WEBVTT

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Howdy Star Gazers and welcome to the first Star

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Trails episode of 2026. If you're new here, my

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name is Drew, and I'll be your guide to the night

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sky, a place you can return to again and again,

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all year long. And if you've been listening for

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a while, welcome back. This episode is for you

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too. Every January, I like to do something a

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little different. Instead of jumping straight

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into a checklist of objects and events, we slow

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things down, we zoom out, we reset. Maybe you

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received a telescope for Christmas. Or maybe

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you happened to look up one evening and wonder,

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what is that thing? Either way, the beginning

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of the year is when a lot of people first feel

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the pull to look up. And it's also when a lot

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of people quietly convince themselves they don't

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know enough to do that properly. Tonight is about

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undoing that idea. Astronomy can sometimes have

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a reputation problem. Somewhere along the way,

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it became associated with expensive gear, intimidating

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knowledge, and the sense that everyone else already

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knows what they're doing. But at its core, astronomy

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is much simpler than that. Astronomy is standing

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still for a moment and noticing that something

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vast is happening above you, whether or not you

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understand all of it yet. You don't need permission

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to look at the sky, you don't need credentials,

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and you don't even need a telescope, you just

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need attention. The sky has been here for your

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entire life It will be here for the rest of it

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and it doesn't care if you miss a night or a

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month or even a year This show exists because

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astronomy isn't a race. It's a relationship and

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January is a very good time to begin one To start

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let's take a look at one of the most useful ideas

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in astronomy which happens to also be one of

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the simplest. The sky is a clock, a slow, reliable

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one that tells time in hours, seasons, and years.

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If you step outside on a clear January evening,

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the sky isn't random, it's organized. Keep this

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basic idea in mind. Stars rise in the east, they

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drift across the sky, and they set in the west.

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just like the moon and the sun. That motion isn't

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the stars moving around us, it's the earth turning

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beneath them. Over the course of a single night,

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the sky marks the passage of hours. Over the

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course of months, it marks the passage of seasons.

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That's why winter skies look so different from

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summer skies. Familiar constellations vanish,

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and new ones take their place. Also, January

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is a great time to learn about astronomy because

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the sky gets dark early, stays dark longer, and

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it doesn't rush you. You don't have to stay up

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late to learn it. It's kind of like the universe

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meets you halfway. Let's talk about naked eye

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astronomy, not as a beginner phase, not as something

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you graduate from, but as the foundation of everything

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else. Your eyes are extraordinary instruments

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once you give them time. When you step outside,

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your eyes need about 20 minutes to fully adapt

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to darkness. Bright lights reset that clock instantly.

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So your phone is not your friend here. Once your

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eyes settle in, the sky begins to open up. Stars

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multiply and patterns emerge. You'll first notice

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that some stars twinkle and others don't. That's

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not a trick of your vision, it's physics. Stars

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twinkle because they're incredibly far away,

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pinpoints of light distorted by Earth's atmosphere.

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Planets don't twinkle as much because they're

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closer and they appear as tiny disks instead

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of points. That single observation, twinkling

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versus steady, lets you identify planets without

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charts, apps, or even guesswork. As you get more

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familiar with the sky, you'll instinctively recognize

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the visible planets by their brightness and even

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color. Binoculars, by the way, are not a compromise.

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They're one of the most powerful tools in astronomy.

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They're portable, intuitive, and perfectly matched

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to how humans naturally look at the sky. Right

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now, I consider myself a binocular astronomer.

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I don't even own a telescope at the moment, and

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I consider that a feature, not a bug. If all

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you ever use are your eyes and a pair of binoculars,

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you're doing real astronomy. And binoculars have

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advantages over scopes. You can just aim them

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up and scan around without messing with a tripod,

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a finder scope, eyepiece magnifications, or polar

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alignments. Just grab a seat in a lounge chair

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and sweep across the sky. The sensation is that

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of flying through the stars. If you have a steady

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hand, you can make out the moons of Jupiter in

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a nice pair of binoculars. Star clusters are

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a real pleasure and from a dark site you'll be

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able to see the bright core of the Andromeda

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galaxy, its photons reaching our eyes after more

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than two and a half million years in transit.

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Then there are the stories of the sky, constellations.

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They're how humans imposed meaning on randomness

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long before we understood stars as suns and galaxies

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as islands of light. Different cultures drew

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different shapes in the same sky, echoing their

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history and myths. Modern star charts sometimes

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make constellations feel like tests. Connect

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the dots correctly, or you've failed. And that's

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the wrong mindset. Constellations are anchors

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that give you a roadmap across the sky. There's

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no right or wrong way to view them. In January,

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there's no better anchor than Orion, the legendary

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hunter. You're probably familiar with the three

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bright stars in a row that form his distinct

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belt. You don't need to memorize his mythology.

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You don't need to trace every star. You just

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need to recognize him as a landmark. Once you

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find Orion, the rest of the winter sky starts

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to make sense. The sky stops being a wall of

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lights and starts becoming a landscape. That's

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the moment astronomy becomes personal. We'll

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talk more about Orion and his secrets in a moment.

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Now, most of us live under light -polluted skies.

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That's simply a fact of modern life. Light pollution

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limits what you can see, but it doesn't erase

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the sky, and it's not a reason not to look up.

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There's a lot of astronomy that can be enjoyed

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under a compromised sky. The moon still commands

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attention. Planets still shine steadily. Bright

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stars still punch through the glow. You'll see

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the larger, brighter constellations like Orion

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and the Big Dipper. Urban astronomy is still

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astronomy, and if you wait for perfect darkness,

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you may never begin. If you learn the sky where

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you are, Every improvement feels like a gift.

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When you finally venture out to a dark site,

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you'll be even more in awe of what's up there.

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So, speaking of what's overhead, let's see what

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awaits us in this first full week of the new

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year. Right now the moon is near full. It peaked

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as the January full moon, the Wolf Moon, around

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January the 3rd, meaning it's still bright and

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dominant in the early evening sky. That brightness

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will wash out fainter stars, but it's also a

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striking sight all on its own, rising just after

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sunset and moving westward through the night.

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One of the easiest objects for new stargazers

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this week is Jupiter. It's the brightest planet

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visible right now, rising soon after dusk and

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shining persistently through the night. Jupiter

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is approaching opposition on January the 10th,

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which means Earth is between it and the Sun,

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so it's up in the sky all night, climbing high

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and at its peak brightness for the year. When

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you see a bright, non -twinkling star high in

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the southeast to south, that's Jupiter. If you

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do have a telescope, even a modest one, Jupiter

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is a great first planet to explore, but keep

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your expectations reasonable. It won't look like

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a Voyager image. You should be able to discern

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a tiny disk, maybe with several cloud bands.

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Its Galilean moons will be on either side of

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it, resembling a tiny solar system all by itself.

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You aren't likely to see a lot of color, if any.

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As with any telescopic observation, patience

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is key. As a beginner, lining up a scope on a

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planet for the first time is difficult and can

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feel like an hour of frustration, punctuated

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by two minutes of wonder. I've always found it

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helpful to use a low magnification eyepiece that

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gives you a wider field of view, then step up

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to a more powerful magnification once you have

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your object in the frame. Not far from Jupiter,

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in the same part of the sky, you'll also find

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the familiar twin stars Castor, and Pollux of

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the constellation Gemini. Pollux sits a little

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closer to Jupiter in the sky, and together they

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form a neat visual triangle you can pick out

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on a clear night. If you face south -southeast

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after sunset, you'll see the familiar Winter

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Hexagon, an asterism made of very bright stars.

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It includes Sirius, the brightest star in the

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night sky. Betelgeuse in Orion, Aldebaran in

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Taurus, and Procyon near the horizon. These bright

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stars help your eye navigate without charts,

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and from their arrangement you can start to recognize

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the larger patterns of the winter sky. Speaking

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of Orion, he's unmistakable right now. Look for

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his three -star belt slanted across the late

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winter sky. Just below and slightly to the left

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of Orion's belt is Sirius, blazing brighter than

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anything else overhead. If you're a brand new

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observer, here's something special to look out

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for once you've located Orion. Hanging just below

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Orion's belt, where his sword would be, you'll

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find one of the most famous objects in the night

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sky, the Great Nebula in Orion. On a dark night,

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with good eyesight, you may be able to see it

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with the naked eye as a faint, fuzzy patch, something

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that looks a little out of place among the pinpoints

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of stars. But if you have binoculars, this is

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where things get interesting. Through binoculars,

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the Great Nebula blooms into view as a glowing

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cloud, soft, uneven, and unmistakably not a star.

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You're looking at a vast, stellar nursery. a

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region where new stars are actively forming more

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than a thousand light years away. This is often

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the first deep sky object people ever see, and

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for good reason. It's bright, it's easy to find,

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and it doesn't require expensive equipment. The

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first time you spot it, there's a quiet realization

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that tends to follow. That fuzzy glow isn't a

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smudge on the lens. It's not an illusion. It's

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a real place in the universe. If astronomy ever

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stops feeling abstract, it's usually right here,

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standing under Orion looking at a cloud of gas

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and dust where stars are being born, with nothing

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more than your eyes or even a simple pair of

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binoculars. Another event happening this week

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is the tail end of the Quandran -Tid meteor shower.

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Its peak was just before January the 4th, and

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unfortunately the bright moon will drown out

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many of the faint meteors this year. But if you're

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in a very dark location with good eyes and patience,

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you might still glimpse a few shooting stars

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distributed around the sky. It just takes some

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patience. So here's a suggestion for 2026, and

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it's not a resolution, but just something to

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practice. Once a week, take some time to look

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up from the same place at the same time. Look

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for one thing, maybe a star, a planet, the moon,

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or a familiar constellation. Notice how they

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shift night to night. Over time, something subtle

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happens. The sky starts to feel familiar. You

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stop asking, what am I supposed to see? And start

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noticing what's already there. In the weeks ahead,

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we'll return to our usual show rhythm, specific

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objects, events, and so on. But everything we

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do this year grows out of what we talked about

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tonight. Astronomy is not a performance and it's

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not a race. The sky will be there tomorrow. The

00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.590
sky is patient and it'll wait for you. Before

00:14:18.590 --> 00:14:20.950
we leave this topic, I wanted to mention some

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resources over at our website, StarTrails .Show,

00:14:25.529 --> 00:14:28.570
in case you've never visited it. I've recently

00:14:28.570 --> 00:14:31.169
added some features that you may find useful.

00:14:32.049 --> 00:14:34.789
New and even returning listeners may enjoy the

00:14:34.789 --> 00:14:37.809
new Start Here page, where I've flagged some

00:14:37.809 --> 00:14:41.149
of my favorite must -listen episodes, along with

00:14:41.149 --> 00:14:43.970
tons of links and resources you might find helpful.

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I've included links to some of my favorite Night

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Sky apps, useful websites, and more. And if you're

00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:54.759
just starting out, I think you'll enjoy the Stellarium

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app. It's basically a planetarium in your pocket,

00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.620
and their web application is very useful as well.

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Also, if you like to listen to music while you

00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:09.179
stargaze, check out my new music project Liminal

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Horizon. It's spacey ambient music designed for

00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:16.620
dark skies, and you've probably already heard

00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:20.019
some of it in recent shows. Click the music link

00:15:20.019 --> 00:15:27.679
in the site navigation up top to access it. After

00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.460
a quick break, I'll mention a book I think you'll

00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:34.600
all enjoy and will journey back in time to 1860

00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:38.000
for the discovery of a planet that didn't actually

00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:55.820
exist. Vulcan. Stay with us. Welcome back. Many

00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:59.639
many episodes ago. I floated the idea of a sort

00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:03.899
of Star Trails book club and I selected the book

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Nightwatch by Terrence Dickinson for the discussion

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Then about six months elapsed and I finally ordered

00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.059
the book Then the book sat on my shelf for another

00:16:15.059 --> 00:16:18.820
six months. I nearly forgot about it Well over

00:16:18.820 --> 00:16:21.399
the holiday break. I finally started reading

00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:23.990
it I'll have a lot more to say about it in an

00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:26.850
upcoming episode, but the big takeaway here is

00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:29.789
you owe it to yourself to read this book if you're

00:16:29.789 --> 00:16:33.029
interested in stargazing, and it makes a fine

00:16:33.029 --> 00:16:37.169
companion to this podcast. In fact, if this podcast

00:16:37.169 --> 00:16:39.870
were a class, I think I'd want Nightwatch to

00:16:39.870 --> 00:16:43.330
be its textbook. And here's why. The author,

00:16:43.629 --> 00:16:46.629
Dickinson, has crafted this book especially for

00:16:46.629 --> 00:16:49.929
backyard stargazers. There's really no jargon

00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:53.289
in the book. There's no math or complex explanations.

00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:56.409
It's richly illustrated, and thumbing through

00:16:56.409 --> 00:16:59.110
it reminded me of the old National Geographic

00:16:59.110 --> 00:17:03.409
hardbound tome Our Universe, which kept me in

00:17:03.409 --> 00:17:07.190
endless awe as a kid in the early 1980s. Now,

00:17:07.230 --> 00:17:10.549
I've done more than 90 episodes of this podcast.

00:17:11.069 --> 00:17:13.930
I'm certainly no expert astronomer, but I like

00:17:13.930 --> 00:17:16.410
to think I'm somewhat informed of the subject

00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:19.910
matter. Still, every time I pick up Nightwatch,

00:17:20.069 --> 00:17:23.049
I learn something new, even in a book aimed at

00:17:23.049 --> 00:17:27.069
beginners. Here's an example. I didn't know that

00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:30.390
our sun is larger than about 90 % of the other

00:17:30.390 --> 00:17:34.250
stars in the galaxy. Yet nearly every star we

00:17:34.250 --> 00:17:36.970
see at night here on Earth with our naked eye

00:17:36.970 --> 00:17:41.440
is much larger than our sun. Because space is

00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.900
an infinitely large place, only the largest stars,

00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.400
the Leviathans of the Milky Way, are the ones

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:51.980
we can actually see. And every chapter contains

00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:55.839
revelations like this. In an age where reading

00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:59.059
a physical book seems like something from a bygone

00:17:59.059 --> 00:18:02.859
era and night sky maps are available as augmented

00:18:02.859 --> 00:18:05.880
reality in a phone app, you might be wondering,

00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:09.630
why bother? but the book is really that good.

00:18:10.349 --> 00:18:12.910
I'm feverishly assembling notes from my reading

00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:16.170
and a full review is coming soon, but get a copy

00:18:16.170 --> 00:18:18.990
if you can. I think you'll really find it helpful.

00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:29.289
Before I go, I'd like to point out a moment in

00:18:29.289 --> 00:18:32.950
astronomy that occurred around this time, 166

00:18:32.950 --> 00:18:41.079
years ago, back in 1860. On January the 2nd of

00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:43.960
that year, a respected astronomer made an announcement

00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:47.019
that seemed, at the time, entirely reasonable.

00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.960
The astronomer was Urbain Le Verrier, the same

00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:54.420
man who successfully predicted the existence

00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:58.880
of Neptune purely through mathematics. When Neptune

00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:02.079
was later observed, almost exactly where Le Verrier

00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:05.740
said it would be, his reputation soared. He had

00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:09.380
found a planet without ever seeing it. We actually

00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:13.059
discussed this way back in episode 38, in a segment

00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:17.920
on orbital resonances. So, when Le Verrier claimed

00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:20.900
there was another planet, this one orbiting closer

00:19:20.900 --> 00:19:24.240
to the Sun than Mercury, people listened. He

00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:30.660
called it Vulcan. Astronomers had noticed something

00:19:30.660 --> 00:19:34.420
strange about Mercury's orbit. Over time, the

00:19:34.420 --> 00:19:37.099
point where Mercury comes closest to the Sun,

00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:42.299
its perihelion slowly shifts. That gradual rotation

00:19:42.299 --> 00:19:46.319
of the orbit is called precession. Most of Mercury's

00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:48.720
precession could be explained by the gravitational

00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.220
pull of the other planets, but a small portion,

00:19:52.460 --> 00:19:56.839
about 43 arc seconds per century, remained unaccounted

00:19:56.839 --> 00:20:01.990
for. Using Newtonian physics, the simplest explanation

00:20:01.990 --> 00:20:05.509
was another unseen planet tugging on Mercury.

00:20:06.410 --> 00:20:09.890
Just as Neptune explained Uranus' odd motion,

00:20:10.470 --> 00:20:14.089
Vulcan would explain Mercury's. And for decades,

00:20:14.710 --> 00:20:18.390
astronomers searched. Some observers reported

00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:21.950
fleeting sightings of Vulcan during solar eclipses.

00:20:22.369 --> 00:20:25.269
Others claimed to see tiny dark dots crossing

00:20:25.269 --> 00:20:29.359
the face of the Sun. Vulcan lived in that uncomfortable

00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:33.059
space between plausible and real. Never fully

00:20:33.059 --> 00:20:37.079
confirmed, but never fully dismissed. Remember,

00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:40.460
the area close to the sun is notoriously difficult

00:20:40.460 --> 00:20:43.680
to observe, owing to the sun's glare and the

00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.140
compact orbit of objects there. That's why we

00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:49.839
rarely catch Mercury in the sky, and when we

00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:53.019
do, it's near the setting sun, low on the horizon.

00:20:54.730 --> 00:20:58.930
The breakthrough came in 1915 when Albert Einstein

00:20:58.930 --> 00:21:03.190
published his theory of general relativity. Einstein

00:21:03.190 --> 00:21:05.849
showed that gravity isn't just a force between

00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:09.569
objects, it's the warping of space and time itself.

00:21:10.829 --> 00:21:13.809
Near something as massive as the Sun, space -time

00:21:13.809 --> 00:21:17.369
curves enough to subtly alter Mercury's orbit.

00:21:17.970 --> 00:21:21.049
When Einstein ran the numbers, general relativity

00:21:21.049 --> 00:21:24.500
predicted exactly the missing amount of Mercury's

00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:28.039
perihelion precession. No extra planet required.

00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.700
Vulcan didn't disappear because astronomers stopped

00:21:32.700 --> 00:21:35.380
looking hard enough. It vanished because the

00:21:35.380 --> 00:21:38.519
universe turned out to be stranger and more elegant

00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:43.240
than anyone had imagined. Today, Vulcan survives

00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.519
only in fiction, most famously as the homeworld

00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:50.079
of Spock in Star Trek. But for a brief moment

00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.960
in history it was a serious answer to a real

00:21:52.960 --> 00:22:08.400
problem. That's going to do it for this week.

00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:10.700
If you found this episode interesting please

00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:13.400
share it with a friend who might enjoy it. The

00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:15.839
easiest way to do that is by sending folks to

00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:20.019
our website Star Trails dot show and if you want

00:22:20.019 --> 00:22:22.599
to support the show use the link on the site

00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:26.460
to buy me a coffee it really helps Be sure to

00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:30.240
follow Star Trails on blue sky and YouTube links

00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:33.299
are in the show notes Until we meet again beneath

00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:35.640
the stars clear skies everyone