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Posts by
Deborah Byrd
Venus and the owl, from California
Venus and Mercury are both in the western sky after sunset now, but both are exceedingly low in the sky, in the midst of bright twilight, and so difficult to spot. These photos captured them.
May 3, 2021
Check out this week’s asteroid impact exercise
Follow the action as asteroid scientists, space agencies and civil protection organizations participate in a drill - simulating an asteroid impact about to happen - during this week's virtual Planetary Defense Conference.
April 26, 2021
Record-breaking flare from nearby Proxima Centauri
Astronomers saw Proxima Centauri - the star nearest our sun - emit a flare, or burst of radiation, 100 times more powerful than flares from our sun. They said Proxima's flare ranks as one of the most violent seen on a solitary star anywhere in the galaxy.
April 23, 2021
Venus, in evening sky, 6 degrees from sun
Venus and Mercury are back in the evening sky. Have you seen them? Probably not; they're exceedingly close to the sun. But EarthSky Community member Helio Vital did manage to capture a photo of Venus on April 19, 2021. Way to go, Helio!
April 21, 2021
Egyptologists unearth a 3,000-year-old ‘lost golden city’
The long-sought "lost golden city" of Aten has been found near Luxor, Egypt, in the Valley of Kings. "The mission expects to uncover untouched tombs filled with treasures," the scientists said.
April 9, 2021
100 days of sunspots
A blend of a total of 100 images showing every sunspot that appeared on the sun from December 25, 2020, to April 3, 2021.
April 8, 2021
An image of a piece of the cosmic web
An international team of astronomers has mapped a piece of the cosmic web without using bright quasars for the first time. They did it by turning a powerful instrument to a single region of the sky for hundreds of hours.
April 5, 2021
Do Mars dust storms cause the mysterious zodiacal light?
The zodiacal light is a strange pyramid of light that extends from the eastern or western horizon, before dawn or as true darkness falls. It was known to stem from dust moving in the plane of our solar system. The Juno spacecraft has found that Mars might be the source of the dust.
March 10, 2021
Earthquakes rattle New Zealand. Tsunami warnings now lifted. Thousands return home.
Three very strong earthquakes in the ocean near New Zealand took place in less than 8 hours on Friday, local time. Tsunami warnings went out across the Pacific, including Hawaii, but have now been lifted.
March 4, 2021
Zodiacal light is a glowing pyramid after dark
From the Northern Hemisphere, look after true darkness falls for the elusive zodiacal light. It appears as a hazy pyramid of light extending up from the sunset point. Southern Hemisphere? Look before dawn!
February 28, 2021
