Matt Bothwell
@mattbothwell.com
Public Astronomer at the University of Cambridge; Bye-fellow of Girton College, Cambridge
Author of The Invisible Universe, Astrophysics for Supervillains, The Great Alien Hunt, & more
www.mattbothwell.com
Author of The Invisible Universe, Astrophysics for Supervillains, The Great Alien Hunt, & more
www.mattbothwell.com
Pinned
Matt Bothwell
@mattbothwell.com
· Mar 3
It's publication week for my newest children's book, The Great Alien Hunt 👽 I'm really excited about this one. Readers will be able to join the quest to find habitable planets and signs of life across the Galaxy when it comes out on March 6th! 🔭🧪
Pre-order a copy here: www.dk.com/uk/book/9780...
Pre-order a copy here: www.dk.com/uk/book/9780...
This is obviously getting less airtime than normal on account of The Horrors, but it’s incredibly cool and exciting that within weeks people will be going back to the Moon after more than half a century
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Nasa readies its most powerful rocket for round-the-moon flight
Artemis II mission could launch on 6 February, sending astronauts on a 685,000-mile journey
www.theguardian.com
January 17, 2026 at 9:22 PM
This is obviously getting less airtime than normal on account of The Horrors, but it’s incredibly cool and exciting that within weeks people will be going back to the Moon after more than half a century
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Reposted by Matt Bothwell
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
January 17, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking?
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me.
1/
Reposted by Matt Bothwell
Beautiful graphic of the day (because that should be a thing: Our Solar System
By my data hero Eleanor Lutz
By my data hero Eleanor Lutz
January 16, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Beautiful graphic of the day (because that should be a thing: Our Solar System
By my data hero Eleanor Lutz
By my data hero Eleanor Lutz
The train company website insists my journey isn’t delayed, even though it knows my train got in at 9:57, and the connection left at 9:56. Glad to know LNER thinks I can literally time travel
January 8, 2026 at 11:27 AM
The train company website insists my journey isn’t delayed, even though it knows my train got in at 9:57, and the connection left at 9:56. Glad to know LNER thinks I can literally time travel
I’m going to be in Northern Ireland this February, talking about the search for alien life across the galaxy! If you’re around in Belfast, please come along 😀👽
nisciencefestival.com/event/the-gr...
nisciencefestival.com/event/the-gr...
The Great Alien Hunt with Dr Matt Bothwell | NI Science Festival
nisciencefestival.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:46 PM
I’m going to be in Northern Ireland this February, talking about the search for alien life across the galaxy! If you’re around in Belfast, please come along 😀👽
nisciencefestival.com/event/the-gr...
nisciencefestival.com/event/the-gr...
Eww why is the Guardian running advertorials for Macdonalds. These fake paid-for articles seem so much more pernicious than just regular ads
December 29, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Eww why is the Guardian running advertorials for Macdonalds. These fake paid-for articles seem so much more pernicious than just regular ads
100%. When I post about astronomy or books here, I get nice replies talking about astronomy and books. On X I get people telling me space is fake, NASA is lying, and people running crypto scams. Pretty easy choice
"Bluesky is an echo chamber."
"Bluesky doesn't have enough reach"
"Liberals must return to X to challenge the far right"
I'm not a tech bro or a journalist. Your priorities are not my priorities. Stop telling me I need to do anything other than chat about comics & telly with people who seem nice.
"Bluesky doesn't have enough reach"
"Liberals must return to X to challenge the far right"
I'm not a tech bro or a journalist. Your priorities are not my priorities. Stop telling me I need to do anything other than chat about comics & telly with people who seem nice.
December 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
100%. When I post about astronomy or books here, I get nice replies talking about astronomy and books. On X I get people telling me space is fake, NASA is lying, and people running crypto scams. Pretty easy choice
Feeling personally attacked by this week's Guardian Quiptic...
December 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Feeling personally attacked by this week's Guardian Quiptic...
Amazing lunar halo last night — a treat for everyone at our public stargazing evening in Cambridge! 🧪🔭
December 4, 2025 at 7:27 AM
Amazing lunar halo last night — a treat for everyone at our public stargazing evening in Cambridge! 🧪🔭
Some amazing Sun pictures today from our Cambridge Heliostat! The first image is white light, the second is H-alpha 🧪🔭
December 3, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Some amazing Sun pictures today from our Cambridge Heliostat! The first image is white light, the second is H-alpha 🧪🔭
It was a huge pleasure to be back at the Royal Institution last month! I gave a lecture all about the mysteries of dark matter, which is now up on YouTube. 🧪🔭
(As a bonus, my demo actually worked, unlike in my 2021 Ri talk...!)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLa3...
(As a bonus, my demo actually worked, unlike in my 2021 Ri talk...!)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLa3...
The quest for dark matter with Matt Bothwell
YouTube video by The Royal Institution
www.youtube.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:34 PM
It was a huge pleasure to be back at the Royal Institution last month! I gave a lecture all about the mysteries of dark matter, which is now up on YouTube. 🧪🔭
(As a bonus, my demo actually worked, unlike in my 2021 Ri talk...!)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLa3...
(As a bonus, my demo actually worked, unlike in my 2021 Ri talk...!)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLa3...
Woke up to an unsolicited email laying out a radical new theory that explains why quantum mechanics, relativity, and LCDM are all wrong.
It started "I know this sounds like an email you'd get from a nutcase. But I'm actually a 75 year old electrical engineer!"
What is it about retired engineers?
It started "I know this sounds like an email you'd get from a nutcase. But I'm actually a 75 year old electrical engineer!"
What is it about retired engineers?
November 24, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Woke up to an unsolicited email laying out a radical new theory that explains why quantum mechanics, relativity, and LCDM are all wrong.
It started "I know this sounds like an email you'd get from a nutcase. But I'm actually a 75 year old electrical engineer!"
What is it about retired engineers?
It started "I know this sounds like an email you'd get from a nutcase. But I'm actually a 75 year old electrical engineer!"
What is it about retired engineers?
Reposted by Matt Bothwell
Reposted by Matt Bothwell
I may have to form a rock band, so I can use this as the cover of our first cd.
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
Astrophotographer snaps 'absolutely preposterous' photo of skydiver 'falling' past the sun's surface
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy has snapped a striking shot of a skydiving YouTuber perfectly aligned with the fiery surface of the sun. The unlikely image, dubbed "The Fall of Icarus," required met...
www.livescience.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I may have to form a rock band, so I can use this as the cover of our first cd.
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
www.livescience.com/space/the-su...
So cool! A great fact to pull out for stargazing events.
Pleiades: The “Seven Sisters” Just Found Thousands of Long-Lost Siblings 🔭🧪
uncnews.unc.edu/2025/11/12/t...
uncnews.unc.edu/2025/11/12/t...
November 13, 2025 at 7:21 AM
So cool! A great fact to pull out for stargazing events.
This also totally fails to account for different fields having different norms. In astronomy, the last author slot is meaningless (and is almost certainly someone who didn’t contribute all that much). 🔭🧪
🧪For those of us who do complex collaborations with multiple corresponding authors this is terrible . I suspect it will also hit female authors disproportionately as they tend to have more collaborations across fields…https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03281-4
Google Scholar tool gives extra credit to first and last authors
Researchers welcome the initiative, but say it doesn’t go far enough to capture the nuance of researcher productivity and impact.
www.nature.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:48 AM
This also totally fails to account for different fields having different norms. In astronomy, the last author slot is meaningless (and is almost certainly someone who didn’t contribute all that much). 🔭🧪
By popular demand, a side-on view of the glass gravitational lens! Now with extra autumnal-ness. 🧪🔭
October 21, 2025 at 2:45 PM
By popular demand, a side-on view of the glass gravitational lens! Now with extra autumnal-ness. 🧪🔭
Gravitationally lensed autumn colours! 🔭🧪
October 20, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Gravitationally lensed autumn colours! 🔭🧪
I'm delighted that my first children's book, Astrophysics for Supervillains, is featured in BookTrust’s Great Books Guide 2025, chosen as one of their top recommended children’s books of the year 😀🔭
www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recomme...
www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recomme...
October 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
I'm delighted that my first children's book, Astrophysics for Supervillains, is featured in BookTrust’s Great Books Guide 2025, chosen as one of their top recommended children’s books of the year 😀🔭
www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recomme...
www.booktrust.org.uk/book-recomme...
Oh to be a cat in a drawer
October 5, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Oh to be a cat in a drawer
Back at the Royal Institution, as part of the book tour 😀
October 4, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Back at the Royal Institution, as part of the book tour 😀
On the contrary, Cornell et al. (1994) was way ahead of its time, positing the existence of quasi-stars (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-s...) which mainstream astrophysics didn’t predict until 2006.
If I learned anything from the song Black Hole Sun it's that Chris Cornell didn't know shit about astrophysics
September 27, 2025 at 7:57 AM
On the contrary, Cornell et al. (1994) was way ahead of its time, positing the existence of quasi-stars (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-s...) which mainstream astrophysics didn’t predict until 2006.