Satellite Skies

It's getting pretty dark at night now and staying dark
throughout the early morning hours. So dark, that the
sky was full of stars...and satellites this morning when
I went to work a few minutes before 6:00. As I was walking
into Building 165, I looked up to locate the Southern Cross.
I found it almost immediately and at that moment, a satellite
was going right through the middle of it. Not really through
the middle obviously, but from here on the ground, it
certainly looked that way. I'd just seen my first satellite
of the season and I later identified it as the Cosmos 405.
It's a Russian Tselina D model, in a polar orbit for
"observation" purposes. Hmmm. Regardless of it's purpose,
it's launch date was April 7, 1971. Almost 37 years ago
to the day! I'm hoping to see a lot more satellites this
season. We'll just need some clear skies.