APOD, The Universe, &NASA’s Best Images

Robert Nemiroff

What is APOD? Astronomy Picture of the Day

• Web site started at NASA in 1995• Written & edited w/ Jerry Bonnell (USRA/NASA)• Features a different astronomy image every day • Mirror sites now translate APOD into most major

languages daily• Hypertext is “best link”, leverages the full web• Archive is encyclopedic and searchable

– Need an astronomy image? Good chance APOD’s got it!

Top 16 APOD Images of

2003*

Abell 1689 Warps Space

Comet NEAT Approaches the Sun

A New Constellation Takes Hold

V838 Light Echo: The Movie

The 2MASS Galaxy Sky

Dumbbell Nebula Close-Up from Hubble

Rollout of a Soyuz TMA-2 Aboard an R7 Rocket

SIRTF Streak

A Chicago Meteorite Fall

Zooming in on the First Stars

Launch of the Spirit Rover Toward Mars

The Colorful Horsehead Nebula

Big Mars from Hubble

The Andromeda Deep Field

Large Sunspot Groups 10484 and 10486

WMAP Resolves the Universe

Image Credits and Copyrights• Abell 1689 Warps Space

– ACS Team, ESA, NASA

• Comet NEAT Approaches the Sun

– Anton Spenko (Rezmon Observatory)

• A New Constellation Takes Hold

– Hugo E. Schwarz (CTIO), NOAO

• V838 Light Echo: The Movie

– H. Bond (STScI), A. Henden (USNO Flagstaff), Z. Levay (STScI), et al., ESA, NASA

• The 2MASS Galaxy Sky

– 2MASS, T. H. Jarrett, J. Carpenter, & R. Hurt

• Dumbbell Nebula Close-Up from Hubble

– C. R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt) et al., Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA), NASA

• Rollout of a Soyuz TMA-2 Aboard an R7 Rocket

– Scott Andrews, NASA

• SIRTF Streak

– Ben Cooper

• A Chicago Meteorite Fall– Ivan and Colby Navarro

• Zooming in on the First Stars– Visualization: Ralf Kaehler (ZIB) & Tom Abel (Penn.

State); Simulation: Tom Abel (Penn. State), Greg Bryan (Oxford) & Mike Norman (UCSD)

• Launch of the Spirit Rover Toward Mars – Dan Maas (Maas Digital), Ecliptic Enterprises

Corporation, Boeing, NASA • The Colorful Horsehead Nebula

– Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT), Coelum

• Big Mars from Hubble– J. Bell (Cornell U.), M. Wolff (SSI) et al., STScI,

NASA • The Andromeda Deep Field

– T. M. Brown (STScI) et al., ESA, NASA • Large Sunspot Groups 10484 and 10486

– Juan Carlos Casado • WMAP Resolves the Universe

– WMAP Science Team, NASA

Intermission

Just a few cool images from Mars

A Face On Mars

Close-up of the Face on Mars

Slightly Above Mars Pathfinder

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars

Top Five NASA Imagesof all Time*

*Yes, it’s subjective!

STS-1: First Shuttle Launch

Apollo 17 Lunarscape: A Magnificent Desolation

A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence

M16: Stars from Eagle's EGGs

Earth Rise

Top Five APOD Imagesof all Time*

Earth at Night

M31: The Andromeda Galaxy

Looking Back on an Eclipsed Earth

The Big Corona

Inside the Eagle Nebula

Image Credits

• Mars: All NASA

• Top NASA: All NASA (no joke!)

• Top APOD: – Earth at Night: DMSP Satellites– Microwave Background: WMAP, NASA– Sun: SOHO, NASA– Andromeda Galaxy: © Robert Gendler– Eagle Nebula: © AURA, NOAO, NSF

Many of these images can be found here:

Postscripts

• The Astronomy Picture of the Day website is available online at http://apod.nasa.gov/.

• The Universe: 365 Days book is available at most bookstores including the AMNH museum bookstore.

• See the Sky: Join the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York!