Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

4.8-magnitude earthquake in Yellowstone Park on March 30

Yellowstone National Park is above a hotspot below the crust of the Earth. Its hot springs and geysers make it a popular tourist attraction. It is also riddled with fault lines ...

X-flare of Saturday, March 29

Solar flares are short-lived but powerful bursts of radiation. They are our solar system’s largest explosive events, lasting minutes to hours on the sun’s surface.

Miss the moon and Venus this morning? Photos here

Photos from friends around the world of the March 27 and March 28 pairing of the moon with Venus. Thank you, everyone, for posting!

Theory suggests source of white dwarf pollution … and ominous fate for Earth

A new theory, advanced to explain how the atmospheres of collapsed stars become polluted, points to ominous fate awaiting planet Earth.

Video: Smart crow!

A BBC production shows a crow solving an 8-step puzzle to get food.

World’s first robotic planet hunter

Every night, the Automated Planet Finder checks the weather, decides which stars to observe, and moves the telescope from star to star, looking for distant planets.

When the moon sweeps past Venus

This image is from a year ago. But if you look in the eastern, predawn sky around now, you'll see the moon near Venus again.

Researchers can now reconstruct your memory of someone’s face

“It is a form of mind reading,” said Marvin Chun, professor of psychology, cognitive science and neurobiology and an author of the paper in the journal Neuroimage.

Video: Grizzly eats my GoPro

Brad Josephs, who captures video of grizzlies and wolves in Alaska, commented, "Note to self: when filming grizzly bears, never hide your camera in a fish."

Vortex star trails

Our friend Sergio Garcia Rill captured a photo in Arches National Park in eastern Utah, then processed it in a way he'll explain to you.