Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Spacecraft spies Saturn, Mars, Earth

Maybe you've seen Saturn and Mars close together in the sky recently? NASA's Stereo-A probe caught Saturn and Mars … with Earth in between.

Sunrays seen from Chile

Crepuscular rays, sometimes called sunrays, above the famous volcano Licancabur on the border between Chile and Bolivia.

Is Europa’s ocean like Earth’s?

New research finds the ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa could have the necessary balance of chemicals for life, even without active volcanoes.

Drive a spike to star Spica in May

Once you've used the Big Dipper to find the orange star Arcturus, you can continue on to find the star Spica, brightest light in the constellation Virgo.

Brightest Mars in 10 years

Earth passes between Mars and the sun on May 22, and the red planet shines from dusk until dawn. Our two worlds will come closest together on May 30.

Mars oppositions 2010 – 2022

Here's why 2016 is an awesome year for Mars, and why 2018 will be even better.

New Hubble image of Mars

New Hubble Space Telescope image of Mars, in honor of the planet's May 22 opposition, when our planet Earth will sweep between the Red Planet and the sun.

New Horizons, heading out, spies 1994 JR1

New Horizons imaged this distant Kuiper Belt Object twice. It has learned its location and spin, and dispelled a theory that 1994 JR1 is a quasi-satellite of Pluto.

Tonight … nearly a Blue Moon

The moon - nearly full on May 20 - will be sweeping past Mars and Saturn this weekend.

Look for M13 in Hercules

M13 is a densely packed globular cluster made of about 300,000 stars, more than 25,000 light-years from Earth. It's one of our galaxies most ancient inhabitants.