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PODCAST

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast

Single Malt Sky

"Star Trails" is a weekly podcast that invites amateur astronomers to explore the enchanting night sky. Join us as we highlight constellations, planets, moon phases, and other astronomical wonders visible in North America. Whether you"re a seasoned stargazer or just starting your cosmic adventure, "Star Trails" is your guide to the captivating mysteries of the universe, all from the comfort of your own backyard.

science astronomy

All Episodes

23:36

Sad Astronomy: Reflections on Distance, Death, and...

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/11/16

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 spacecraft, the silence of the cosmic void, and why so many stargazers feel a mix of awe and melancholy when

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26:10

Playing Dice with the Universe

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/11/09

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 delightfully nerdy.Along the way, we revisit the roots of the Drake Equation, the strangeness of quantum

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25:25

A Postcard to the Cosmos: Recreating the Arecibo Signal

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/11/02

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 observing to deep-space communication with a hands-on look at the Arecibo Message — the radio transmission

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21:32

The Silence Between the Stars

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/10/26

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 aboard Voyager, and the global volunteer army of SETI@Home. We also consider the possibilities: is the eerie

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13:52

Echoes from the Cosmic Graveyard

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/10/19

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 quietest afterlife.But before venturing into that darkness, the night sky itself offers reason to stay up

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12:32

The Mid-October Sky and The House of a Thousand Mirrors

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/10/12

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-week skies will be perfect for deep-sky observing — from the Andromeda Galaxy to the Helix Nebula.Then, we

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22:48

Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos (and a Supermoon Too)

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/10/05

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 files: five enduring unsolved mysteries of the universe. From the invisible grip of dark matter to the

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2:35

Star Trails will return on October 5

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/09/27

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 evening skies.Saturn is well placed for evening viewing, glowing steadily in the south.Jupiter rises late at

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13:49

Tempus Fugit: Time in Space and Sky

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/08/31

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 of “time in space.” From NASA engineers living on Martian sols with their custom-built Mars watches, to

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13:21

A Dark Sky for Us, and a New Moon for Uranus

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/08/24

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-gravity landscape, where a careless jump could fling you into orbit.Back under Earth’s skies, the nights

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13:47

The Black Moon & the Milky Way’s Hidden Companions

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/08/17

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 photo op—while evenings bring Saturn rising into prime viewing on its road to September opposition. With

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15:03

Perseids, Planets, and the Smell of Space

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/08/10

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 making its return, and why August’s meteor showers come with both brilliance and baggage this year. We’ll even

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9:33

The Sturgeon Moon and the Fossil in the Dark

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/08/03

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 Planet Nine.We'll explore how this icy world fits into a tiny family of ultra-distant objects known as

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12:30

Meteors, Mars, and a Betelgeuse Breakthrough

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/07/27

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 astronomers with its strange long-term brightness variations. Now, thanks to cutting-edge observations from

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12:53

The Quiet Planet and the Loud Sky

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/07/20

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 stranger. We’ll revisit the legendary Wow! Signal from 1977—a mysterious 72-second radio burst that never

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12:32

A Star in Someone Else’s Sky

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/07/13

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 moonlight—like the Dumbbell Nebula, Ring Nebula, and the Milky Way’s glowing heart through Sagittarius.Later, we

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16:06

Weighty Matters and Wandering Worlds

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/07/06

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 coming nights, and keep in mind, meteor shower season is right around the corner.Finally, we journey to the

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14:37

Cosmic Fireworks and a Crazy Week of Space News

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/06/29

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 2028The largest comet ever discovered, already active far beyond SaturnA distant spiral galaxy challenging our ideas about how galaxies formAnd a breakthrough in the decades-long search for the universe’s missing

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10:22

Blazars, Bootids and a Blackout Moon

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/06/22

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, and a twilight dance featuring Mercury, Mars, and Regulus. Plus, we preview a lunar occultation of Mars and

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17:25

Under the Same Stars: Ancient Astronomy

Star Trails: A Weekly Astronomy Podcast ·

2025/06/15

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 sky to tell time, navigate, worship, and survive. From Stonehenge’s solar alignment to the jaw-dropping

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