Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Aurora dolphin

Seeing animal shapes in clouds - or the northern lights - is what's called pareidolia.

Deborah Byrd

April 10, 2018

Giant sun tornadoes aren’t spinning

Two-dimensional images of these solar prominences make them look as if they're spinning, and astronomers have long assumed they were. But new research says no.

Deborah Byrd

April 9, 2018

Little cloud making whoopee

To make whoopee can mean "to engage in uproarious merrymaking." Linda Holtby said she caught this shot from 38,900 feet (11,860 meters) up.

Deborah Byrd

April 9, 2018

Astronomers find 72 bright and fast explosions

There and gone in a cosmological flash. Astronomers report on 72 bright, quick events found in a recent survey. They're like supernovae, but flash into view, then disappear again much faster.

Deborah Byrd

April 7, 2018

Artist Mario Irarrázabal created the Hand of the Desert after the city of Antofagasta, Chile, asked him for something notable, to fill the empty space of the Atacama Desert. Astrophotographer Yuri Beletsky captured it at night.

Deborah Byrd

April 5, 2018

See it! Moon sweeps past Jupiter

Have you been watching the moon's sweep past Jupiter this week? From the time they rise in mid- to late evening until dawn, they're still the brightest things up there.

Deborah Byrd

April 5, 2018

Antarctic ice grounding lines are shifting

Europe's CryoSat satellite was used - over 7 years - to track 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of Antarctic coastline. It can be seen warm ocean water is eating away at Antarctica's floating margins.

Deborah Byrd

April 4, 2018

Astronomers spy most distant star yet

Astronomers call it Lensed Star 1 because gravitational microlensing magnified its light some 2,000 times. That's how they saw it shining from the distant past, only 4.4 billion years after the Big Bang.

Deborah Byrd

April 3, 2018

A beautiful conjunction of Mars and Saturn

Red Mars and golden Saturn were only 1.3 degrees apart on April 2, 2018, about the width of your finger at arm's length. Photos from the EarthSky community. Thanks to all who submitted.

Deborah Byrd

April 3, 2018

Watch a robot fish swim in the ocean

MIT computer scientists have developed SoFi - a soft, robot fish made of silicone rubber - that can swim alongside real fish in the ocean.

Deborah Byrd

April 2, 2018

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.