Posts by

Deborah Byrd

1st Webb image: Farther, deeper, older light

Sneak peak of 1st Webb image! It shows a part of the universe more distant than anything seen before, captured in just 12.5 hours.

Deborah Byrd

July 11, 2022

Whoosh! Speedy star orbits Milky Way black hole

Newly discovered speedy star S4716 is the fastest-known star orbiting our Milky Way's central black hole, which is called Sagittarius A*.

Deborah Byrd

July 10, 2022

U.S. heat dome expands west to sizzle cities

In early July 2022, a heat dome is settling over the U.S. Midwest and Plains, setting records for heat. It'll be a brutal summer for parts of North America.

Deborah Byrd

July 7, 2022

Tiny swimming robots seeking life in alien seas

Tiny swimming robots sound like cool science fiction. But a JPL robotics engineer is developing them, for future missions to ocean worlds.

Deborah Byrd

June 30, 2022

Baby woolly mammoth – beautifully preserved – found in Yukon

Miners in Yukon, Canada stumbled upon a well preserved, 30,000-year-old baby woolly mammoth. She's beautiful, geologists said.

Deborah Byrd

June 28, 2022

Summer solstice, cycles of nature and Chinese philosophy

In Chinese thought, the summer solstice is associated with the color red, the sound of laughing, the fire element and a red phoenix.

Deborah Byrd

June 21, 2022

China’s FAST telescope reports signal from aliens, then deletes report

China's FAST telescope reported on June 14, 2022 on possible artificial signals - presumably sign of an alien intelligence - then deleted the report.

Deborah Byrd

Paul Scott Anderson

June 16, 2022

Definitely not aliens, says scientist working on project

Not aliens, said SETI researcher Dan Werthimer of the "suspicious signals" reportedly found by China's FAST telescope.

Deborah Byrd

June 16, 2022

Sally Ride: 1st American woman in space

Sally Ride was the 1st American woman to go to space, flying on the STS-7 space shuttle Challenger mission in 1983, and later on another mission in 1984.

Deborah Byrd

Paul Scott Anderson

EarthSky Voices

June 16, 2022

Space solar power system test successful in China

Space visionaries have talked about space solar power - harvesting solar power from space - for decades. And it's still a long road. But we're on it!

Deborah Byrd

June 15, 2022

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.