Posts by

Deborah Byrd

How many house-sized NEOs?

A new study shows house-sized NEOs - Near-Earth Objects - to be 10 times fewer than studies had indicated. Still, there are some 3.5 million NEOs larger than 10 meters across.

Deborah Byrd

September 5, 2017

Millions of stars

This image sequence from ESA's billion-star surveyor - Gaia - looks toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy and captures some 2.8 million stars.

Deborah Byrd

September 4, 2017

Alien seekers report 15 more fast radio bursts from FRB 121102

Breakthrough Listen – an initiative to find signs of intelligent life in the universe – used the Green Bank Telescope to observe the bursts from the mysterious distant object known as FRB 121102.

Deborah Byrd

September 2, 2017

Venus and bright stars, east before sunup

From our friend Tom Wildoner, a single shot of the morning stars in the sunrise direction. He added labels to help you identify some of the brighter objects on your morning commute!

Deborah Byrd

September 1, 2017

After Harvey, a fire ant raft in Texas

A mass of live fire ants floating on the Texas flood.

Deborah Byrd

August 31, 2017

Exploring the triggers of cosmic disaster

A new study uses data from ESA's Gaia satellite to give the first systematic estimate of how often passing stars nudge comets from the Oort Cloud and send them plunging toward the inner solar system.

Deborah Byrd

August 31, 2017

Closest far-moon of 2017 on August 30

Today's moon reaches its most distant point from Earth for the month. Astronomers call this point an "apogee" of the moon. This month's apogee is closer than any other in 2017.

Bruce McClure

Deborah Byrd

August 30, 2017

Old Faithful geyser at night

"Watching it from such a close distance is a magical experience!"

Deborah Byrd

August 29, 2017

5-hour pinhole exposure of total eclipse

This is a long-exposure photo of the sun, moving across the sky on August 21, 2017. Ian Hennes captured it with a lensless pinhole camera, in this case a beer can. It shows the total eclipse!

Deborah Byrd

August 28, 2017

Jurassic Park 5 – The Eclipse!

Just kidding. There's really no movie by this name. But there should be, don't you think? Photo by Fred Espenak, aka Mr. Eclipse.

Deborah Byrd

August 27, 2017

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.