Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder11 Tammi

Night of the Hunter: A Deep Dive into Orion

This week we slow down and spend the night with one of the sky’s most iconic constellations: Orion. We'll use the mighty hunter as a guide, learning how his stars can point the way to other landmarks in the winter sky, from blazing Sirius to Aldebaran and the Pleiades.

Along the way, we explore Orion’s rich mythology, his role in ancient cultures, and the remarkable deep-sky objects hidden within his outline, including stellar nurseries, dark nebulae, and the vast structures shaping this region of the Milky Way.

We also journey back thousands of years to ancient Egypt to examine the intriguing and controversial Orion Correlation Theory, which suggests a connection between the cosmos and the pyramids of Giza. What does the evidence really say, and why does Orion continue to draw humans into stories that link sky and stone?

To round out the episode, we’ll check in on the night sky for January 11–17, including the Moon’s phase, visible planets, and observing highlights, plus a look at recent space news featuring the discovery of a mysterious “failed galaxy” known as Cloud-9.

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Jaksot(121)

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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. But what if that picture is wro...

21 Kesä 23min

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, p...

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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 re...

31 Touko 17min

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...

24 Touko 29min