All About Space - UK (2020-02)

Welcome Ourcontributorsinclude...

Thestarofthe

monththis

issue– andlet's

behonest,it

hasbeenfor

thepastfew

weeks– isredsupergiantBetelgeuse.

Ifyou'vebeenfollowingthelatest

ontheswollenmemberofthe

constellationOrionorhaveeven

observedityourself,thenyou'll

knowthatitsweirddimmingand

brighteningovera longperiodof

timehasgotastronomerstalking.

Sowhythefuss?It'stakenover 150

yearsofobservationsforsomething

notabletohappen,earmarkingitas

thenextsupernovacandidate.

Understandably,astronomers–

whetherthey'reprofessionalor

amateur– arewaitingforthe

inevitabletohappen,andwhile

they'rehopingfortheskytobelit

upbytheequivalentof10,000Suns,

theyrevealtoAllAboutSpacethe

GemmaLavender

Editor-in-Chief

Keepuptodate

DavidRothery

Planetaryscientist

Davidprovidesthe

lowdownonmissionto

MercuryBepiColombo

andwhatthesurface

tellsusaboutthe

pint-sizedplanet's

earlyhistory.

BenSkuse

Spacesciencewriter

Whathappenedto

theworld'sanimal

astronauts?Fromspace

dogstowaterbears,

eachandeveryone

ofthesecreatureshas

contributedtoscience.

JamesRomero

Spacesciencewriter

Is Betelgeusegoing

tobeournext

supernova?JoinJames

asheuncoverswhat

itsrecentunusual

behaviourmeansforthe

supergiantstar'sfuture.

AndrewMay

Sciencewriter

What'snewatthe

SolarSystem'sswiftest

planet?Andrew

uncoversthelatest

discoveriesatMercury–

weguaranteeyou'llfind

outsomethingnew.

Facebook

/A l l A b o ut S p a c e M a g a z i n e

Tw i t t e r

@spaceanswers

Online

http://www.spaceanswers.com

real reason behind the supermassive

star's exceedingly strange behaviour.

Also this issue, we're all about

Mercury, with BepiColombo ready

to unlock the smallest planet in our

Solar System's secrets and a whole

deluge of fascinating discoveries

from the tiny world's cratered

surface that have popped up over

time, we promise that you'll find out

something new. That's not all you'll

find in the 101st instalment of

All About Space: we reveal what

really happened to the animals

blasted off into outer space and

provide our regular guide to the

night sky. We're also offering you

the chance to win Celestron

binoculars! See you next month.

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