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About This Podcast
Star Trails is a weekly astronomy podcast that begins in your backyard and expands outward to the edge of the universe.
Each episode features a guide to the night sky visible across North America — constellations, planets, moon phases, and celestial events — along with deeper explorations of the science, history, and perspective that make astronomy one of humanity’s greatest adventures.
From ancient skywatchers to modern spacecraft, from quiet stargazing to the violent deaths of stars, Star Trails reveals the beauty, mystery, and sometimes haunting reality of the cosmos.
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Recent Episodes
A Summer Sky Road Trip
Summer is almost here, and with it comes one of the richest observing seasons of the year.In this episode, we take a road trip through the summer sky, exploring the constellations, deep-sky objects,…
From the Archive: Star Party Stories
Back in November of 2024, I attended a star party hosted by the Midlands Astronomy Club and recorded what became one of my favorite episodes of Star Trails. This week, while taking a short break to…
The Birth and Death of Galaxies
This week we conclude our month-long journey through galaxies by exploring one of the biggest questions in astronomy: how galaxies are born, evolve, and eventually die.We begin in the aftermath of…
The Hidden Universe: Cosmic Structures in the Dark
This week we continue our month-long journey through the world of galaxies, but this time, we venture into one of astronomy’s darkest frontiers. Beyond the glowing spirals and brilliant star clouds…
When Galaxies Collide
This week we continue our month-long journey through the world of galaxies, but this time, we move beyond what galaxies are and explore what galaxies actually do. It turns out these vast islands of…
Where the Milky Way Begins… and Ends
This week, we begin a new month-long journey into one of the most awe-inspiring subjects in astronomy: Galaxies.We start close to home by exploring our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and asking a…
The Invisible Architecture of the Universe, with Dr. Enrique Lopez Rodriguez
In this episode we step behind the scenes of modern astronomy to explore a side of the universe you can’t see, at least not directly.We sit down with Professor Enrique López Rodríguez, an…
From Gears to Code: Computing the Cosmos
In this episode, we explore the role of computers in astronomy. From the ancient Antikythera Mechanism and the human “computers” of the Harvard College Observatory, to the rise of electronic…
Radio Astronomy: Listening to the Universe
In this episode, we move beyond what the eye can see and into a universe that has been quietly speaking all along.Radio astronomy has transformed our understanding of the cosmos, not by capturing…
Space Oddity: The Harmony of Isolation
What makes a song feel like space? In this special bonus episode of Star Trails, we take a deep dive into the song "Space Oddity," not just as a piece of music, but as a story of distance,…
Photon by Photon: A Journey Through Observatories
This week we step inside one of astronomy’s most iconic spaces: the observatory.Drew visits Melton Memorial Observatory and sits down with director Martin Bowers to explore what a nearly…
The Edge of the Solar System
This week we leave the familiar planets behind and venture into the farthest reaches of our Solar System, into regions where the Sun’s influence begins to fade and the boundaries of our cosmic…
Moons: The Solar System’s Secret Worlds
The most intriguing places in our solar system might not be planets at all. This week we turn our attention to some of the most fascinating and unusual worlds in our solar system: its moons.For most…
The Case of Pluto: Discovery, Demotion, and Redemption
In 2006, a group of astronomers gathered in Prague and made a decision that shocked the world: Pluto was no longer a planet.But the story of Pluto is far more complicated—and far more…
Beyond the Frost Line: The Giant Planets of Our Solar System
This week we leave the rocky inner planets behind and journey into the deep cold of the outer solar system. From the storm-wracked atmosphere of Jupiter to the ringed elegance of Saturn and the…
Four Worlds, One Sun; Plus, a Total Lunar Eclipse
In this milestone 100th episode of Star Trails, we bring the cosmos back home.After months of exploring distant stars, nebulae, and black holes, March begins with a tour of our own neighborhood:…
How Stars Die (Including the One That Keeps Us Alive)
In this episode, we wrap up our month-long series on stars by exploring their final acts.Most stars don’t explode. They grow old. We’ll follow the Sun’s future as it swells into a red giant, sheds…
The Quiet Majority of Stars
This week we take a nerdy detour into the lives of stars by building a tiny simulated galaxy in Python. We form half a million stars, roll the clock forward 10 billion years, and discover something…
What Stars Do While They’re Alive
Stars are easy to take for granted. They rise, they set, and they seem unchanged from one night to the next. But in this episode of Star Trails, we shift our focus to what stars are actually doing…
What a Star Is (and What It Isn’t)
This week, we begin a month-long exploration of the most familiar objects in the night sky, and wonder why they’re still so often misunderstood.In this episode, we take a deep dive into what a star…
Frequently Asked Questions
Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder has published 116 episodes since February 2024, covering topics in Astronomy, Hobbies.
Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 16m.
