Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Asteroids are harder to destroy than we thought

What if we learned an asteroid was headed toward Earth? How much energy does it take to destroy an asteroid and break it into pieces? More than we thought, it turns out.

Deborah Byrd

March 4, 2019

North Star over New Mexico

Polaris - aka the North Star - is in the center of the great turning wheel of stars in this photo. It's the star around which the entire northern sky appears to turn.

Deborah Byrd

March 4, 2019

See it! Photos of moon and morning planets

The moon has swept past the planets that are up shortly before sunup this week. The EarthSky community caught the early morning sky scenes.

Deborah Byrd

March 3, 2019

The next big leap

SpaceX took a giant step this weekend with the successful launch of its Crew Dragon demo capsule, its first spacecraft designed to carry humans.

Deborah Byrd

March 2, 2019

Touchdown marks on asteroid Ryugu

A new image from Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft reveals a large, dark, irregular spot where the craft landed on asteroid Ryugu's surface last week.

Deborah Byrd

February 26, 2019

Andromeda galaxy via robotic telescope

James Figge of Delmar, New York captured this image on February 23, 2019 - from the comfort of his home - with the Harvard-Smithsonian 6-inch robotic telescope in Arizona.

Deborah Byrd

February 25, 2019

Astronomers find a nearby river of stars

Researchers used Gaia data to find a stellar stream of at least 4,000 stars that have been moving together in space since they formed, about a billion years ago.

Eleanor Imster

Deborah Byrd

February 24, 2019

Japan’s Hayabusa2 lands on asteroid Ryugu

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft touched down briefly and successfully on asteroid Ryugu, 200 million miles (300 million km) from Earth. It successfully fired a bullet into the asteroid to puff up dust for sample collection.

Deborah Byrd

February 22, 2019

Rosetta’s comet sculpted by stress

The Rosetta space mission revealed a comet as 2 icy balls apparently stuck together billions of years ago. Now scientists say the comet's double-lobed structure guided its evolution.

Deborah Byrd

February 22, 2019

IAU names Chang’e-4 landing site on moon’s far side

The Chinese spacecraft Chang’e-4 made history earlier this year, when it became the first earthly spacecraft to land on the moon's far side. Now astronomers have named its landing site.

Deborah Byrd

February 22, 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.