Mystery Flashes in Pre-Sputnik Photos

We might have photographic proof of artificial objects in space from before humans ever launched a

satellite. So check this out. Researchers have been digging through old glass photographic

plates from the Palomar Observatory in California. These photos were taken back in the

early 1950s. This date is crucial because Sputnik, the first human satellite,

didn't launch until 1957. That means at the time these photos were taken,

there were zero human satellites in orbit. The sky should have been completely

clear of man-made space junk. But this astronomer, Beatriz Villarroel, and her team found

something weird. They identified over one hundred thousand "transients." These are flashes