Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Viking landers: Did they find life on Mars in 1976?

Researchers take a numerical approach to analyzing results of the Viking landers experiments from 1976 and say the Vikings did find life on Mars 36 years ago.

Deborah Byrd

April 15, 2012

Tornado outbreak leaves six dead in Oklahoma

At least six people died early Sunday after a tornado outbreak hit in Woodward, Oklahoma. Most of last night's tornadoes struck in Kansas.

Matt Daniel

Deborah Byrd

April 15, 2012

Earth from the moon’s far side

Students participating in the MoonKAM project used NASA's GRAIL spacecraft to capture this wonderful image of Earth as seen from the moon's far side.

Deborah Byrd

April 14, 2012

National Weather Service tries more urgent voice in storm warnings

Do you think the National Weather Service using words like catastrophic and unsurvivable will help Americans tune in - or tune out - to tornado warnings?

Deborah Byrd

April 14, 2012

Fomalhaut: Ongoing comet massacre around bright star

Each day, the equivalent of either two 10 kilometer-sized comets - or 2,000 1 kilometer-sized comets - might be crushed into dust particles around Fomalhaut.

Deborah Byrd

April 11, 2012

Tsunami watch cancelled in Indian Ocean

These quakes were off the coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia, where a 9.1-magnitude quake on December 26, 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people.

Deborah Byrd

April 11, 2012

Carbon dioxide increase in air helped end last Ice Age

A supercomputer and a global dataset of paleoclimate records helped show that carbon dioxide drove the global warming that ended the last Ice Age.

Deborah Byrd

April 9, 2012

Destructive tornadoes rip through Dallas-Fort Worth

Amazing video from at least two separate large and destructive tornadoes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area earlier today.

Deborah Byrd

April 3, 2012

Earthquake in Oaxaca felt in Mexico City

In Mexico City, people reportedly streamed out of office buildings as the earthquake was occurring. There are no initial reports of injuries or damages.

Deborah Byrd

April 2, 2012

Meteor over New Zealand described as ball of fire

Many in New Zealand saw a bright object streak across the night sky on April 2, 2012. It looks like a meteor, but that has not been confirmed.

Deborah Byrd

April 2, 2012

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.