A portion of the SEDIGISM survey, showing the centre of our galaxy.

With the end of one of the craziest years in living memory, we start with astronomical reflections on the last 12 months – and how far we’ve come over the course of the last decade.

A new results has been published about the structure of our own Milky Way Galaxy, using the emission from carbon monoxide gas. The results, from the SEDIGISM team, show that the galaxy is much more “flocculant”, or fluffy, than previously thought. Cardiff-based team member, Dr Ana Duarte Cabral Peretto, explains how the survey of the galaxy was done, and what the results might mean.

You can see a video of the results at the bottom of this page.

Contents

00:00 – Reflections of the Year and Decade
08:00 – Galactic Structure