Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

A Chinese perspective on spring

In Chinese thought, spring is associated with the direction east, the sunrise direction as Earth spins us toward the beginning of each new day.

Moon composite

Last month's full moon plus this month's waxing gibbous moon, combined.

Standing wave cloud at sunrise, over Zimbabwe

Standing wave clouds form when wind blows over a mountain.

And now, a word from Juno at Jupiter

Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016. It's in a 53-day orbit around the planet. Close sweeps past the planet are called "perijoves" (peri means "near"). Here are some spectacular images from the most recent sweep, Perijove 25, in February.

I saw an upside-down rainbow. What is it?

Circumzenithal arcs have been described as upside-down rainbows or "a grin in the sky." They're wonderful! See photos here.

Western New York digging out from intense snow and ice

An intense storm and lake-effect snow walloped upstate New York - especially rural areas in western New York - in late February 2020. On the shores of Lake Erie, the storm created a dramatic display of thick, windblown ice on homes and buildings.

Venus phases: Late 2019 and early ’20

This video tracks a telescopic view of Venus from when it came into easy view in our evening sky - around October 2019 - to May 2020. It shows how Venus wanes in phase as the planet's disk size increases, and explains why.

New image of Earth’s new mini-moon

Late in the day on Thursday, astronomers released this new image of 2020 CD3, a small object now confirmed to be orbiting Earth temporarily. It was apparently captured into Earth orbit 3 years ago. Its fate, here.

African dust bombards the Canary Islands

These hot, dust-laden winds are known as “la calima” and happen most often in winter. They can blow at up to 75 mph (120 kph). The dust kicked up last weekend in Africa drifted over the Canary Islands, shutting down airports and stranding travelers.

Photos: When the moon hid Mars

The moon will cover Mars 5 times in 2020, but the occultation on February 18, 2020, was the only one accessible to viewers in much of North and Central America. Photos from the EarthSky Community here.

EarthSky Newsletter

Nearly half a million daily subscribers love our newsletter. What are you waiting for? Sign up today!

Join now to receive free daily science news delivered straight to your email.