Practical sky talk for telescope obsessives.
Space Junk is a weekly amateur astronomy show built around real observing problems, gear choices, and the thrill of seeing the sky from home. Its conversations move easily from telescope systems and autoguiders to backyard observatories, SETI data, and the communities forming around astrophotography.
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Space Junk makes amateur astronomy sound like a workshop conversation held under a half-clear sky. Tony Darnell and Dustin Gibson bring a practical, conversational rhythm to the hobby, moving from equipment decisions to cosmic speculation without sanding off the rough edges. The show is strongest when it treats gear as a route to experience rather than as a catalog exercise. Complete telescope systems, component builds, astrographs, APOs, catadioptric tubes, autoguiders, mounts, coatings, and field flatteners all appear as tools for getting closer to the sky. The advice is specific. The tone stays loose. A discussion of Celestron versatility can sit beside a joke about podcast awards, a puppy interruption, or the awkward reality of trying to build an observatory by hand. Backyard astronomy is presented as physical work as much as wonder: concrete pads, roll-off sheds, streetlights, neighbors, and the stubborn logistics of making a reliable observing spot. Astrophotography gets special attention because the show understands why images have reshaped the hobby. A telescope view can be described to friends, but a finished image can travel through communities while its maker sleeps. That shareable quality becomes part of the show’s larger argument about why more people are finding the hobby. Beginners are not treated as nuisances. Episodes about new telescopes and bad beginner advice meet first-time observers at the moment after the box is opened and the question becomes practical. Experienced listeners get more technical talk about optical design, image correction, infrared work, JWST, and the differences between visual observing and sensor-based imaging. Space Junk also stretches beyond backyard gear. Beth Johnson from SETI Institute brings the show into radio data, Breakthrough Listen, Green Bank, the VLA, CHIME, machine learning, and the difficulty of processing signals at scale. TagBackTV brings another angle, showing how gaming and streaming audiences can discover astrophotography through curiosity rather than formal science outreach. Brian Fulda adds a beginner-education perspective from OPT and OPT University. The show can be rambling, but the looseness is part of its usefulness. It sounds like astronomy as actually practiced by enthusiasts: technical, funny, patient, opinionated, and always pointed back toward the sky.
Made for: Space Junk suits amateur astronomers, astrophotographers, telescope shoppers, and curious beginners who want practical advice without a polished lecture tone. It also fits experienced observers who enjoy gear talk mixed with candid hobby conversation.
What sets it apart: The show blends telescope-shop practicality, long-running astronomy media experience, and casual bench-talk energy. It stands apart by treating astrophotography, observing, and SETI as connected parts of one hands-on curiosity culture.
Space Junk is a weekly podcast dedicated to the amazing hobby of amateur astronomy. Each week we’ll answer your questions and bring you the latest information and advice on the tools, gadgets, software and techniques for maximizing your enjoyment of the night sky. Your hosts are Tony Darnell from DeepAstronomy.space and Dustin Gibson from OPT Telescopes, a world leader in telescopes and accessories.
Tony Darnell plans to mix a pallet of concrete by hand; your telescope wishlist suddenly looks manageable.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical, candid telescope-buying discussion about versatile systems, sky imaging, and the pull of seeing one's place in the universe.
Space Junk Podcast looks at a practical astronomy dilemma: whether a complete go-to telescope package can serve people who want visual observing and astrophotography without turning the hobby into a pile of separate decisions.
A backyard telescope shelter begins with concrete, streetlights, and an uneasy neighborhood caveat.
Tony Darnell frames the backyard observatory less as a fantasy upgrade than as a practical test of labor, light, and local tolerance. The project starts at ground level: pouring a concrete pad by hand, reinforcing it with metal, and planning a low pole shed with a roll-off roof…
A grounded, accessible look at how SETI uses radio observations and shared data in the search for life elsewhere.
Beth Johnson of the SETI Institute gives the search for life beyond Earth a practical frame, focusing less on a single dramatic sweep of the sky than on the patient work of gathering and sorting radio data.
A relaxed astronomy conversation links telescope hardware, infrared observing, JWST, and the crowding of orbital space.
Space Junk works best as a loose, curious pass through the odd edge where amateur astronomy meets space hardware. The conversation begins with space-qualified telescope gear, then opens into the question of what might someday reach backyard observers.
A grounded look at how astrophotography pulls in newcomers and feeds the telescope market.
This single-episode review tracks a clear reason amateur astrophotography keeps widening its reach: pictures carry the experience better than description, and social media gives those pictures a long afterlife.
Rotating StarTalk scientist-hosts and a comedian co-host tackle listener-submitted cosmic questions.
Patient space coverage with real mission context.
Space Junk asks whether complete telescope systems still lose to assembling a mount, OTA, and camera separately, and Dustin answers with examples from Celestron, Meade, QHY600, and ZWO6200.
Tony says he has finally gathered the time and materials to build a small roll-off observatory behind his solar panels, using fence posts, a pallet of concrete, and a six-foot-high shed for a telescope.
Tony opens Space Junk Podcast with Beth Johnson from the SETI Institute and quickly moves into what SETI is, including its 1983 or 1984 founding and Jill Tarter's influence on Carl Sagan's Contact.
Space Junk's "How Autoguiders Can Help You Find the Meaning of Life" pairs a philosophy riff about nihilism, stoicism, and turning 60 with a practical astronomy segment on autoguiding.
Space Junk talks through NINA, the open-source astrophotography program Dustin says he switched to in all of his observatories, and why it can replace several separate tools such as CCD Autopilot, CCD Navigator, TheSkyX, and PHD.
This episode discusses the probability of detecting extraterrestrial signals and reviews a 2007 paper on the topic, alongside a segment on telescope types.
The episode discusses how a video game streamer discovered amateur astronomy and astrophotography, introducing a new audience to the hobby.
This episode provides beginner-friendly advice on using a new telescope for amateur astronomy.
Host Tony Darnell interviews astrophotographer Molly Wakeling about her journey into amateur astronomy and imaging.