Tracking Space Junk Hosts Jay Shaffer and Mike Lewinski discuss the latest solar activity, lunar events, and a groundbreaking new method for tracking re-entering space junk using seismic sensors. Episode Links: Dragon Re-entry: https://youtu.be/F9ByyNkjUt8?si=CoYVpI95Lr5KsaSw Space Junk Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4676 Global Meteor Network: https://globalmeteornetwork.org/
Read More
The Mystery of “M” In this episode of Starcast, hosts Jay Shaffer and Mike Lewinski discuss recent solar activity, upcoming celestial events, and the history of astronomical catalogs such as the Messier and New General Catalog. Episode Links: https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/what-are-messier-objects/ https://astrodaily.mro.nmt.edu/2020/08/11/the-messier-catalogue-the-masterpiece-in-the-mess/ https://www.space.com/16686-charles-messier-biography.html http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/marathon/marathon.html https://donmachholz.com/messier-marathon/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Comet_of_1744https://georgebishopjr.com/2013/07/03/cheseauxs-comet-of-1744/
Read More
Winter is Here. In this episode of Starcast, hosts Jay Shaffer and Mike Lewinski discuss current space weather and lunar alignments before sharing expert tips and technical strategies for successful stargazing and astrophotography during the cold winter months.
Read More
MACHOs and Micro-lensing In this Starcast, MACHOs and microlensing are the primary tools discussed for mapping the cold, dark, and lonely objects that make up the majority of the universe. Mike Lewinski explains that while traditional gravitational lenses are stable over centuries, microlensing involves smaller objects like isolated black holes or free-floating planets that temporarily […]
Read More
Destination: Moon! In this episode of Starcast, hosts Jay Shaffer and Mike Lewinski discuss current space weather and a rare triple lunar alignment before diving into the ambitious 2026 lunar exploration schedule and the significant technical and human challenges of establishing a presence on the moon. Episode Links: Lunar Radiation: https://www.space.com/moon-radiation-dose-for-astronauts-measured For All Mankind: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772588/ […]
Read More
“Essential Equipment” This episode of Starcast features Mike Lewinski and Jay Shaffer discussing an incoming G2-G3 solar storm, the upcoming Geminid meteor shower, the discovery of life-precursor sugars like glucose in the Bennu asteroid samples, and sharing their favorite astrophotography equipment, including a sky quality meter and a budget star tracker, for a holiday gift […]
Read More
Meteorites and “Wrongs” This episode of Starcast, recorded on the anniversary of the first known person to be injured by a falling meteorite, covers an active space weather forecast featuring Sunspot 4294, news of a supermoon and the Geminids, and a deep dive into how to distinguish actual meteorites from “meteor-wrongs” using four key tests […]
Read More
Hubble Tension This week’s Starcast dives into the Hubble Tension, exploring how conflicting measurements of the universe’s expansion rate—one from the early cosmos and one from the local universe—challenge the standard model of cosmology and hint at new physics. Episode Links: https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-universe-is-decelerating-and-standard-candles-arent-so-standard-according-to-a-new-study https://briankoberlein.com/blog/tipping-scale/ https://briankoberlein.com/blog/masering-tale/
Read More
We’ve Got Green! (Northern Lights) The Starcast for the week of November 16, 2025, covers the past week’s spectacular geomagnetic storm and aurora display, the upcoming Leonid meteor shower peak, and the successful launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on the Escapade mission to Mars. Episode Links: Mike’s Time-Lapse: https://youtu.be/DD0fahqCMq4 Jay’s Time-Lapse: https://youtu.be/pG7XphglrhU […]
Read More
Dark Energy This week’s Starcast dives deep into groundbreaking research suggesting the universe’s expansion is actually slowing down, prompting a major reconsideration of the nature and evolution of dark energy away from the standard cosmological model. Episode Links: https://science.nasa.gov/dark-energy/ https://phys.org/news/2025-11-universe-expansion-evidence-mounts-dark.html https://www.poetry.com/poem/32878/the-great-explosion
Read More