You may even notice satellites fading from visibility as they encounter Earth's shadow while making their way overhead. The best piece of equipment for this kind of observing may well be a comfortable reclining lawn chair. A regular pair of 7 X 50 binoculars may also be helpful in picking out some of the evening's smaller and dimmer targets. You will quickly notice that satellites have a variety of orbits. Many move from west to east in roughly equatorial orbits.
Satellites also move in orbits at a wide variety of altitudes.
In the range of altitudes from 100 to 400 miles are the manned Space Shuttles and Mir Space Station, as well as a variety of spy satellites and navigation satellites. Many weather satellites and civilian photo-reconnaissance move in orbits in the 300 to 600 mile range. The new Iridium communications satellites also operate in this range. The region between 600 and 1,200 miles is dominated by spy satellites and, military communications satellites. Many scientific research satellites inhabit orbits between 3,000 and 6,000 miles.