Axions are some of the best-motivated beyond the Standard Model particle candidates at present. These particles may account for the cosmological dark matter and explain other outstanding problems in nature, such as the strong-CP problem; they also are now known to emerge generically in string theory. Axions are expected to couple ultra-weakly with ordinary matter, and many of the most promising avenues for detecting axions rely on astrophysical observations of extreme systems that are able to magnify these feeble interactions. In this talk I will give an overview of the landscape of astrophysical axion detection efforts. I will discuss compact stars as axion laboratories, in particular highlighting recent work on magnetic white dwarf optical polarization signatures of axions and work identifying possible gamma-ray signals from future supernovae.