Marlene Upchurch, age 12, of Spokane, wash., for her question:

When can we see satellites?

A man made satellite shines with the reflected glory of the sun. We can see only the side on which the sun is shining  which means we cannot see the satellite when its orbit takes it between us’ and the sun. The time to look for a satellite is after dark when it is in a position to reflect sunlight.

You might mistake it for a star or a planet, except that it moves too fast across the sky. You can get a better view of the orbiting spacecraft with a telescope. Some satellites, however, are too far out to be spotted, even with a small telescope. These high flyers are tracked by radar, large telescopes and other instruments.