Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

New sights and sounds from the Perseverance rover on Mars!

Check out this amazing new video from NASA's Perseverance rover, showing its own descent and landing on the surface of Mars last week. Truly, it's like nothing seen before! Also, the first-ever audio from Mars ...

Moon in Winter Circle February 20, 21 and 22

The waxing moon this weekend shines inside a large pattern of stars called the Winter Circle, or Winter Hexagon.

For those at southerly latitudes, Canopus!

Far-northern skywatchers sometimes travel southward in winter, for a glimpse of Canopus - the sky's 2nd-brightest star - above the southern horizon. Can you see it? Details here.