Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Fireball over New Mexico

You can expect meteor activity to increase in the coming months, as we re-enter a time of year for major meteor showers. Here's what appears to be a random meteor, but a very bright one!

Deborah Byrd

April 5, 2019

Astronomers find a planet fragment orbiting a dead star

The star is a white dwarf, a cool, dead, dense star like our sun some 6 billion years from now. The planet fragment - made of heavy metals - survived a system-wide cataclysm that followed the star's death.

Deborah Byrd

April 4, 2019

Farewell old moon, hello Mercury

Many in the EarthSky community caught the brightest planet Venus and the very old moon - a waning crescent in the east before the sun - this week. Some also caught elusive Mercury near the moon.

Deborah Byrd

April 4, 2019

See it! Mars meets the Sisters

Red Mars has been exceedingly close - and is still close - to the Pleiades star cluster, aka the Seven Sisters. These EarthSky Community photos show them in the west after sunset, where you can see them for some nights to come.

Deborah Byrd

April 2, 2019

Astronomers find 2nd galaxy lacking dark matter

Dark matter theory - the idea that a huge fraction of our universe exists in a form we can't see - is a cornerstone of modern cosmology. Ironically, galaxies lacking dark matter might help confirm the theory.

Deborah Byrd

April 2, 2019

Moon and Saturn Friday morning

The March 29 occultation of Saturn by the moon was visible from eastern Brazil, southern Africa, Madagascar, the southern tip of India, and Sri Lanka.

Deborah Byrd

March 31, 2019

Hubble captures a rare active asteroid

The Space Telescope's sharp imaging provided detail on activity from active asteroid Gault, which is now known to be spinning on its axis so fast that material on its surface at times flies off into space.

Deborah Byrd

March 30, 2019

Large Magellanic Cloud over Neill Island

Northern Hemisphere skywatchers need to be south of about 20 degrees N. latitude to see the Large Magellanic Cloud. Aman Chokshi caught it from Neill Island, India, at about 10 degrees N.

Deborah Byrd

March 28, 2019

Fiery sunset

Neeraj Ladia in Chennai, India, caught this beautiful sunset last week, on the day of the equinox. Thank you, Neeraj!

Deborah Byrd

March 26, 2019

Milky Way and rock art

No one knows for sure what ancient culture drew this rock art.

Deborah Byrd

March 25, 2019

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.