You Asked
Why can’t we see all the debris and satellites that are hovering around above Earth? — Chris, Fairfax, Va.

Marshall Answered
Let’s start by recognizing that there is one satellite that everyone can see most nights: the moon. And there is one other satellite that is visible to most people if they know when and where to look: the space station. This post can help you find the space station:

How to see the International Space Station (with your naked eyes) when it flies over your house

The moon is roughly 280,000 miles away, but it is also 2,000 miles in diameter. That’s plenty big to see. The space station is 200 miles away and about the size of a football field – the largest thing we’ve ever put in orbit.

If you are in a place with really clear skies, no light pollution and no moon (e.g. a hundred miles out in the open ocean on a clear moonless night), it is possible to see other satellites. They look like moving stars if they catch the sun right.

But everything else, generally speaking, is too far away or too small (or both) to be visible to the naked eye. If you have a telescope and a little patience, many more objects become visible. Google earth (and many astronomy web sites) track lots of these objects: