Matthew Kenworthy
@mattkenworthy.bsky.social
Professor of astronomy working at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands on the direct imaging of extrasolar planets and transits of giant ring systems || Opinions my own || Will tell Dad jokes for cash. https://kenworthy.space/
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
For day 8 of #ArtAdventCalendar, I present this animation I did about three years ago, showing a flight through a type of space colony called a Stanford Torus.
#SciArt created in #Blender
#SciArt created in #Blender
December 8, 2025 at 10:09 AM
For day 8 of #ArtAdventCalendar, I present this animation I did about three years ago, showing a flight through a type of space colony called a Stanford Torus.
#SciArt created in #Blender
#SciArt created in #Blender
From SCExAO and CHARIS: Currie+ with a superJovian around HIP 54515 and El Morsy+ with substellar companion HIP 71618 adding to the superJovian/Brown Dwarf menagerie at 17 and 60 Jupiter masses respectively #astrodon #exoplanets ☄
December 8, 2025 at 8:17 AM
From SCExAO and CHARIS: Currie+ with a superJovian around HIP 54515 and El Morsy+ with substellar companion HIP 71618 adding to the superJovian/Brown Dwarf menagerie at 17 and 60 Jupiter masses respectively #astrodon #exoplanets ☄
I tried to make a joke about trypophobia, but there were too many holes in it AAAAAAAHHHH
I tried to make a joke about Pythagoras but I couldn't square the circle.
I tried to make a joke about Ulysses but I just couldn't bring it home
December 8, 2025 at 7:22 AM
I tried to make a joke about trypophobia, but there were too many holes in it AAAAAAAHHHH
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
I think there is no better first bsky post than sharing the awesome outback adventure our PhD students went on. They found a space rock using a drone! 1/X
gfo.rocks/blog/2025/12...
gfo.rocks/blog/2025/12...
December 5, 2025 at 3:34 AM
I think there is no better first bsky post than sharing the awesome outback adventure our PhD students went on. They found a space rock using a drone! 1/X
gfo.rocks/blog/2025/12...
gfo.rocks/blog/2025/12...
This is an all round amazing thread, but again it reminds me to check ALL candidates in any given sample - second to last?!?!
Deliverance did not come until the third day, when Dale spotted the "most meteorite-y looking meteorite". This was the second to last candidate, the 727th. 8/X
December 5, 2025 at 4:49 AM
This is an all round amazing thread, but again it reminds me to check ALL candidates in any given sample - second to last?!?!
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
I find this thought fascinating: Greg & Wiegert (arxiv) determine the fluxes of material from nearby debris disks, e.g. Beta Pictoris and Ran (+ 18 others). Unlike for solar system meteoroids/meteorites, the origin of such bodies would always be knowable from their dynamics. Just need to catch them!
A Catalogue of Interstellar Material Delivery From Nearby Debris Disks
We modeled the trajectories of material ejected from 20 nearby debris disk stars, including Epsilon Eridani (Ran), Vega, Fomalhaut, and Beta Pictoris, within a simulated Milky Way potential in order t...
arxiv.org
December 4, 2025 at 6:58 AM
I find this thought fascinating: Greg & Wiegert (arxiv) determine the fluxes of material from nearby debris disks, e.g. Beta Pictoris and Ran (+ 18 others). Unlike for solar system meteoroids/meteorites, the origin of such bodies would always be knowable from their dynamics. Just need to catch them!
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
firefox AI and slop disablers from tumblr for the people from local hero mckitterick. Tried it on my end and the browser is significantly faster now
(copy paste-able in the alt text)
(copy paste-able in the alt text)
December 2, 2025 at 3:47 AM
firefox AI and slop disablers from tumblr for the people from local hero mckitterick. Tried it on my end and the browser is significantly faster now
(copy paste-able in the alt text)
(copy paste-able in the alt text)
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Friday HSLA spectrum! My friend Beta Pictoris, first star to have its debris disk imaged and including STIS data I worked on as an undergrad, eleven programs in all. It has two planetary companions more massive than #Jupiter #astrosci #exoplanets 🔭
November 21, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Friday HSLA spectrum! My friend Beta Pictoris, first star to have its debris disk imaged and including STIS data I worked on as an undergrad, eleven programs in all. It has two planetary companions more massive than #Jupiter #astrosci #exoplanets 🔭
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
“[W]hen I hear Farage talking about rounding up & deporting hundreds of thousands of human beings, & threatening those with leave to remain or settled status, I cannot help but think of the schoolboy sidling up to me & telling me that “Hitler was right”.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Don’t believe Nigel Farage’s denials. He targeted me for being Jewish – and it hurt | Peter Ettedgui
Now that my former classmate has finally spoken about the allegations of his behaviour at school, I feel compelled to address his points directly, says Peter Ettedgui, a film director and producer
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
“[W]hen I hear Farage talking about rounding up & deporting hundreds of thousands of human beings, & threatening those with leave to remain or settled status, I cannot help but think of the schoolboy sidling up to me & telling me that “Hitler was right”.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A very exciting paper by Kral et al. on “Exomoon search with VLTI/GRAVITY around the substellar companion HD 206893 B” using astrometric measurements of the companion to search for a putative #exomoon. Half a Jupiter mass at 0.22 au maaaaybe? We’re getting closer! #astrodon #astrosci #exoplanets
November 26, 2025 at 8:52 AM
A very exciting paper by Kral et al. on “Exomoon search with VLTI/GRAVITY around the substellar companion HD 206893 B” using astrometric measurements of the companion to search for a putative #exomoon. Half a Jupiter mass at 0.22 au maaaaybe? We’re getting closer! #astrodon #astrosci #exoplanets
In work early this morning to tackle a big project and the internet is incredibly flaky ri- ERR NO SIGHUP
November 25, 2025 at 8:39 AM
In work early this morning to tackle a big project and the internet is incredibly flaky ri- ERR NO SIGHUP
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Thev sound in this video is fascinating. You can hear what I think is background rain and pumice fall. But the roaring... Is that from the eruption or from the PDC? In contrast to that PDC video from the Kraffts where the the current is silent.
youtu.be/T02pJdKARLo?...
youtu.be/T02pJdKARLo?...
Eerie Sound from Approaching Pyroclastic Flow at Semeru Volcano (Nov 19, 2025)
YouTube video by afarTV
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Thev sound in this video is fascinating. You can hear what I think is background rain and pumice fall. But the roaring... Is that from the eruption or from the PDC? In contrast to that PDC video from the Kraffts where the the current is silent.
youtu.be/T02pJdKARLo?...
youtu.be/T02pJdKARLo?...
SI units for #ExoELT instruments are mass and height in Chilean Elephants (ChEl) and German Giraffes (GeGi), respectively.
I will not be taking questions at this time.
I will not be taking questions at this time.
November 18, 2025 at 9:24 AM
SI units for #ExoELT instruments are mass and height in Chilean Elephants (ChEl) and German Giraffes (GeGi), respectively.
I will not be taking questions at this time.
I will not be taking questions at this time.
At #ExoELT on Monday we had summaries of the #ELT instruments: METIS (Mid-IR imager and specrograph), MICADO (wide field imager), HARMONI (Near-IR IFU) and 2nd gen ANDES (R~100k spectrograph) - the hardware is suitably enormous - cryogenic dewars typically bigger than a hotel room! #astrodon
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
But what about the ELT instruments themselves I hear you ask, how big are they? Well, dear reader, they are giraffe-sized and weigh four elephants #ExoELT 👀🦒🐘
November 17, 2025 at 1:38 PM
But what about the ELT instruments themselves I hear you ask, how big are they? Well, dear reader, they are giraffe-sized and weigh four elephants #ExoELT 👀🦒🐘
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Many #exoplanet astronomers are at #ESO headquarters near Munich to talk about #exoplanets with the Extremely Large Telescope #ELTref="/hashtag/ELT" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#ELT this week - first light in 2029/2030 - you can put one of the 8.4m VLT telescopes on the instrument platform of the #ELT… gulp! ☄️ #astrodon Follow along on #ExoELT
November 17, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Many #exoplanet astronomers are at #ESO headquarters near Munich to talk about #exoplanets with the Extremely Large Telescope #ELTref="/hashtag/ELT" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#ELT this week - first light in 2029/2030 - you can put one of the 8.4m VLT telescopes on the instrument platform of the #ELT… gulp! ☄️ #astrodon Follow along on #ExoELT
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
The most insightful discussion I seen on the Loeb and his insertion into the 3I/Atlas apparition:
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
The fallacies behind the cult of Loeb
How media hype and misunderstanding fuel pseudoscientific fascination Introduction The word “cult” is used here in the sense given by...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:37 AM
The most insightful discussion I seen on the Loeb and his insertion into the 3I/Atlas apparition:
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
tinieblasyestrellas.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Henceforward, define an interstellar comet as “anomalous” if and only if Avi Loeb does NOT develop a 10-point argument as to why its properties and behavior indicate it is ACTUALLY an alien spacecraft.
Loeb’s 3I/ATLAS “Anomalies” Explained
Avi Loeb continues to claim that 3I/ATLAS has many anomalous behaviors that lead to the conclusion that it “might” be an alien spacecraft. He carefully hedges the probability that it is a spacecraft ...
sites.psu.edu
November 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Henceforward, define an interstellar comet as “anomalous” if and only if Avi Loeb does NOT develop a 10-point argument as to why its properties and behavior indicate it is ACTUALLY an alien spacecraft.
‘An Overview of Exocomets’ is a very comprehensive review led by Daniela Iglesias started at an @issibern.ch meeting. I worked on Figure 1 detailing comets around the Sun, Beta Pic and a white dwarf - I’m very proud of it, and it is available on @github.com: Exocomet systems #astrodon #exoplanet ☄
November 12, 2025 at 8:32 AM
‘An Overview of Exocomets’ is a very comprehensive review led by Daniela Iglesias started at an @issibern.ch meeting. I worked on Figure 1 detailing comets around the Sun, Beta Pic and a white dwarf - I’m very proud of it, and it is available on @github.com: Exocomet systems #astrodon #exoplanet ☄
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was born with different and more ancient chemistry, has been more irradiated, and is speeding toward the Sun faster compared to Solar System comets. It's got a unique personality. But since literally Day 1 it was recognized as a comet and has only ever done comety things.
I've summarized the truth about Loeb's 10 "anomalies" about 3I/ATLAS in one post.
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Thanks to @deschscoveries.bsky.social @michael-w-busch.bsky.social @cometary.org and @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social for contributing their expertise!
Loeb’s 3I/ATLAS “Anomalies” Explained
Avi Loeb continues to claim that 3I/ATLAS has many anomalous behaviors that lead to the conclusion that it “might” be an alien spacecraft. He carefully hedges the probability that it is a spacecraft ...
sites.psu.edu
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was born with different and more ancient chemistry, has been more irradiated, and is speeding toward the Sun faster compared to Solar System comets. It's got a unique personality. But since literally Day 1 it was recognized as a comet and has only ever done comety things.
Reposted by Matthew Kenworthy
This slide by @mubdi.bsky.social at #adass2025 should be on ever astronomer's wall. Software is a central part of science and should be published accordingly!
November 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
This slide by @mubdi.bsky.social at #adass2025 should be on ever astronomer's wall. Software is a central part of science and should be published accordingly!