New Year's Eve is a good time to peer, Janus-fashion, backwards and forwards. During recent weeks I've been watching the skies and have seen some fine "Iridium flares" — sudden glints of light from comm satellites in low orbits.

What would smart people a few centuries ago have thought if they glimpsed an Iridium flare? Are there analogous events being observed right now that are equally far beyond our current understanding?

(see also IridiumFlares (30 Dec 2001), ... )

TopicScience - TopicPersonalHistory - 2003-12-31

(correlates: IridiumTransit, DisAvowal, CarsAsBlackBoxes, ...)