Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day

The APOD website on 17 July 2014, displaying that day's astronomy picture of 3D Homunculus Nebula
Web address apod.nasa.gov
Commercial? No
Type of site
 Photography website
Available in English (primary)
Owner NASA and MTU
Created by Robert J. Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell
Launched 16 June 1995
Alexa rank
 204,943
Current status Active
This image of asteroid 433 Eros as seen from the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft was the Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 7, 2009.[1]

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer."[2] The photograph does not necessarily correspond to a celestial event on the exact day that it is displayed, and images are sometimes repeated.[3] However, the pictures and descriptions often relate to current events in astronomy and space exploration. The text has several hyperlinks to more pictures and websites for more information. The images are either visible spectrum photographs, images taken at non-visible wavelengths and displayed with false colors, video footage, animations, artist’s conceptions, or micrographs that relate to space or cosmology. Past images are stored in the APOD Archive, with the first image appearing on June 16, 1995. This initiative has received support from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and MTU. The images are sometimes authored by people or organizations outside of NASA, and therefore APOD images are often copyrighted, unlike many other NASA image galleries.[4]

When APOD began it received only 14 page views on its first day. As of 2012 it is estimated that there have been over 1 billion image views.[5] APOD is also translated into 21 languages daily.[6]

APOD was presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in 1996.[7] Its practice of using hypertext[3] was analyzed in a paper in 2000.[8] It received a Scientific American Sci/Tech Web Award in 2001.[9] In 2002, the website was featured in an interview with Nemiroff on CNN Saturday Morning News.[10] In 2003, the two authors published a book titled The Universe: 365 Days[11] from Harry N. Abrams, which is a collection of the best images from APOD as a hardcover "coffee table" style book. APOD was the Featured Collection in the November 2004 issue of D-Lib Magazine.[12]

During the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, APOD continued its service on mirror sites.[13][14]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ APOD for June 7, 2009
  2. ↑ Nemiroff, Robert; Jerry Bonnell (April 3, 2007). "APOD homepage". NASA. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nemiroff, Robert; Jerry Bonnell. "APOD Frequently Asked Questions". NASA. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  4. ↑ Nemiroff, Robert; Jerry Bonnell. "About APOD Image Permissions". NASA. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  5. ↑ "APOD Turns 17". APOD. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  6. ↑ "About APOD". APOD. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  7. ↑ "AAS Meeting 187th Program". American Astronomical Society. 1996. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  8. ↑ Carr, Leslie; Hall, Wendy; Miles-Board, Timothy (February 29, 2000). "Writing and Reading Hypermedia on the Web". Technical Report, Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  9. ↑ "Sci/Tech Web Awards 2001—Astronomy and Astrophysics". Scientific American. May 14, 2001. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  10. ↑ "Saturday Morning News — Astronomy Picture of Day transcript". CNN. September 21, 2002. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  11. ↑ The Universe: 365 Days: Robert J. Nemiroff, Jerry T. Bonnell: Books
  12. ↑ Wilson, Bonita (November 2004). "Featured Collection". D-Lib Magazine 10 (11). doi:10.1045/november2004-featured.collectiones.
  13. ↑ asterisk.apod.com
  14. ↑ APOD mirror accessdate October, 4th, 2013

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Astronomy Picture of the Day.