Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Astronomers aim Kepler at the Pleiades

The famous planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft peered toward the beautiful Pleiades star cluster and measured the spin rates of hundreds of Pleiades stars.

Deborah Byrd

August 13, 2016

Tabby’s Star: More weirdness

Some astronomers think this star may have an alien megastructure - an energy-gathering Dyson sphere - around it. Here's a glimpse of the controversy.

Deborah Byrd

August 13, 2016

Saturn’s moon Titan has flooded canyons

They're steep-sided canyons with liquid in them, but the liquid isn't water. Instead, it's liquid hydrocarbons.

Deborah Byrd

August 12, 2016

Humpback whales, heroes of the sea?

Humpback whales appear to rescue not just their own species, but also other whale species, seals and sea lions from attacks by killer whales.

Deborah Byrd

August 9, 2016

Moon and Jupiter over Canary Islands

The moon, a planet and a very high volcano.

Deborah Byrd

August 9, 2016

Shelf cloud over New Hampshire

Shelf clouds are what meteorologists call arcus clouds. They're low, mostly horizontal clouds, usually associated with a thunderstorm's leading edge.

Deborah Byrd

August 8, 2016

Ice melt may release Cold War-era toxins

Formerly secret Camp Century in Greenland was abandoned beneath ice and snow. But the ice is melting, and biological, chemical and nuclear waste may be released as early as 2090.

Deborah Byrd

August 7, 2016

First map of thawing under Greenland ice

Greenland's ice sheet insulates its own bottom layer, which is warmed from below by Earth's heat. Which bottom layers are now thawed, and which are still frozen?

Deborah Byrd

August 7, 2016

Celebrating 100,000 orbits for ISS

Facts, links and photos here, with a word about ISS's history and purpose.

Tom Edathikunnel

Deborah Byrd

August 6, 2016

Photos of this week’s moon and planets

Many in the EarthSky community captured the moon and planets this week. From the sunset horizon up, they are Venus, Mercury and Jupiter!

Deborah Byrd

August 6, 2016

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.