[jbotz]

According to this at least one satellite with the new coating went up in December... anyone know how that's working out?

Also, why are they so bright, given that they're pretty small?

[tejtm]

There is a really really bright light shining on them against a background dominated by well not much, the glow of the milky way.

Consider our moon is the one of the darkest objects we know of, about the color of a asphalt parking lot.

[jdashg]

Via Wikipedia: "The Moon has an exceptionally low albedo, giving it a reflectance that is slightly brighter than that of worn asphalt." Yet, the sun is /so bright/ that even at 380,000km we see moon-shadows at night on earth.

To a first approximation, small LEO satellites are roughly the same angular size as Venus at its average distance to us.