Jonathan McDowells is an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics. One night as he was gazing through his telescope into the night sky he knows so well, he saw some things that he knew for a fact did not exist - not officially anyway. Only after much more effort and research did he find out that the flying objects were in fact US spy satellites. But surely this cannot be? Each and every satellite used for such purposed must be registered with the UN. Officially 43 states - including the US - have signed the UN Convention on the Registration of Objects Launched into outer space.