I was mostly referring to the brightest things like the ISS, Starlink and (formerly) Iridium satellites, which are in low Earth orbit. Higher orbits are visibl

I was mostly referring to the brightest things like the ISS, Starlink and (formerly) Iridium satellites, which are in low Earth orbit. Higher orbits are visible for longer, due to the angles involved: because they're so high, such satellites can remain illuminated with the Sun further below the horizon. The Moon is the most extreme example: it's almost never in Earth's shadow.