Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Visible planets and night sky guide for July

EarthSky's visible planets and night sky guide. Don't miss today's livestream at noon CDT! Deborah Byrd brings you meteors and the moon.

Find M4: An easy to spot globular cluster near Antares

Find M4, one of the easiest globular star clusters to spot. It's located just next to reddish Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius the Scorpion.

Summer Triangle star: Altair is variable and spins fast!

Altair, in the constellation Aquila the Eagle, is one of the closest stars to our solar system. It's variable in an unusual way, and it spins very fast!

The Day the Earth Smiled: July 19, 2013

July 19 is the 13th anniversary of The Day the Earth Smiled, the 3rd-ever image of Earth from the outer solar system, taken by the great Cassini spacecraft.

The 1st footsteps on the moon: Celebrate with Moon Day

Tomorrow is the 57th anniversary of humanity's historic Apollo moon landing and the 1st human footsteps on the moon. And it's also International Moon Day.

Coathanger cluster: This star pattern looks like its name

The Coathanger cluster resembles its namesake and is easy to spot with binoculars, using the star Albireo - part of the Summer Triangle - as a signpost.

Find Polaris and Thuban via the Big Dipper in July

Polaris and Thuban are famous for serving - now or thousands of years ago - as Earth's northern pole star. Use the Big Dipper to find them tonight.

Hera mission will arrive at asteroid impact site in November

The Hera mission will reach Didymos and Dimorphos in 2026 to reveal what happened after DART crashed into Dimorphos in the first planetary defense test.

Summer Triangle star Deneb is distant and luminous

When you gaze at the bright star Deneb, you’re gazing across thousands of light-years of space at one of the bright stars of the huge Summer Triangle asterism.

See 3 small constellations near the Summer Triangle

You need a dark country sky to see these 3 small constellations: Vulpecula, Delphinus and Sagitta. They are all near the Summer Triangle.

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