What's up in August? Teapots at the centre of the Galaxy, Telstra GPS Fails, and Human Water Balloons

This month Alyshia & Leon discuss Australia's accidental trip back to 2006, a giant space teapot, glowing red-hot rockets & the telescope hunting the universe's biggest mysteries.

This month we're pointing to the centre of the Milky Way with a cosmic teapot, celebrating the launch of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, watching Space X reusable rockets survive another test flight, and asking whether Australia is a little *too* reliant on GPS.

Along the way we discover why Sagittarius A* has a star in its name, Dark Energy & how astronomers measure the expansion of the universe, and why a software bug sent parts of Telstra back to 2006.

Alyshia's Space Picture https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2026/03/Plato_readies_for_space-like_tests PLATO Space Telescope in ESA's Large Space Simulator Credit: ESA

Leon's Space Picture https://particle.scitech.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/image-3-scaled.png Inside Starship's Engine Bay Credit: SpaceX https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13

What's Up in the Night Sky for August? - Venus dominates the western sky. - Jupiter has disappeared into the Sun's glare. - Scorpius is high overhead. - The Milky Way stretches across the winter sky. - Sagittarius sits beneath Scorpius - find the "Teapot" and point its spout towards the centre of our galaxy.

Before sunrise (East/North-East) - Mars glows red in the north-east. - Saturn appears higher in the northern sky with its distinctive yellow tint. - Perseid meteor shower (best chance: 12–13 August, very low on the northern horizon).

Dates of Interest - 12 August – Total Solar Eclipse (visible from Spain, Iceland, Greenland, Portugal & parts of Russia) - 12–13 August – Perseid Meteor Shower peak - 27 August – Partial Lunar Eclipse (not visible from Australia) - 30 August – Planned launch of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Constellation of the Month Sagittarius – A giant centaur wielding a bow & arrow & the Galactic Teapot

Space Flight Focus Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches 30th August. Starship Flight 13 Success China String Catch Success

Space Fail of the Month Australia's Accidental Trip Back to 2006 A Telstra software bug caused widespread outages after a timing server misinterpreted a GPS week rollover.

Please Look Up is recorded on Whadjuk Noongar Country. Produced by Leon Smith Hosted by Leon Smith & Alyshia Gatani, Edited by Alyshia Gatani.

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