Posts by

Deborah Byrd

A moon for the 3rd-largest dwarf planet

So many moons! With the discovery of a moon for 2007 OR10, most known dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt - larger than 600 miles across - now are known to have companions.

Deborah Byrd

May 19, 2017

Milky Way over Ijen Volcano

Since National Geographic ran a story on the electric-blue flame of Ijen Volcano, tourism has increased. Seeing the night sky is another reason to go!

Deborah Byrd

May 19, 2017

A giant magnetic bridge between galaxies

Known as the Magellanic Bridge, it's a huge stream of neutral gas stretching 75,000 light-years between the 2 Magellanic Clouds, which orbit our Milky Way.

Deborah Byrd

May 18, 2017

There’s always one out there

Sometimes, in night photography, a little light is a good thing. Selfie and aurora over New Zealand caught in late April by The Darker Arts.

Deborah Byrd

May 18, 2017

Rainbow from Shiprock, New Mexico

Shiprock is a beautiful rock formation, rising some 1,583 feet (483 meters) above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico.

Deborah Byrd

May 17, 2017

Your rocket is waiting

Okay, it's not a rocket. It's a lighthouse in Grand Haven, Michigan. But with a little imagination ...

Deborah Byrd

May 16, 2017

What’s the weather like on Proxima b?

The nearest known exoplanet - orbiting the star Proxima Centauri - is only 4.2 light-years away. Does it have liquid water? An atmosphere? Weather? Scientists just announced the first tentative steps to explore those possibilities.

Deborah Byrd

May 15, 2017

The oldest signs of life on land yet

Fossils found in Australia - in ancient hot spring deposits - have pushed back the earliest known evidence for land-based microbial life to 3.48 billion years.

Deborah Byrd

May 15, 2017

Circumzenithal arc over Surrey, England

Circumzenithal arcs look like upside-down rainbows, but they're caused by ice crystals, not rain. They're sometimes seen with sundogs, and even full halos around the sun or moon.

Deborah Byrd

May 15, 2017

The Big Dipper’s deep sky

Many people recognize the Big Dipper in the northern sky. Here are 10 deep-sky Messier objects - 8 galaxies, a planetary nebula, and a double star - in and around the Big Dipper.

Deborah Byrd

May 13, 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.