Rubin’s Galaxy, as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA/ESA/B.Holwerda (University of Louisville)

The astronomy world has been a-buzz with news of Betelgeuse, the bright red star in Orion, which appears to be dimming. Chris North, Edward Gomez and Claudia Antolini discuss how unusual this is, and what it means for the star’s future.

Further afield, there’s a newly identified wave in our Galactic neighbourhood, changing our understanding of the nearby region. There are also new hypotheses about the nature of some oddly-behaving gas clouds near the galactic centre – what could explain their unexpected behaviour?

Finally eminent astronomer Dr Vera Rubin has been recognised in a couple of ways. A nearby galaxy which was important in developing Rubin’s understanding of dark matter has been dubbed Rubin’s Galaxy, and an important telescope of the future is to be official known as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Finally, Claudia has a recommendation for something space fans might be interested in…

An extended edition of an original broadcast on 31st Jan 2020 as part of Pythagoras’ Trousers on Radio Cardiff.