Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Watch an exoplanet orbit its star

A series of images has been made into a video, showing Beta Pictoris b moving through 18 months of its 22-year orbit around its star. Very cool!

Deborah Byrd

September 22, 2015

Brief, beautiful circumzenithal arc

Circumzenithal arcs are sometimes referred to as "upside-down rainbows" or "a smile in the sky."

Deborah Byrd

September 22, 2015

Fact and fiction of Martian dust storms

Andy Weir’s book The Martian - soon to be released as a movie - begins with a huge dust storm that strands a fictional astronaut on Mars. Could it happen?

Deborah Byrd

September 21, 2015

New tree of life for 2.3 million species

An initial draft, a collaborative effort from scientists at 11 institutions, of a new, comprehensive evolutionary tree of life. Plus ...

Deborah Byrd

September 21, 2015

Best seat in the world

The central bugle of our Milky Way galaxy shines brightly above the vast ocean of lights of Yaqing Temple in China.

Deborah Byrd

September 21, 2015

Mercury rotates faster than expected

Analysis of data from the MESSENGER spacecraft reveals that, along with the sun, distant Jupiter may be influencing Mercury's orbit and spin.

Deborah Byrd

September 19, 2015

Global ocean on Saturn moon Enceladus

Active water and ice geysers on Enceladus now are believed to spew from a planet-wide, liquid ocean beneath this moon's icy crust.

Deborah Byrd

September 19, 2015

India’s monsoon not bringing enough rain

“Right now, the monsoon is 12 percent below average and dropping, and [India is] headed for a pretty serious dry season,” said a researcher.

Deborah Byrd

September 17, 2015

Video: The solar system to scale

Beautiful short film depicting what happened when a group of friends built a scale model of the solar system on a dry lakebed in Nevada.

Deborah Byrd

September 17, 2015

SOHO discovers its 3000th comet

Before its 1995 launch, no one knew what a spectacular comet finder the SOHO spacecraft would be. It excels at spotting sungrazers, comets sweeping near the sun.

Deborah Byrd

September 17, 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.