K003/9265 Rights Managed Credit: Equinox Graphics/Science Photo Library

Click on the graphic to see the video. Animation showing the distribution of working satellites (red) and space junk (blue) around Earth. The prominent ring is occupied by geostationary satellites, all 35,786 kilometres above the equator.

The space between that orbit and the near-Earth orbits is relatively empty, but in the close-up at the end the number of pieces of debris and junk around the Earth is seen to be vast. This model uses data from 13,977 actual objects tracked by NORAD as of 30th May 2013.

Only 1327 are satellites, the remaining 12,650 being junk. The junk ranges from flecks of paint to entire discarded rocket stages, and presents a serious hazard to the use of space, especially near the Earth.