Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Using supermassive black holes to measure cosmic distances

"Eye of Sauron" is a nickname for an active supermassive black hole at the core of a distant galaxy. Researchers measured its distance at 62 million light-years.

Deborah Byrd

November 29, 2014

NASA is tracking a gargantuan iceberg, escaped from Antarctica

After six months of winter darkness in Antarctica, NASA has re-acquired satellite images of the huge iceberg B31.

Deborah Byrd

November 28, 2014

Video: Astrophysicists discuss the film Interstellar

Black holes, worm holes, exoplanets, time dilation. Three astrophysicists discuss them all in a presentation of the science behind the film Interstellar.

Deborah Byrd

November 28, 2014

Earth has its own Star-Trek-like invisible shield

Scientists studying Earth's Van Allen belts have found an invisible shield that blocks ultrafast electrons from moving deeper into Earth’s atmosphere.

Deborah Byrd

November 28, 2014

Magellanic Clouds and more

Milky Way, Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and bright star Canopus can be seen in this image taken at sunrise over East Java’s Mount Bromo.

Deborah Byrd

November 26, 2014

Pico do Fogo volcano in Cape Verde erupts, residents evacuated

Pico do Fogo is a shield volcano in the Cape Verde islands, off Africa's west coast. After a 20-year quiet, it began erupting Sunday, causing hundreds to evacuate.

Deborah Byrd

November 24, 2014

Video: A year in the life of Earth’s CO2

Awesome visualization, based on an ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model, showing how carbon dioxide in our air travels around the globe.

Deborah Byrd

November 24, 2014

Study says gravity and Higgs boson interacted to save the universe

One second after the Big Bang, the Higgs boson should have caused a Big Crunch, collapsing the universe to nothing. But gravity saved the day.

Deborah Byrd

November 22, 2014

Venus returning to evening sky!

The sky's brightest planet, Venus, has been behind the sun as viewed from our earthly vantage point. By early December, it'll be back in your evening sky!

Deborah Byrd

November 22, 2014

Snow in West Seneca, New York

Digging out of the snow in West Seneca, NY on November 19, 2014.

Deborah Byrd

November 20, 2014

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.