Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Circumhorizontal arc over Argentina

Don't call them "fire rainbows," experts say. They're not rainbows. And they originate with ice, not fire.

Deborah Byrd

November 25, 2015

Blue Origin soft-lands a rocket!

And Jeff Bezos, which founded the private spaceflight company, sends his first-ever tweet. Congratulations, Blue Origin!

Deborah Byrd

November 24, 2015

Weather-related natural disasters are up

With COP21 poised to begin in Paris, a new UN report suggests that weather-related disasters were nearly twice as frequent over the past decade as two decades ago.

Deborah Byrd

November 23, 2015

The Cheshire Cat group of galaxies

A lot of dark matter lies between us and these distant galaxies. Light distortion from gravitational lensing creates the "cat."

Deborah Byrd

November 23, 2015

Day on Pluto, day on Charon

Best currently available images of Pluto and Charon - taken during New Horizons' flyby - combined to create a view of a full rotation of each of these worlds.

Deborah Byrd

November 23, 2015

Measurements of the velocities of just six stars in a galaxy of only 1,000 visible stars suggest the highest concentration of dark matter of any known galaxy. Holy grail? Or is there another explanation?

Deborah Byrd

November 22, 2015

Hole-punch cloud over Massachusetts

Hole-punch clouds are sometimes called fallstreak holes. They are often-circular patches of clear sky, surrounded by clouds. Airplanes create them.

Deborah Byrd

November 22, 2015

Texas telescope to explore dark energy

A mysterious and largely unknown dark energy is thought to pervade our universe. A telescope in West Texas is poised to survey a million galaxies, to explore it.

Deborah Byrd

November 20, 2015

Cloud shadow

The sun is behind the cloud. It looks as if the shadow is also behind the cloud, but that's just a trick of perspective.

Deborah Byrd

November 20, 2015

Taurid fireballs photos and videos 2015

The Leonids were sparse this year, but 2015 has been an incredible year for the long-lasting shower Taurids. Photos and video here.

Deborah Byrd

November 19, 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.