Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Planet Mars in front of Leo

Looking for Mars? You'll find it in the east before dawn, in front of the constellation Leo the Lion.

Magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes near Japan

A strong earthquake struck Saturday morning (local time) off Japan's coast. No Pacific-wide tsunami warning issued, but a local tsunami warning included the crippled Fukushima nuclear site.

Two X-flares, and two radio blackouts, Friday

The sun was very active on Friday! It released two X-flares, the most powerful kind of solar flares, causing two temporary radio blackouts.

Another close sweep by asteroid due in 2065

Russian astronomers recently discovered an asteroid that will sweep closely past Earth in 2032. Now they've announced another object that'll sweep closely past in 2065.

Last night’s moon and Jupiter

Beautiful view of Jupiter - fourth-brightest sky object after the sun, moon and planet Venus - near last night's moon.

The coldest place in the universe

Astronomers say the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest place in the universe at one degree Kelvin (minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit). It's even colder than background space.

Halo around the moon

There's truth to this old saying: halo around the moon means rain soon.

Doomsday in 2032 from asteroid 2013 TV135? Not likely

Asteroid 2013 TV135 is big. But it's not likely to hit us.

Glory, seen from a hot air balloon

Eileen Claffey saw this glory - formed when water droplets in the air scatter light backwards - this past weekend, while riding in a hot air balloon.

Three planets, zodiacal light and Milky Way

This stupendous photo by Justin Ng shows the recent array of three planets seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere, the Milky Way and the elusive zodiacal light.