The Star Spot, with Justin Trottier, is a space-themed podcast and radio show focusing on all aspects of astronomy and space exploration. Episodes feature interviews with guests of wide-ranging backgrounds: scientists, engineers, educators, artists, politicians, and business people. Topics are similarly broad, from the latest space mission to how the universe began, from why humans explore space to how we can make space exploration economical. The show also includes a short news segment called Current in Space, bringing you reports on the latest happenings and developments that may be of interest to the space enthusiast.

New episodes of The Star Spot are available every other Sunday evening, and can be listened to on our website, on iTunes or on the radio. See the ticker in the sidebar for the countdown to the next episode. Click here for more information and options on how to listen to the show.

There can be no doubt that astronomy has a certain power that other disciplines lack in its sheer ability to inspire awe, wonderment, and curiosity. If you are an astronomy lover maybe you can remember the moment when you first felt the awe of astronomy, perhaps it was looking up at the night sky filled with stars, or when you first heard about an incredible new discovery, or maybe it was in class. This is part of the reason we have chosen to focus our show on astronomy, because, in our opinion at least, it is one of the most fascinating topics in, well, the universe.

However, astronomy’s resplendence is not the only reason we’ve chosen to discuss it; astronomy also has an incredible ability to form connections between people here on the ground. Astronomy for many is a shared pursuit, often the interest is passed on from a parent or is shared amongst friends. Our host, Justin Trottier, experienced the bonding power of astronomy first hand when he founded his high school’s first astronomy club. The club drew together a diverse group of students who would not normally interact, think of The Breakfast Club. Astronomy has a profound ability to bond people together with a shared interest and a universe of things to talk about. Which of course, is one of the reasons we have chosen to talk about it on The Star Spot.