Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Giant squid surfaces in Japanese harbor

Rare encounter with a giant squid. First one caught on camera was in 2012.

Deborah Byrd

December 29, 2015

Sun halo over South Pole

High, thin cirrus clouds create halos around the sun or moon. This one is over Antarctica, at a time when the sun is shining 24 hours a day.

Deborah Byrd

December 29, 2015

Magnetic fields dragged and twisted by young star’s dusty disk

These disks contain the raw materials for planet formation. The magnetic fields can either help or hinder their growth. So this new research helps show how solar systems are born.

Deborah Byrd

December 27, 2015

Venus and Saturn before sunrise

Saturn is becoming easier to see before dawn, below Venus in the east. Soon, all five visible planets will appear in the dawn sky simultaneously.

Deborah Byrd

December 27, 2015

Amazing airglow over Atacama Desert

The sun's ultraviolet radiation excites atoms some 50 miles (80 km) or more high in Earth's atmosphere. When the atoms release the energy, the atmosphere glows.

Deborah Byrd

December 25, 2015

Sneaking a peek inside a black hole’s disk

Amazing new image - obtained via an orbiting X-ray observatory - shows the disk of gas and dust surrounding a supermassive black hole to be clumpy, not smooth.

Deborah Byrd

December 24, 2015

How big can black holes grow?

Black holes could grow as large as 50 billion suns, before the 'food' that makes them grow crumbles into stars, says new research.

Deborah Byrd

December 24, 2015

Awesome Falcon 9 landing in Florida

Don't miss the video of last night's first-time-ever successful landing of Space X's Falcon 9 rocket. Congrats to Elon Musk and the team at Space X!

Deborah Byrd

December 22, 2015

Long midday shadows, near solstice, in Greece

Noontime sun near the December solstice, over the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Notice how long everyone's shadow is.

Deborah Byrd

December 22, 2015

Saturn, returning before dawn

An early capture of the planet Saturn, which passed behind the sun on November 30, 2015 and has now returned to the predawn sky.

Deborah Byrd

December 21, 2015

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.