Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder

Dyson Spheres: The Heat Has to Go Somewhere

What if the first evidence of an advanced alien civilization isn’t a message, but a star whose energy books don’t quite balance? This week, we explore the strange histor

Rivers Through the Dark

Galaxies carry the evidence of their past. When the Milky Way captures a dwarf galaxy or tears apart a globular cluster, it leaves behind long, ghostly ribbons of stars c

Little Red Dots at Cosmic Dawn

The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered hundreds of tiny red points in the early universe. They are extraordinarily compact, unexpectedly bright and strangely quiet

Did the Milky Way Flip?

The Milky Way looks permanent from our place inside it, a great band of stars stretching across the night sky. But new research suggests our galaxy may once have been ori

When Black Holes Twist Spacetime

What happens when a black hole spins? According to general relativity, it doesn't simply rotate in space, it actually drags spacetime around with it. This episode explor

Listening to the Heartbeat of the Milky Way

Most amateur astronomers spend their nights collecting light. But what if you could study our galaxy without looking through a telescope at all? In this episode, we sit

Is there a Black Hole in Our Backyard?

What if the mysterious "Planet Nine" isn't a planet at all? In this episode, we journey to the distant frontier of our Solar System to explore one of astronomy's strange

How Jupiter Almost Destroyed the Solar System

For generations, we've pictured the Solar System as a stable and orderly place: planets forming where they are today and quietly orbiting the Sun for billions of years. B

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 con

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, wh

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.

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 spiral

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 turn

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

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

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 th

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 t

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

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 exp

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 bo