Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Mountain with a moat on Charon

Latest image release from New Horizons team shows Pluto's moon Charon a strange mountain rising out of a depression. They're calling it a “mountain in a moat.”

Deborah Byrd

July 19, 2015

See it! Moon, Venus, Jupiter, comet

What a glorious western twilight sky on the nights of July 17 and 18, 2015! Waxing moon, brightest planets, and Comet C/2014 Q1 (PANSTARRS).

Deborah Byrd

July 19, 2015

Surprising frozen plains in Pluto’s heart

The latest data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveals a vast, craterless plain apparently no more than 100 million years old.

Deborah Byrd

July 17, 2015

Comet appears briefly for Southern Hemisphere

It's setting soon after the sun, but it's in the same part of the sky as this weekend's spectacular display of the moon, Venus and Jupiter.

Deborah Byrd

July 16, 2015

Charon’s surface youthful and varied

Pluto’s largest moon Charon has cliffs, troughs and a dark marking at its north pole, nicknamed 'Mordor' by New Horizons scientists.

Deborah Byrd

July 15, 2015

Astronomers find Jupiter and sun twins

The most accurate analog ever found for our sun and and its largest planet, Jupiter. Could there be another Earth in this system, too?

Deborah Byrd

July 15, 2015

Waning crescent Venus

Venus orbits the sun one step inward from Earth. It'll pass between us and the sun in mid-August. Until then, telescopes will show Venus as a waning crescent.

Deborah Byrd

July 15, 2015

Dark matter bridge in cosmic neighborhood

Astronomers see a bridge of dark matter stretching from our Local Group to the Virgo galaxy cluster. It's bound on each side by vast bubbles devoid of galaxies.

Deborah Byrd

July 14, 2015

Tracking station in Australia to receive first Pluto images

New Horizons' data will take 4.5 hours to reach Earth. The radio signals will be weak, practically whispers. Afterwards, New Horizons data is expected to take up to a year to transmit fully back to Earth.

Deborah Byrd

July 14, 2015

Space artist depicted Pluto 36 years ago

Space artist Don Dixon captured Pluto in a painting 36 years before the New Horizons spacecraft revealed what it actually looks like.

Deborah Byrd

July 14, 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.