Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

9 instruments chosen for Europa mission

NASA’s 2016 budget request includes $30 million for a mission to Europa, Jupiter's moon, thought to have a liquid ocean beneath its icy crust.

Most dramatic music video ever

Recorded live by the doom metal band Hamferð during the March 20, 2015 total eclipse of the sun above the village of Kvívík in the Faroe Islands.

Starglobe

Milky Way on a pedestal, by a photographer who loves it ...

Two owls

Looks like screech owls like to snuggle, too.

Most luminous galaxy in the universe

This galaxy is very distant. It shines with a luminosity of some 300 trillion suns. It's one of a new class of objects discovered via NASA's WISE mission.

Newly named dinosaur had a keen nose

It was a fierce predator, "not a dinosaur you'd want to mess with," said the scientist whose analysis of an ancient skull revealed a brand new species.

Video: Paddle boarders meet orcas

Imagine you're paddle-boarding, and an orca - killer whale - pops up on the ocean surface near you. Two amazing and beautiful videos, here.

See it! Best photos of moon, Venus, Jupiter

Photos from EarthSky community of the young moon, and bright planets Venus and Jupiter on these May evenings, 2015. Watch for them in the west!

LightSail launch success!

Sailing on sunbeams. LightSail successfully launched May 20 at 11:05am EDT (1505 UTC). Info on how to follow from here, below.

A balancing rock on Rosetta’s comet?

In close-up images via the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft, the rock looks poised like a ballerina, with only a tiny fraction of its surface touching the ground.