Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Exoplanet smaller than Earth, only 33 light-years away

The little exoplanet UCF-1.01 might be the nearest world to our solar system that's smaller than our home planet.

Greenland glacier giving birth to massive iceberg

An ice island twice the size of Manhattan is breaking off a Greenland glacier this week. Here are three sequential views from NASA's Aqua satellite.

Auroras widely seen July 14. Chance on July 15, too

A powerful X-flare on the sun on July 12 was aimed directly toward Earth. Its effects arrived July 14 with shimmering auroras. Aurora alert!

Robot copilot for your car

Sure, there are seat belts and airbags to help you survive a collision. This new robot copilot for your car might help you avoid the collision in the first place.

Alaska landslide might be largest recorded in North America

The June 11, 2012 Alaska landslide in Glacier Bay National Park might be the largest ever recorded in North America, according to a story by AP on July 12.

ISS astronaut captures photo of elusive sprite

Sometimes called red sprites, these offshoots of large-scale electrical discharges that take place high in Earth’s atmosphere, above thunderstorms.

X-flare from giant sunspot group 1520

Giant sunspot group 1520 - which spans about 10 Earth diameters on the sun's surface - emitted an X-flare on July 12 at 1653 UTC.

Wildfire smoke meets thunderstorm

Photos shows the wildfire smoke sucked into an area of strong convection at the center of the thunderstorm, at speeds that can reach 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour.

Wildfires in Russia continuing

Significant amounts of smoke from the wildfires in Russia and Siberia arrived in British Columbia in Canada this week, according to CBC News.

Cassini finds a south pole vortex at Titan

A Cassini images shows a swirling mass appears to execute one full rotation in about nine hours - much faster than Titan's 16-day rotation period.