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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Picture a rocket the height of a 15 storey
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 building lying on its side in The Indian
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Ocean, 800 kilometres off
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 Western Australia, and a rope running from
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 its nose to a tug trying to drag it home
00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 through a rising swell.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 Avery: That's not a thought experiment. That's where
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 the top half of a SpaceX Starship has spent
00:00:20 --> 00:00:21 the last two weeks.
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 Anna: And whether it ever reaches an Australian
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 port is right now genuinely up in the
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 air. Good day and welcome to Astronomy
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30 AstroDailyPod. I'm Anna.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 Avery: And I'm avery. It's Monday 10th
00:00:33 --> 00:00:34 August 2026.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 Anna: There's a thread running through today's
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 show. Things taking the long way home, A
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 starship under tow, a Chinese booster trying
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 to fly itself back to the pad. Tonight,
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 40 year old Voyager 2 data still turning up.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Surprises at, ah, Uranus and eclipse
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 chasers heading to the top of the world for
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 two minutes of darkness and three days from
00:00:56 --> 00:00:56 now.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 Avery: And plus the best meteor shower of the year
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 peaking under a new Moon. It's a big week,
00:01:02 --> 00:01:03 let's get into it.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 So let's go back to the 24th of July,
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 Starship's ah, 13th full test flight lifts
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 off from Starbase in South Texas. And this
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 one goes well, really well. The upper
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 stage, the part SpaceX just calls ship,
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 flies its suborbital arc and comes down for a
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 of Western Australia and exactly where it was
00:01:26 --> 00:01:26 aimed.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 Anna: And here's the first ever. Every
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 previous ship that came down over the ocean,
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 broke up or was deliberately destroyed.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 This one ship, 40, made what observers
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 called the softest starship water landing
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 yet, tipped over as it hit the waves and
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 then just stayed in one piece.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 Avery: It floated airtight, bobbing in the
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 swell. Onboard cameras showed all six
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Raptor engines with no visible external
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 damage. Water lapping at the lens. A
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 SpaceX spokesperson called it on the live
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 webcast a dream scenario, which it
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 Anna: was, because SpaceX genuinely did not
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 expect to get this vehicle back. The whole
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 point of the flight was the data. The heat
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 shield is the thing that kept Elon Musk up at
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 night for years, the tiles that protect ship
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 on the way back through the atmosphere. And
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 on this flight, it held.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 Avery: In fact, on 4 August, on the company's
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 first ever quarterly earnings call, its first
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 since going public, Musk said, and I'm
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 paraphrasing only slightly, that he doesn't
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 want to jinx it, but he'd consider the heat
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 shield problem solved.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 Anna: That's a big claim for a rocket meant to be
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 fully and rapidly reusable. The Heat shield
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 was the last great unknown. So a ship
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 that survives reentry, survives the water
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 and floats there intact is suddenly
00:02:48 --> 00:02:49 a floating laboratory.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 Avery: Um, and that changed the maths. On
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 28 July, Musk posted simply,
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 we're sending a ship out to recover Starship.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 The SpaceX vessel Go Australis had been
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 shadowing it since splashdown. Two
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 Norwegian tugs, A, uh, Normand Ranger and
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 Skimmer Tide steamed out to join.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 By early August, satellite imagery showed all
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 three working. The vehicle with a towline
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 already made fast to the nose section.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 Anna: For context, this thing had already drifted
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 more than 400 kilometres. The whole
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 convoy is over 1300 kilometres off the
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 Australian coast, aiming according to
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 imagery based reporting for a Western
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 Australian port. Dampier and Port Hedland
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 have both been floated as the likely
00:03:37 --> 00:03:37 destination.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 Avery: And then on the 7th of August, the tone
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 shifted. Musk posted an update.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 Unfortunately, ship recovery is not looking
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 good right now. The team's been fighting
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 increasingly rough seas. But, and this is
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 the important part, he added that they were
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 still able to get close up photos of critical
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 regions of the heat shield and the engines
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 for future upgrades though.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 Anna: Read that carefully. Even if the tow
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 fails, Even if ship 40 never reaches a
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 jetty, SpaceX has already banked most of what
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 it wanted. The inspection imagery.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 Honestly, a ship soaked in saltwater for two
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 weeks was never going to be refurbished and
00:04:16 --> 00:04:17 flown again anyway.
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 Avery: Uh, alright. The prize was never the
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 hardware, it was the look at the hardware.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 Which is why as of our recording, the storey
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 is beautifully unresolved. A giant rocket
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 still afloat, still under tow in a race
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 against the weather off Western Australia.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Anna: Worth remembering how big giant is here.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 Stacked starship stands about
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 124 metres tall. The
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 biggest, most powerful rocket ever built.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 The ship on its own is 52 metres.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 That's what's on the end of that rope.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 Avery: And the flight did its day job too. During
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 the mission, ship deployed 20 next generation
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Starlink V3 satellites. The bigger
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 broadband bird SpaceX wants to fly by the
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 hundred thousand. Those particular 20
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 came straight back down by design, but it was
00:05:01 --> 00:05:02 a dress rehearsal for the future.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 Anna: The booster, meanwhile, the super heavy had a
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 rougher day. Engine trouble on descent and it
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 came down hard in the Gulf of Mexico and
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 exploded. So a triumphant ship, a lost
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 booster and a two week sea drama that may or
00:05:16 --> 00:05:17 may not have a tidy ending.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 Avery: And the look ahead is quick. Musk says the
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 next one, Flight 14 is targeted for late
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 August and it's meant to be Starship's first
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 crack at reaching operational orbit while
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 carrying production Starlink satellites, so
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 the pace isn't slowing. But for our part of
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 the world, this is the rare week the Starship
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 Storey washed up on an Australian shore.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 Almost literally.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 Anna: Almost literally.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 Let's bring it home from the other direction
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 now because someone else is trying to land a
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 booster tonight. Because reusability isn't
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 just a SpaceX storey anymore. Tonight,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 our tonight, a, uh, Chinese company called
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Landspace is going to try something only
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 SpaceX has truly mastered. Flying
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 an orbital class booster back down and
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 landing it on its legs.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 Avery: And Landspace is a private outfit founded in
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 Beijing back in 2015. Their rocket is the
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 Zhuque 3, stainless steel, methane and
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 liquid oxygen engines, about 66 metres
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 tall in capability. It's broadly a Falcon
00:06:18 --> 00:06:18 9 rival.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 Anna: And the timing for local listeners, liftoff
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 is targeted to a quarter to 8 on Monday
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 evening US Eastern Time, which is a quarter
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 to midnight UTC. And for us in Sydney, it's
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 about a quarter to 10 on Tuesday morning. It
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 goes from Zhuquan in China's northwest.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 Avery: Now here's what we need to be precise because
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 the headlines get this slightly wrong. This
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 isn't China's first booster landing, it's
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 China's fourth orbital class recovery
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 attempt. And one of those already worked back
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 on the 10th of July, a long March 10th B was
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 caught using a net capture system, which made
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 China the second nation ever to land an
00:06:54 --> 00:06:55 orbital booster.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 Anna: So what makes tonight different is the
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 method. Landspace isn't going for a net,
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 it's going for the full Falcon 9 move. A, uh,
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 powered descent, a powered landing, burn and
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 legs, setting itself down on a pad downrange
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 in Gansu Province. If it works, Landspace
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 becomes the first Chinese company to pull off
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 that kind of propulsive booster landing.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 Avery: And they've been close before. The Zhukui 3's
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 maiden flight last December actually did its
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 main job. The second stage reached orbit. It
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 was the first stage that let them down. The
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 landing burn faltered a few kilometres up and
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 the booster came down in a fireball. By some
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 accounts they were within about 17 seconds of
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 a landing.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 Anna: 17 seconds. That's the margin they're trying
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 to close tonight. A clean static fire test at
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 the end of June set it up and airspace
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 closure notices point to this evening.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 Avery: Why does it matter to the rest of us? Because
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 landing and reflying boosters is what dragged
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 the cost of getting to orbit down in the
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 first place. A second company doing it on a
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 different continent with a methane rocket is
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 how a, uh, one company capability becomes an
00:07:59 --> 00:08:00 industry.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 Anna: We'll be recording before the window opens so
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 we're calling it forward. If you're listening
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 later in the day. Cheque astronomydaily IO
00:08:07 --> 00:08:08 we'll have the result
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 Avery: now, from rocket recoveries to a planet lying
00:08:11 --> 00:08:12 on its side.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 There's a lovely result due in the rounds
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 this week about Uranus. And it comes with an
00:08:16 --> 00:08:17 old friend attached.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 Anna: Set the scene first. Because Uranus is the
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 oddball of the solar system, it doesn't spin
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 upright like Earth, it's tipped right over,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 rolling around the sun on its side. And its
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 magnetic field is stranger still, tilted
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 about 60 degrees from its spin axis and
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 offset from the planet's centre. Nothing
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 about it is neat, which matters
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 Avery: for something called the bow shock. That's
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 the boundary out in front of a planet where
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 the solar wind, the constant stream of
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 particles off the sun, slams into the
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 planet's magnetic field and abruptly slows
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 down. At Earth, that boundary sits there
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 fairly steadily. It only really moves when
00:08:56 --> 00:08:57 the sun kicks up.
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 Anna: But at, uh, Uranus, this new modelling shows
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 the bow shock is anything but study. It
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 swells and shrinks, it breathes over the
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 course of a single Uranian day, which is
00:09:07 --> 00:09:08 about 17 hours.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 Avery: And here's the clever Because Uranus is so
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 tilted and lopsided, every few hours a
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 different part of that wonky magnetic field
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 is turned to face the wind, so the
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 shape of the shield keeps changing. The team
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 ran simulations where they held the solar
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 wind perfectly steady and the breathing still
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 happened. Which means it's driven by the
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 planet's own rotation, not by the sun.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 Anna: The studies in the journal AGU Advances, led
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 by Tsin Kao and colleagues. And this is where
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 our old friend comes in. Because to anchor
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 the model, they leaned on the only direct
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 measurements m humanity has ever taken inside
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 the uranian system.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 Avery: Voyager 2, which regular listeners will
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 remember from last week. It's the same
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 spacecraft whose team just pulled off that
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 Big Bang power manoeuvre to keep it alive.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 Voyager 2 swept past Uranus back in
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 January 1986, caught a single
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 crossing of that bow shock and moved on.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 Forty years later, that one dataset is
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 still the ground truth. Every Uranus model
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 has to match.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 Anna: I love that a 40 decade old flyby
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 still doing frontline science. And it's not
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 just trivia about one weird planet. A lot of
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 the exoplanets we're finding out there are
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 ice giants like Uranus. So understanding how
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 a tilted off kilter world handles the stellar
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 wind gives us a template for worlds around
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 other stars entirely.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 Avery: Fair to say too, this is a modelling result
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 that's been quietly out for a little while
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 and only got its moment in the spotlight this
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 week. But it's a genuinely new way of
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 seeing an old planet and a, uh, reminder that
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 the next mission to Uranus can't come soon
00:10:47 --> 00:10:47 enough.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:48 Anna: Right.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 Three days from now, on Wednesday the 12th,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 the moon's shadow sweeps across the Earth for
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 the only total solar eclipse of 2026.
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 And this one is strange in the best way.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:00 Avery: Strange how?
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 Anna: Most eclipse paths race west to east across
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 the planet. This one goes up and over the top
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 of the world. It begins in the Arctic over
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 remote Siberian Russia, arcs across
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 the North Pole and comes down over eastern
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 Greenland, then the west coast of Iceland,
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 then northern Spain, clipping a tiny
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 corner of Portugal and finishes out over the
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 Balearic Islands right at sunset.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 Avery: And because it's so far north, totality is
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 short and the sun sits low. Greatest
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 eclipse is about a quarter to six in the
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 evening UTC just off Iceland's
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 west coast. And even there, totality lasts
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 only 2 minutes and 18 seconds with the sun
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 barely 26 degrees above the horizon.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:44 Anna: For, uh, the places in the path, it's
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 history. Iceland hasn't seen a total eclipse
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 since 1954 and for Rygji, it's the first
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 in 593 years. Totality there
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 lands around a quarter to six in the evening
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 local time. Spain hasn't had one since
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 1905. From Oviedo and Gihon,
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 it's about half past eight in the evening,
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 low in a sunset sky.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 Avery: Audience question what about North America?
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 Anna: North America gets a partial, no totality,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 but a real bite out of the sun. NASA has
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 it visible right across the northern tier
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 from Alaska all the way to North Carolina
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 and over most of Canada. The deepest
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 coverage is up in the far north in Alaska.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 By the time you're down on the US east coast,
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 it's a shallower bite, under 10% for
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 somewhere like New York.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 Avery: And um, the timing for the U.S.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 Anna: it's a late morning into early afternoon
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 event, depending on how far west you are. The
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 simplest anchor, NASA begins its live
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 broadcast at a, ah, quarter past one in the
00:12:42 --> 00:12:43 afternoon eastern
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 time@NASA.gov live.
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 So even if you're nowhere near the path, you
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 can watch totality from Greenland and Spain
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 in real time, which is
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 Avery: exactly what our Southern Hemisphere
00:12:56 --> 00:12:57 listeners will be doing because from
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 Australia this uh, eclipse simply isn't
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 visible at all. Nothing from Sydney. But
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 don't worry, your night sky this week has
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 plenty going on and we're getting to that
00:13:07 --> 00:13:07 right now.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 Anna: We are, because the eclipse is only half of
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 a genuine Skywatch double feature
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 Avery, take us home.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Avery: Here's the gift of this week. 12 August
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 gives you an eclipse by day and that same
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 night into the 13th, the Perseids at their
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 peak under a brand new moon. No
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 moonlight to wash them out. It doesn't line
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 up like this often.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 Anna: Let's do the north first because that's where
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 both events favour Northern hemisphere
00:13:35 --> 00:13:36 listeners. This is your year for the
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 Perseids. Dark skies, no moon,
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 the radiant climbing high. Best viewing
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 is after midnight into the pre dawn hours of
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 the 12th and 13th. From a properly dark
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 site, you could see 50 to 100 an hour.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 For North America, the small hours before
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 dawn on the 13th are the sweet spot.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 Avery: Um, and the bonus for northern watchers, the
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 sun's been active. A uh, geomagnetic storm
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 lit up auroras across high latitudes over the
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 weekend and there's a chance of more around
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 the 11th and 12th. So if you're up north
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 chasing meteors, keep one eye on the horizon
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 for
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 Anna: the lights, then the eclipse recap for our
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 North American listeners. A partial on
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 Wednesday, late morning to early afternoon,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 your time deepest in the far north. And
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 NASA's stream starts a uh, quarter past one
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 eastern if the sky won't cooperate.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 Avery: Now, south of the equator, Australia, New
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 Zealand. The eclipse passes you by and the
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 Perseids barely clear your northern horizon.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 So rates are modest at best. But your
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 sky is far from empty.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 Anna: Not at all. Step out before dawn and
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 there's a spread of planets strung across the
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 sky. Look west after sunset and Venus
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 is unmistakable brilliance climbing
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 higher each evening, heading for its
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 brightest around the 22nd of September.
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 And lo in the pre dawn south, Comet
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 10P Kempel 2 is still within reach
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 of a small telescope or good binoculars from
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 a dark site from Sydney. Give yourself that
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 clear eastern to southern horizon before
00:15:10 --> 00:15:11 first light.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 Avery: So wherever you are, north or south,
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 there's something to look up at this week.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 But before anyone points anything at the sun,
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 only during the brief moments of totality and
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 only if you are standing inside the narrow
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 path, can you ever look at the sun without
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 protection everywhere else, and that
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 includes all of North America, all of the
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 Sun's partial phases. You must keep
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 certified ISO
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 eclipse glasses on the entire time.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 Never look through an unfiltered camera,
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 binoculars or telescope. The
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 concentrated light causes instant permanent
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 eye damage. If in doubt, watch the light
00:15:53 --> 00:15:53 stream.
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 Anna: And that's the show for today. Everything we
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 covered, the starship tow, tonight's
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 landspace landing attempt, the Arenas study
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 and full eclipse and Perseid timings for both
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 hemispheres is written
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 up@astronomydaily.IO with
00:16:08 --> 00:16:08 sources.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 Avery: While you're there, sign up for the daily
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 newsletter, leave us a review, and send us
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 your Perseid and eclipse photos through the
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 contact page. We love featuring them.
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 Anna: We're at Astronomy AstroDailyPod. Pod
00:16:20 --> 00:16:21 everywhere. I'm Anna.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 Avery: And I'm, um, Avery. Whether the skies are
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 dark for meteors or the sun goes out for two
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 Anna: minutes over Iceland, we hope yours are
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 clear until tomorrow.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 Avery: Clear skies,
00:16:46 --> 00:16:47 Anna: Sam. Hm.