Posts by

Deborah Byrd

SOHO’s 4,000th comet

This week, a citizen scientist spotted a never-before-seen comet in data from the sun-observing SOHO spacecraft. It was SOHO's 4,000th comet discovery. Learn more and watch comets sweep near the sun in this video.

Deborah Byrd

June 18, 2020

Dance of 3 stars confirms Einstein’s ‘most fortunate thought’

Researchers in Europe have now confirmed the universality of free fall - which Einstein called his most fortunate thought - with extremely high precision. To do it, they spent 8 years tracking a triple star system containing a millisecond pulsar.

Deborah Byrd

June 17, 2020

ESA’s Solar Orbiter made its 1st close approach to the sun on June 15

Solar Orbiter swept as close as 50 million miles (77 million km) to our sun's surface. Now scientists are at work testing the spacecraft’s 10 science instruments, including the 6 telescopes on-board. New images, to be released in mid-July, will be the closest of the sun ever captured.

Deborah Byrd

June 15, 2020

The fire and the fireball

A bright meteor is called a fireball. This one creates a backdrop to clouds of smoke from an actual fire that - as of Saturday - had burned some 9,000 acres and was only 10% contained, according to Inciweb.

Deborah Byrd

June 13, 2020

Scientists to strike on June 10 #ShutDownSTEM #Strike4BlackLives

EarthSky is joining the grassroots effort to #ShutDownSTEM and #Strike4BlackLives on Wednesday, June 10. Thousands of researchers around the world have pledged to pause their work on Wednesday to support the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement and efforts against racism in the scientific community and society at large.

Deborah Byrd

June 10, 2020

Jupiter, Saturn, moon on June 6-8, plus a word about the daytime moon

If you stay up late on the nights of June 6, 7 and 8, 2020, you can glimpse the moon with the bright planets Jupiter and Saturn, ascending in the east. Or see them before daybreak.

Deborah Byrd

June 6, 2020

Despite the full moon, comet Lemmon!

This faint comet - Comet C/2019 U6 (Lemmon) - is headed toward its perihelion, or closest point to the sun, on June 18. It's currently visible from the Southern Hemisphere, via strong binoculars, with a dark sky.

Deborah Byrd

June 5, 2020

Farewell, Venus

Photos - taken through telescopes, or with other optical aid - from the EarthSky community. The brightest planet Venus is now in a thin crescent phase as viewed from Earth. Venus will go between us and the sun on June 3.

Deborah Byrd

Claudia Crowley

May 31, 2020

Markarian’s Chain of galaxies

Markarian's Chain forms part of the Virgo galaxy cluster. When viewed from Earth, the galaxies lie along a smoothly curved line. Armenian astronomer Benjamin Markarian discovered these galaxies' common motion in the early 1960s. American astronomer Fred Espenak captured this image.

Deborah Byrd

May 24, 2020

Have you seen Venus and Mercury? Photos here

Wow! Thanks, everybody, for the wonderful Venus and Mercury photos! These 2 worlds have been nearest each other this week for all of 2020. A selection of photos from our community here, and many more at EarthSky Community Photos.

Deborah Byrd

May 22, 2020

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.