He later made calculations using the apparent size of the Sun’s disc as a reference point. The calculated speed corresponds to a satellite orbiting 500 kilometres high, which looks quite plausible.
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Sadlin also turned to other observers who were roughly in his neighbourhood at the time. Some of the images also showed these objects, albeit with an offset. You can use that to determine the approximate distance to them. It became clear that it was definitely not something very close like an insect.
Astronomer Marco Langbroek from Delft University of Technology also joined the investigation. He expressed doubt that these objects are satellites. In his opinion, with such a mutual location of the Sun, satellites and the observer, the latter could not see the light reflected by the objects, as he would be looking at their dark side. We can assume that they are illuminated by reflected sunlight from the Earth. But they are too bright for that, according to Langbroek.
There is a version that Sadlin managed to capture fragments of space debris in a very low orbit. To exclude or confirm the hypothesis of satellites, which is still a priority, he and other astronomers are studying the flight paths of spacecraft that could be in the designated place at the designated time.
