait, a satellite in geosynchronous orbit is instantly a spy satellite?

YtuMaMaTambien

way to get this off of wired.

2001: A Space Odyssey

@DustyButt:
Yes, down with evil big business!

packetsniffer

@Monty:
Seriously, now. Has there ever been a government that didn't keep secrets from its citizens? And why is that a bad thing?

packetsniffer

By you, I mean folks who worry about spy sats.

DustyButt

@smilleyofais: lol Fair enough. Just saying a satellite seems over kill to get information which'd overwhelm any Gov. staff trying to track people. And in any case tracking buy habits is way easier with access to bank transaction records anyways.

@DustyButt: The only reason they know the shade of our poop is cuz McD's and all other fast food chains sell the same sort of food. Intestinal misery that's been deep fried.

TheCyberBob

News for those who don't know...

Water is wet.

The sky is blue.

The Gov't has secrets.

I'll put that in a memo and title it, "Shit That Shouldn't Surprise You"

Like TheCyberBob said... They couldn't give a shit about what 99% of us do.
Actually, corporations pretty much know what shade of brown your last turd was and they spy on people in order to manipulate them for more nefarious reasons and in worse ways than Uncle Sam. If your going to be upset, maybe you should be upset about the secret information gathering tools that big businesses use.

DustyButt

@TheCyberBob: A) I was joking, and B) You assume that the government is the only one with spy satellites. If mega corps can sway oil price jumps for no reason, I am pretty sure they could get some spy satellites to track how many people walk into the GAP...LOL I am not a theorist, it is just a slow day at work.

smilleyofais

@DeadWriter: That's really cool. Thanks for the info.

TheCyberBob

if the irs doesn't bother w/ the digital financial records from creditors, why would the fed try to do something infinitely harder, and track us w/ satellites.

jkr2

[science.nasa.gov] J-Track is a free, real-time Java applet that shows what is in the sky, less the things that "aren't". There is also FreeFall for OSX and well a bunch of satellite trackers listed here [celestrak.com] . FreeFall is also one of the coolest screen savers out there.

The best database is not the one that you have to sign up for (with some sort of low level clearance process) through the government, but is through the amateur radio association. They have pretty much everything in the sky identified, both as sources of signals and as objects to bounce signals off of.

DeadWriter

Someone at the NSA should put together a collection of the various shots from said "Spy Satalites" photographing Mr. Trevor Paglen ...photographing them.

newgalactic

@smilleyofais: And what pron you're looking at...right now...

Uberdude328i

@smilleyofais: Probably not. I doubt that the US government cares how much anal lube you buy on any given weekend. I love these conspiracy theorists saying that "the man" is watching everyone. Ya. They're totally watching 100million+ people around the clock. Cuz that'd be totally easy to collect and sort that info.

TheCyberBob

Apparently showing the non-existEnt spell checker as well.

soulfinger

Actually the scary thing is they are probably used to track our buying habits.

smilleyofais

@EBone:
Be careful what you're glad for, friend.
The flock they "look out for" aren't necessarily in China or Iran or...

ANoel

*comment sync done*

NilSn

Photoshoped !

NilSn

Photoshop. Anyone can draw a white line on an image of the sky.

bms

@noobtard: goatsee....watergate...yeah, I can see how stuff liek taht relates

10ninjas

conspiracies are like tubgirl etc... can never be un-seen...

noobtard

better to be a sheep imo.

noobtard

and Trevor Paglen will go missing September 15th.

robot-shmobot

"I am going to tell you a number of things, but if you really want to be a good journalist you only have to remember two words: governments lie." I.F. Stone

watch them snuff out further investigation into these satellites...

10ninjas

Existant?

notsofresh

It's the satellites you can't see that you really have to worry about. That's why God invented aluminum foil.

Gann

I'm glad they're up there. At least the U.S. ones that is.

EBone

Eerie. Great concept.

Jimbuck

I am sure glad it doesn't bother anyone that our government enjoys lying to us, otherwise it would really detract from the beauty of these photographs.

Monty

That's right. You didn't see anything.

Agent007

I don't see anything...

vertigo

@TheCyberBob:
Actually, it is fairly easy to collect the kind of info needed to track just about every citizen of the US, and it's marginally harder to do something with it. Google manages a fairly similar feat and they've only been working at it for a few years. Just think of how long the NSA and other TLA-government agencies we don't even hear about have been working at it, and the sorts of computer systems they have for it. You don't think they still use those buildings of super-computers for weather analysis or nuclear simulations all the time do you? Granted, they couldn't care less about the actions of most of the people, but they seem to be caring more and more as time passes. And they seem to be changing what it is they're interested in all the time too. Commies, drugs, terrorists, pirates, sexual predators, political activists. Who'll be next in their target?

JymmyZ

"Number 3, status."

"It's confirmed sir. Thermal signatures indicate that they're doing it. Requesting nachos and VHS recording station."

"Granted."

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

@EBone: lol, i agree.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@ANoel: Hey , if Uncle Sam wants to stare at my a$$ while I'm in the pool in the backyard, I've got no problem with that.

EBone

@TheVelourFogg: Yes, unfortunately. The man was pure genius.

ninjamurf

Yes, Yesterday in Santa Monica of heart failure.

Its official, the world IS coming to an end. Grab as much aluminum foil as you can...

I'm not paranoid, I just know everyone is out to get me.

spectator101

George Carlin died?

TheVelourFogg

Man, MLB has quite a few more satellites than we ever knew.

dwight-schrute

"People are fuckin' dumb. You can say what you want about this country and I love this place... I love the freedoms we used to have... I love it... I love that... I love it when it didn't take a fuckin' catastrophe to get us to care for one another... I love the fact that we're on camera all the time from all angles... "

+ Watch video

R.I.P. George Carlin

ANoel

I'd much rather watch Mark McGuire hit a few dingers.

PollockRoc

I've seen one of the Lacrosse military satellites pass overhead a few times while I am out spotting ISS and Shuttle flyovers. These photos are eerie in the same way its eerie to watch them fly overhead: dim, unflashing points of light flying quickly and silently overhead... with the ability to look back at you, even through the clouds.

LastVigilante

@EBone:
The "right to bear arms" has lost it's meaning except to shoot someone who tries to steal your stuff...

+ Watch video

George is on it.

ANoel

i cant wake up at 5:30 am to take a good picture of the ISS and this guy finds 189 satellites?
i'm feeling so donw...

AndersonBMX