Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Watch for Cassiopeia the Queen

Find the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen in the northeastern sky after sundown. Depending on your perspective look for the telltale shape W or M.

Sun’s core rotates 4x faster than surface

Eureka! After decades of puzzling about whether the sun's core spins faster than its surface, astronomers can now measure it.

Anticrepuscular rays with rainbow

These 2 sky phenomena - anticrepuscular rays and rainbows - can appear separately. In this case, they appear together, both originating from the same source, the sun, on the opposite side of the sky.

No Earth-like atmosphere for Proxima b

It's the nearest exoplanet and in its star's habitable zone. But a new study suggests radiation from its star would drain an Earth-like atmosphere 10,000 times faster than on Earth.

Big Dipper to Polaris, Mizar, Alcor

Use the Big Dipper to find Polaris, the North Star. Then notice the two stars Mizar and Alcor in the Big Dipper’s handle.

Moon near star Antares on August 1

Antares is a red star in the south each summer. It was considered the Fire Star of the ancient Chinese.

Storm moving in

Niccole Kowalski said she witnessed this rainbow on Saturday, forming over the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, while a storm was moving in.

Sun halo with 2 contrail shadows

The sun is casting shadows of an aircraft contrail downwards onto thin cirrus haze layers below. Higher above, ice crystals in cirrus clouds have created a 22-degree halo around the sun.

More life keys in Titan’s atmosphere

Scientists expand their knowledge of the stew of ingredients in the atmosphere of Saturn's large moon Titan, and contemplate whether Titan has cooked up life.

We are galaxy stuff

A new study - based on supercomputer simulations - reveals that each one of us may be made in part from matter that passes from one galaxy to another.