I'd move on over to /r/AskAnthropology

I wrote this in reply to a comment that was since deleted, but thought I would post it in the interest of clarifying my question:

Perhaps I should have been more clear, I'm not asking about previously-uncontacted peoples' understanding of satellite technology, I'm asking about their reactions to a new type of star suddenly appearing in the heavens.

Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957, nearly 60 years ago (well before this sub's 20 year cutoff), and was easily visible in the night sky. Most cultures have many myths and legends explaining what stars are, where they came from, and how they relate to humans. It's also quite common for stars to be used for practical purposes like navigation.

With more and more satellites becoming visible in remote areas with no light pollution, it seems unlikely that whole societies would completely ignore a new phenomenon with just a collective shrug, especially if they already have well-developed mythology or constellations for previously visible stars. Surely someone at some point said "Hey what's that?"

I'm interested in how cultures with no access to global civilization developed their own answers to that question and curious if any specific answers have been recorded since.

The Pintupi Nine were uncontacted until 1984. They described their reaction to airplanes before contact:

"The plane would fly over and we would hide in the tree. We would see the wings of the plane and we would get frightened. We thought it was the devil and so we kept hiding under the tree. When the plane had passed we would climb down from the tree."