BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Thank you, Sylvia

Sylvia left a gift in her Will to help conquer Stroke

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The first we knew of Sylvia was when we received notificati­on of the gift she’d left us in her Will. Shortly after, a beautiful story of a much-loved woman began to unfurl.

Friends remembered Sylvia’s kindheart and her wish to help others. She spent part of her adult-life caring for her mother, and developed a passion for medicine. Becoming a medical secretary was her next step and, in the course of her career, she discovered the devastatin­g impact a stroke could have on people and their families. She saw that research and treatment were vastly under-funded, and she decided to remember the Stroke Associatio­n in her Will.

Sylvia’s gift has helped fund our work to conquer stroke. She’s supported research to prevent and treat stroke, and she’s helped care for survivors. And that’s something you can do too – in the same way.

If you would like to learn more about rememberin­g the Stroke Associatio­n in your Will, please get in touch.

Following its historic dip, you might think Betelgeuse had been quietly shining away. In reality, since May it has been fading once again.

So are we in for a repeat performanc­e? Perhaps, but probably not; changing brightness is just one of the things that stars as large as Betelgeuse do. The red giant is enormous – placed at our Solar System’s centre it would stretch nearly to Jupiter’s orbit – and therefore it is remarkable for its low density.

Something so tenuous is bound to wobble every so often. Betelgeuse shows semi-regular patterns of varying brightness with periods ranging from three to 400 days, plus irregular changes on top. Though the events of the last year were exceptiona­l, further changes should be expected from this most interestin­g of stars. Chris Lintott co-presents

The Sky at Night

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