Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Distorted corona

You'll find rainbow-like colors in both cloud iridescence and coronas around the sun. But iridescence tends to look more random, while coronas are circles ... usually.

Deborah Byrd

March 6, 2018

See the early morning Milky Way

The edgewise view into our own galaxy, looking toward the galaxy's heart, from EarthSky community members who ventured into the cold and darkness before dawn in February 2018.

Deborah Byrd

March 4, 2018

See it! 1st March full moon

Photos from the EarthSky community of the March 1-2, 2018, full moon, the 1st of 2 full moons for this month!

Deborah Byrd

March 2, 2018

This asteroid will pass closer than the moon on Friday

And you can watch the passage of near-Earth asteroid 2018 DV1, live, on March 2.

Deborah Byrd

March 2, 2018

See Mars moon Phobos drift in front of Saturn

Expand to full size to see this video from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, which caught a close-up view of the little Mars moon Phobos, moving in front of distant Saturn.

Deborah Byrd

March 1, 2018

Astronomers detect earliest hydrogen

They used a radio telescope to peer back to a time only 180 million years after Big Bang - when the 1st stars were turning on - to observe the earliest-yet signals of hydrogen gas.

Deborah Byrd

February 28, 2018

Extragalactic supernova

At its discovery in January, this supernova was as bright as its whole galaxy! Now it's fading. Astrophotographer Brian Ottum caught it Sunday night.

Deborah Byrd

February 27, 2018

Supermassive black hole and host galaxy not evolving together?

Astronomers assumed supermassive black holes and their host galaxies evolve together and affect each other. They call it "co-evolution." But it's not happening in the distant galaxy WISE1029.

Deborah Byrd

February 25, 2018

This asteroid sweeps closer than our moon today

The average distance of the moon is 239,000 miles (385,000 km). Asteroid 2018 DU will sweep significantly closer than that on February 25, 2018.

Deborah Byrd

February 25, 2018

See it! Friday night’s moon and star

People around the world last night caught the moon near the bright star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull.

Deborah Byrd

February 24, 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.