Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder

The first episode of a new year is a good time to slow down, zoom out, and reset. In this episode, we welcome new and returning listeners alike for a thoughtful reintroduction to stargazing, one that sets aside checklists, gear anxiety, and the pressure to “do it right,” and instead focuses on patience, curiosity, and learning the sky where you are. Along the way, the episode explores the idea of...

As the year winds down, we make one last stop beneath the night sky for the week of December 21–27, marking the arrival of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year and a quiet turning point in Earth’s journey around the Sun. In this short holiday episode, we reflect on what the solstice means from an astronomical perspective, why ancient cultures saw it as a rebirth of light, and how it...

For the season finale of Star Trails, we’re building a “time machine” the only way we know how: with physics, not plot holes. Drew takes a tour through the time-travel stories that shaped his 80s childhood—Back to the Future, Star Trek IV, The Time Machine, Bill & Ted, and even Disney’s wonderfully unhinged The Black Hole—and then sets them beside the actual rules of our universe. We’ll look a...

This week, we’re doing something chaotic: we’re mapping the entire history of the universe onto the musical eras of Taylor Swift. And yes, the science is absolutely real. From the Big Bang to the heat death of everything, each of Taylor’s albums becomes a chapter in the cosmic timeline. We’ll travel through the Primordial Universe, the formation of the first stars, galaxy evolution, black hole fir...

This episode begins with auroras and interstellar objects and ends somewhere much closer to the heart. After catching up on the week’s sky – dark moonless nights, Mercury in the dawn, meteor activity, and the quiet unraveling of comet 3I/Atlas – we shift into something different. We’ll explore the idea of “sad astronomy”: the loneliness of deep space, the slow death of stars, the fragility of spac...

This week on Star Trails, we let the universe decide. We fire up a real quantum computer to generate pure randomness — the seed for a million-universe simulation of the famous Drake Equation. Each run explores how many intelligent civilizations might exist in our galaxy, from barren voids to thriving cosmic metropolises. The results are startling, the implications profound, and the method delightf...

This week on Star Trails, we explore the messages written across the cosmos — from faint comets in our own skies to the coded signals we’ve sent into the void. Drew shares a quick report from his local astronomy club’s fall star party, where hopes of photographing Comet A6 Lemmon met the familiar mix of excitement, haze, and grilled hamburgers under imperfect skies. Then we turn from backyard obse...

As Halloween approaches, we drift into one of astronomy’s most haunting questions: if life in the universe is so likely, where is everybody? This week, we explore the famous Fermi Paradox — from Enrico Fermi’s lunchroom question to Frank Drake’s mathematical quest for cosmic company. Along the way, we revisit humanity’s attempts to speak into the void — the Arecibo Message, the golden records aboa...

The veil between life and death is thin in late October, and not just on Earth. This week on Star Trails, we take a haunting journey through The Cosmic Graveyard, a place where dead suns still glow, galaxies devour one another, and the faint aftershocks of ancient explosions echo across time. From the slow cooling of white dwarfs to the bottomless depths of black holes, we explore the universe’s q...

The nights are growing longer, the air is sharpening, and the Moon is finally stepping aside. In this week’s episode, we look to the skies from October 12th through the 18th, and discover a season in transition: Saturn still reigning in the south, Jupiter climbing before dawn, Venus returning to the morning sky, and the Orionid meteor shower quietly stirring to life. With the waning Moon, late-wee...

The Harvest Supermoon rises over crisp autumn nights as Saturn reigns in the southeast and Pegasus climbs the eastern sky. In this week’s episode of Star Trails, we examine the celestial highlights of October 5–11 — including lunar encounters with Saturn and the Pleiades, the Draconid meteor shower, and a check-in on interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS. Then, as the night deepens, we open the cosmic case...

It’s been a short break due to technical issues, travel, and life in general, but the show is far from gone. Thanks to everyone who wrote in asking about it — your messages mean the world. Here’s what’s happening in the night sky from September 28 – October 4: September 28: A waxing crescent Moon appears, climbing higher each evening. September 30: The Moon reaches first quarter, brightening the e...

This week we explore both the night sky and the cosmic tick-tock of time itself. The Moon waxes from half-lit to nearly full, while Saturn shines golden in Pisces with its razor-thin rings. Jupiter and Venus rule the morning skies, and the faint Aurigid meteors and Comet Lemmon make cameo appearances for early risers. In the second half of the show, we dive into the strange and fascinating world o...

This week we head outward to the seventh planet, where the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a brand-new moonlet orbiting Uranus. Barely six miles across, this tiny world is so small you could, in theory, walk around it in a single day. But is “walking” even possible when the surface gravity is only a whisper? We run the numbers and explore what it would feel like to live in such a micro-gra...

Under a rare seasonal Black Moon, this week’s sky rewards early risers and deep-sky wanderers alike. We start with a whisper-thin crescent slipping closer to the Sun each morning, then pivot to a dawn showcase where Mercury reaches greatest elongation while Venus and Jupiter stack higher above the horizon. On Tuesday and Wednesday a paper-thin crescent Moon joins the lineup—a perfect wide-field ph...

This week we’re chasing Perseids and planetary pairings while the Moon slowly makes room for darker skies. We’ll explore which constellations are hiding in plain sight, from the narrow spear of Sagitta to the twisting coils of Draco, and we’ll take a tour of some underappreciated deep sky objects along the way. You’ll learn when and where to spot the Venus-Jupiter conjunction, how Mercury is makin...

This week we bask in the glow of the bright Sturgeon Moon, trace the shifting positions of planets from twilight to dawn, and watch as a few late-season meteors streak across the sky. Later in the show, we journey beyond Neptune to meet a newly discovered distant object named Ammonite—a cosmic fossil whose strange orbit may upend one of the most compelling mysteries in astronomy: the existence of...

This week we're watching the skies—and catching up on a stellar mystery. Dual meteor showers light up the pre-dawn hours, Mars gets cozy with the Moon, and a recently discovered nova continues to shimmer faintly in the south. Later in the show, we check out a brand new discovery that may have finally cracked a thousand-year-old puzzle. Betelgeuse, the red supergiant in Orion, has long puzzled astr...

With the Moon going dark midweek, we take a look at some targets in deep-sky territory, plus some dazzling planetary pairings. Also, learn why now might be a good time to rise to the bold (and slightly bonkers) challenge of trying to spot Pluto! It’s not for the faint of aperture, but it’s a fun stretch goal for the ambitious skywatcher. Then, in the second half of the episode, the night gets stra...

This week we take a look at the night sky from July 13th to the 19th, highlighting a waning Moon, brilliant morning planets, and the first whispers of the Perseid meteor shower. We’ll check in on Venus dancing near the Pleiades, Saturn’s steady climb toward opposition, and Jupiter’s quiet return to the predawn sky. You’ll also hear what deep-sky targets are best viewed under the darkening moonligh...

This week we kick things off with a deceptively simple listener question: What exactly is mass? From beach balls to black holes, we explore how mass shapes the universe, and our understanding of gravity. Then we turn our eyes to the night sky, where the Full Buck Moon rises low on the horizon, showing off the inspiring Moon Illusion. We’ll cover what planets are visible, what to look for in the co...

own. Highlights include a close encounter between the Moon and Mars, a subtle meteor shower, and a dazzling pre-dawn lineup of planets. In the second half of the show, we check out some of the most fascinating space news of the season, including: An asteroid that could impact the Moon in 2028 The largest comet ever discovered, already active far beyond Saturn A distant spiral galaxy challenging ou...

This week we explore one of the darkest, and most dynamic, weeks of the season for stargazing. With a New Moon on June 25th, we get a prime window to explore the deep sky, from the glowing heart of the Milky Way to the subtle shimmer of noctilucent clouds and the unpredictable June Bootids meteor shower. There’s also a stunning series of planetary pairings, including Venus and the Moon at dawn, an...

The week of June 15th to the 21st includes a waning Moon approaching perigee, a lineup of bright planets at both dusk and dawn, and the breathtaking rise of the Milky Way’s galactic core in the southeastern night sky. But we’re also turning back the celestial clock. To honor the summer solstice on June 21st, the longest day of the year. We’ll explore how ancient cultures around the world used the...

This week there’s a sky full of surprises. From the lowest full moon in nearly two decades—the golden-hued Strawberry Moon—to the elusive Arietid meteor shower peaking in broad daylight, there’s a lot to see… or at least know is happening above. We’ll also track the current planetary lineup, including Mercury’s brief appearance next to Jupiter and some early morning views of Venus and Saturn. Then...