Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Strange case of M82 X-1: A rare midsize black hole

A black hole candidate known as M82 X-1 appears to have a mass of about 400 suns, making it one of only half a dozen suspected midsize black holes.

Great Venus and Jupiter conjunction of 2014

Venus and Jupiter are the brightest planets! Look east before dawn ... closest planet-planet conjunction of 2014 August 18. Dazzling near moon August 22 and 23.

First dust grains from beyond our solar system

A collector dropped to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft may have contained the first known contemporary dust grains from outside our solar system.

Watch clouds move over a methane sea on Titan

NASA has released an animation of methane clouds moving above a hydrocarbon sea on Saturn's large moon, Titan.

Video: It’s giant panda triplets!

They are the world's only known surviving set of giant panda triplets, born at a zoo in southern China. All three are adorable ... and expected to survive.

See any Perseids?

Bright supermoon washed out all but the brightest meteors in this year's Perseid meteor shower. But we do have some nice pics, thanks to you ...

A new way to search for exomoons

We now know more than 1,800 exoplanets - worlds orbiting distant suns - but zero exomoons. UT Arlington physicists propose a new way to search for them.

Video: Rosetta’s race to map its comet

Last week, Rosetta became the first spacecraft ever to rendezvous with a comet. Now the spacecraft is in a race against time. Rosetta's next challenges, here.

Best photos: It was a super supermoon!

The August 10, 2014 supermoon was the closest, brightest supermoon of 2014. Enjoy these photos from friends in the EarthSky community.

Weak supernova might have left zombie star

Astronomers used Hubble Space Telescope images to spot a star system that could have left behind a "zombie star" after an unusually weak supernova explosion.