Have you ever wondered what astronomers get up to?

Nic and Rebecca continue their adventures here on the podcast by inviting Laura Hrastar to the mic - who is happy to share stories about life and work at Max IV, a Swedish national laboratory producing brilliant synchrotron radiation for various research projects.  Thereafter they take a closer look at the galaxy listed as the 31st object in the Messier Catalogue - with a little help of Katrin Ros, editor of the magazine 'Populär Astronomy'.

The Meridian is produced by Lund Observatory.  For more information, and pictures, please visit our website: www.astro.lu.se/TheMeridian

Note that in this podcast series there is a significant risk we may mention astrophysics, planetary science, astronomy research, PhD studies, telescopes, both space based and ground based observatories, telescope development, space missions, astronauts, Earth science, particle physics, stars, planets, moons, galaxies, nebulae, stellar clusters, cosmology, astrometry, astronomers, instrumentation, data reduction, spectroscopy, photometry, exoplanets (from exo-Earths to ultra-hot Jupiters), simulations and modeling, solar science and solar storms, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, stellar evolution, supernovae and many more space related topics.