[Robotbeat]

That's not accurate unless you think the current satellites (many of which are far brighter, such as ISS and Iridium flares) already "ruin" the night sky.

I watched a recent pass of the Starlink satellites, and now that they're oriented near their operational directions, I could barely see them. I only noticed them because I knew right where to look. Unlike the flashing lights of passing aircraft which were a lot more distracting.

[jjeaff]

Iridium has about 85 satellites in service.

SpaceX satellites are much closer and they are planning something around 7,500 of them.

Might not be too hard to look in just the right place with that many floating around.

[Robotbeat]

SpaceX will also be serving orders of magnitude more customers than Iridium. Being closer also means they'll pass in the Earth's shadow earlier in the night than Iridium.

[jasonhansel]

These SpaceX satellites were reported as UFOs, so they were clearly quite visible to people not looking for them.

[Robotbeat]

They were much brighter and closer together right after deployment than in operation. Already, they've spread out and are now aligned in operational configuration so they're far less noticeable than at first. On par with typical satellites. I spotted them night before last, and it was difficult to see them.

ISS is also sometimes reported as a UFO. It's often brighter than Venus.