Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Hubble spies exocomets’ plunge into star

Interstellar forecast for a nearby star: Raining comets! The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered doomed, wayward comets plunging into the star HD 172555.

Deborah Byrd

January 17, 2017

Waning Venus

Between now and late March, when Venus flies between us and the sun - thereby entering our morning sky - those with telescopes will see Venus wane, like a little waning moon.

Deborah Byrd

January 15, 2017

Seeking Alpha Centauri’s unseen planets

A new agreement between the European Southern Observatory and Breakthrough Initiatives will let ESO's Very Large Telescope seek planets in the star system next door.

Deborah Byrd

January 14, 2017

Into the storm

Manish Mamtani was coming back from Yellowstone National Park in late 2016, when he encountered this storm on the road ahead.

Deborah Byrd

January 14, 2017

Alaska’s Bogoslof volcano, from space

It started erupting explosively and unexpectedly in late 2016. This view is from January 3, from NASA's Terra satellite. As of yesterday, the eruptions were declining, but may start again!

Deborah Byrd

January 11, 2017

Winter rainbow over Niagara Falls

Tony Lee said temps were in the 20s (around -7 Celsius) when he captured this shot.

Deborah Byrd

January 9, 2017

Hubble peers along Voyagers’ future paths

The Hubble Space Telescope is gazing along the future trajectories of the 2 Voyager spacecraft - launched in 1977 - now heading into uncharted interstellar space.

Deborah Byrd

January 8, 2017

Mars spacecraft spies Earth and moon

A powerful telescope orbiting Mars gives us a new view of Earth and its moon, showing continent-size detail on Earth and the relative size of the moon.

Deborah Byrd

January 7, 2017

NASA announces 2 new asteroid missions

NASA's new Lucy mission will tour 6 Trojan asteroids in Jupiter's orbit. The other mission will go to 16 Psyche, a metal asteroid.

Deborah Byrd

January 7, 2017

Black hole bonanza in deep x-ray image

A new ultra-deep X-ray image from Chandra X-ray Observatory has given astronomers their best look yet at the growth of black holes over billions of years, starting soon after the Big Bang.

Deborah Byrd

January 7, 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.