Posts by

Deborah Byrd

ExoMars rover named for Rosalind Franklin

The European Space Agency has named its life-seeking ExoMars rover - due to launch in 2020 - for Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist who helped reveal the mysteries of DNA.

Deborah Byrd

February 12, 2019

Bird friends

The best spots for watching egrets in California are said to be the central and northern wetlands. Here's a Great Egret and Snowy Egret that like to fish together.

Deborah Byrd

February 11, 2019

Pine tree silhouettes and stars

The pine-forested mountains of Tonto National Forest in Arizona are a wonderful place to view the stars, wrote William Eager.

Deborah Byrd

February 10, 2019

Yellowstone’s Roosevelt Arch with planets

Located in Gardiner, Montana, the Roosevelt Arch is at the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The US Army at Fort Yellowstone oversaw its construction. Theodore Roosevelt laid down its cornerstone in 1903.

Deborah Byrd

February 9, 2019

Our Milky Way is warped

A team of astronomers has produced a 3D map of our galaxy, the 1st accurate one, they say. It reveals our galaxy's true shape as warped and twisted.

Deborah Byrd

February 5, 2019

See it! Moon and morning planet photos

A glorious sight on what for many was a very cold morning - late January and early February - 2019. The brightest planets Venus and Jupiter near the moon!

Deborah Byrd

February 2, 2019

Zodiacal light back in the west after sunset

It's back in the west after sunset, unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere. Then watch for it in the east before dawn!

Deborah Byrd

February 1, 2019

Polar vortex 2019 photos and videos

Here's a glimpse of what the bone-chilling conditions in the U.S. Midwest this week look like.

Eleanor Imster

Deborah Byrd

January 31, 2019

Light pillar, a moon pillar, moon dogs

For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's cold! Here's a predawn sky - from Alberta, Canada, earlier this week - at least partly created by cold.

Deborah Byrd

January 31, 2019

Small telescopes detect missing link in planet evolution

We know objects far from our sun - in the Kuiper Belt - that are tens to hundreds of miles across. This object is only a few miles across. Astronomers caught it with the aid of 2 small telescopes and a distant star.

Deborah Byrd

January 29, 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.