Sign Up for Our Amazing Newsletter!
A daily update by email. Science news, great photos, sky alerts.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Posts by
Deborah Byrd
Astronomers map our local cosmic void
Our universe is a tapestry of galaxy congregations and vast voids. An international team of astronomers has now published a new study revealing more of this cosmic structure as it appears surrounding our Milky Way.
August 7, 2019
Rare reflection rainbow over Michigan
Between the usual primary and secondary rainbows, you can see a 3rd bow, caused by sunlight reflecting off the water.
August 2, 2019
Black Moon supermoon on July 31
Don't listen to people who tell you that supermoons are hype. Supermoons aren't hype; they're folklore, like Blue Moons or Black Moons or the beloved Harvest Moons.
July 31, 2019
The black hole disk that shouldn’t exist
Astronomers didn't expect to see a thin disk around the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 3147, some 130 million light-years away. They're using Einstein’s theories of relativity to understand the velocities involved, and the intensity of the black hole's pull.
July 27, 2019
Draco, great Dragon of the north
Meet Rastaban and Eltanin - lovely, romantic names for Dragon stars! These 2 stars represent the Eyes of the Dragon.
July 23, 2019
Gaia starts mapping our Milky Way’s bar
"We knew the Milky Way had a bar, like other barred spiral galaxies. But we only had indirect indications from the motions of stars and gas. This is the first time we see the galactic bar in 3D space, based on geometric measurements of stellar distances."
July 21, 2019
Big earthquakes today in Australia and Indonesia
The 2 strong earthquakes of July 14, 2019 - the first a 6.6-magnitude off the western coast of Australia and the second a 7.3-magnitude in Indonesia - happened on or near the Pacific Ring of Fire.
July 14, 2019
Rare lava lake seen from space
Satellite images confirm that this rare lava lake is a continuous feature at the top of Mount Michael, in the South Atlantic's South Sandwich Islands. The temperature of the molten lava is some 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).
July 10, 2019
Success with a new theory of gravity
Supercomputer simulations of galaxies show that Einstein’s general theory of relativity might not be the only way to explain how gravity works or how galaxies form. The new Chameleon Theory is a possible alternative.
July 8, 2019
