Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Iridium flare over Georgia

Iridium flares come from iridium communications satellites. They happen when an antenna from one of these satellites reflects sunlight directly down at Earth.

Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park, at night

Toby Harriman Photography captured this magnificent photo in November 2014, at Yosemite National Park in California.

Why scientists want to find a pulsar orbiting a black hole

Discovering a pulsar orbiting a black hole is considered 'an authentic holy grail’ for testing Einstein's theory of gravity.

Venus, west after sunset

Venus isn’t easy to see now in the sunset direction, shortly after the sun goes down. But keep watching! One evening soon, you’ll spot it.

Rare and wonderful full-circle rainbow

In theory, any rainbow can be a full circle, but - from Earth's surface - we typically see only the top part of a rainbow.

Astronomers and citizen scientists discover a strange galaxy

J1649+2635 is one of only four galaxies known to have both spiral arms and jets of subatomic particles propelled outward from its core at nearly light speed.

How galaxies evolve in the cosmic web

Galaxies in thread-like filaments within the cosmic web have a much higher chance of actively forming stars. So galaxy evolution was accelerated in the filaments.

Glacier melt rate in West Antarctica tripled in last decade

A comprehensive, 21-year analysis reconciling four different techniques. A word about this year's sea ice extent. And why is info about Antarctica so hard to come by?

Wisdom is back!

World’s oldest known albatross - at least 63 years old - has been seen with her mate for the first time this mating season at Midway Atoll.

Days of darkness this December? Of course not.

Heard the rumor that "NASA says" Earth will experience several days of total darkness in December 2014? Not true, of course.