CSES/ARU Christmas Lectures : The Great Alien Hunt

Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar

Join astronomer and author Dr Matt Bothwell as we hunt for signs of life across the Galaxy. We’ll search for planets in other Solar Systems, and learn about all the weird and wonderful ways scientists think we (might) be able to travel around the Universe. We’ll take a trip across the frozen seas of Jupiter’s moons, to planets made of lava in the deepest depths of space. We might even try to answer the biggest question of all… are we alone in the Universe?

Matthew Bothwell is the public astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge and an astrophysicist by training. He is in charge of public engagement activities at the IoA, which includes running their schools outreach programme, winter stargazing evenings, Cambridge Festival events, and more. He also supports IoA researchers who want to engage the public with their research.

Matthew is an experienced science communicator and science writer. He has published three popular astronomy books for both adults and children: The Great Alien Hunt (2025, DK), Astrophysics for Supervillains (2024, DK), and The Invisible Universe: Why There’s More to Reality than Meets the Eye (2021, Oneworld). He has lectured for the Royal Institution, New Scientist, the Royal Astronomical Society, and the British Astronomical Association, amongst many others, and his science writing has appeared in New Scientist, The Daily Beast, Aeon magazine, The Guardian, Writer's Digest, and more.

To reserve places for your students please send an email to contact@cses.org.uk