Posts by

Deborah Byrd

Moon is waning, but Venus is waxing!

Venus is near the waning moon early this week. Yet if you followed Venus with a telescope in the coming weeks, you'd find it's a waxing, not a waning, crescent.

Deborah Byrd

November 4, 2018

Timelapse shows 25 years of Supernova 1987A

If you were alive and interested in astronomy then, you'll remember Supernova 1987A, the 1st supernova visible in Earth's skies since 1604. The new timelapse shows its aftermath over a 25-year period, 1992 to 2017.

Deborah Byrd

November 4, 2018

Scientists now processing images of asteroid Bennu

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft - launched from Earth in September 2016 - has begun acquiring images of the mission target, primitive asteroid Bennu.

Deborah Byrd

November 2, 2018

NASA to continue signaling Opportunity rover on Mars

The initial 45-day signaling period to the 14-year-old rover has ended. But NASA said this week it will continue trying to hail Opportunity. The rover has been silent since June, when a Mars dust storm swept over it.

Deborah Byrd

November 1, 2018

Kepler planet-hunter retires

We currently have nearly 4,000 confirmed exoplanets, or planets orbiting distant suns. Kepler discovered more than 2,600 of them. But now Kepler is passing the torch.

Deborah Byrd

October 31, 2018

Sun halo over Zimbabwe

Scientists call them 22-degree halos, because their radius is approximately 22 degrees from the sun. This one was seen over Africa, whose mythology about sun halos matches North American skylore.

Deborah Byrd

October 30, 2018

This morning’s moon, over Hong Kong

Here's this morning's bright moon - together with the stars we in the Northern Hemisphere see as "winter" stars - over Yuen Long, Hong Kong.

Deborah Byrd

October 29, 2018

Large and Small Magellanic Clouds collided!

Star motions in the Small Magellanic Cloud - as revealed by the Gaia space observatory - confirm that this small satellite galaxy of our Milky Way collided in the past with its larger neighbor.

Deborah Byrd

October 28, 2018

Did scientists confirm Earth’s dust cloud satellites?

Have the Kordylewski clouds been confirmed? They were first reported In 1961, 2 clusters of dust, orbiting at about the moon's distance. They're faint. Have scientists now detected them?

Deborah Byrd

October 28, 2018

Meditating under the light of Jupiter

You might still catch Jupiter in the coming week, before Earth's faster motion around the sun causes the giant planet to fall into the sunset glare.

Deborah Byrd

October 28, 2018

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.