Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Double Cluster in Perseus: How to find it

First, find the M- or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. The Double Cluster - 2 open star clusters - is nearby and beautiful in a dark sky.

Deborah Byrd

February 3, 2021

Big Dipper stars point to North Star

The 2 outermost stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper always point to the North Star, aka Polaris. That's why astronomers call these stars The Pointers.

Deborah Byrd

February 1, 2021

Achernar marks the end of the River

The bright, southerly star Achernar marks the end of the River in the constellation Eridanus. Many at northerly latitudes make a game of trying to catch a glimpse of it.

Deborah Byrd

January 31, 2021

Say goodbye to Earth’s mini-moon on February 1 and 2

In November, a new mini-moon began orbiting Earth. NASA later confirmed it's a lost-and-found 60s-era rocket from the Surveyor 2 moon mission, launched more than 50 years ago. Now the object - SO 2020 - is coming close again for one last time. Here's how to see it!

Eddie Irizarry

Deborah Byrd

January 28, 2021

China’s Chang’e 5 moon craft on a new mission: the sun

China's Chang'e 5 moon mission successfully returned moon rocks to Earth in December 2020 for the first time in 45 years. It's now headed toward an Earth-sun Lagrange point, with the goal of making sun observations.

Deborah Byrd

January 22, 2021

NASA’s moon rocket test Saturday didn’t go as planned

This final test of NASA's SLS megarocket was needed to launch the first uncrewed mission in the Artemis program - Artemis 1 - by the end of 2021. Now the program's schedule is uncertain.

Lia De La Cruz

Deborah Byrd

January 20, 2021

Theia 456 is a stretched-out stream of sibling stars

A close look at the "stellar stream" known as Theia 456 finds it contains contains 468 stars born at the same time.

Deborah Byrd

January 15, 2021

SDO spies its 1st lunar transit of 2021

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has been continuously observing the sun since its launch in 2010. From its vantage point above Earth, it sees the moon pass in front of the sun 2 to 5 times a year.

Deborah Byrd

January 14, 2021

A new record for the most distant quasar

Astronomers have a new measurement for the distance of quasar J0313-1806, making it the new record-holder for the most distant quasar known. We're seeing it just 670 million years after the Big Bang, or more than 13 billion light-years away.

Deborah Byrd

January 13, 2021

View from space: An outburst from Popocatépetl

Popocatépetl volcano near Mexico City has been erupting since January 2005. On January 6, Mexico’s National Center for Prevention of Disasters, which continuously monitors the volcano, warned people not to approach due to an outburst that caused falling ash and rock fragments.

Deborah Byrd

January 8, 2021

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.