One can't help but feel a sense of awe at mankind's progress in science. The Space Age only started 51 years ago, with the launch of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Since then, space has been slowly becoming less of a mystery.

As much as we've made progress in science though, mankind still needs to work on its hygiene as a race. We've not only filled the Earth up with landfills, but we've managed to make one giant landfill in outer space as well.

Since Sputnik in 1957, there's been some 6000 satellites launched into space. Currently, there are only 800 of them operational. The rest just float around, waiting to break up, explode, or collide into each other. It's practically a satellite graveyard.

If we launch enough satellites, we'll probably have enough to make a force field in case of an alien attack. Above are pictures released by the European Space Operations Centre, tracking down the satellites (operational or otherwise) orbiting the Earth.

The first picture shows trackable objects in orbit around Earth. The second shows debris as seen from low-Earth Orbit. The third is a view over the North Pole, and the last is a view from over the equator.