default substitute pictures

[mrbeanreads]

I'm hoping this is the place to get an answer. Today, like other days where there is a video clip or the like, APOD puts up a photo (often of cute animals, tho once it was an "old" pic of a train that had run through a wall of the second story of a Paris train depot) instead of the video clip. Does anyone know why this happens? Is this a decision made by the APOD folks, or is my OS making the decision? And, am I right in thinking that today's APOD is NOT a video clip? (As you may have gathered, I'm not computer literate.)

[Chris Peterson]

I'm hoping this is the place to get an answer. Today, like other days where there is a video clip or the like, APOD puts up a photo (often of cute animals, tho once it was an "old" pic of a train that had run through a wall of the second story of a Paris train depot) instead of the video clip. Does anyone know why this happens? Is this a decision made by the APOD folks, or is my OS making the decision? And, am I right in thinking that today's APOD is NOT a video clip? (As you may have gathered, I'm not computer literate.)

Today's APOD is a static image, like most days. The APOD site doesn't do any substitutions. People using tools which harvest the APOD site (such as wallpaper generators) may get the first linked image in the caption when the APOD is a video- that's a function of how the tool works, not of APOD. If you're consistently getting images other than the APOD, it may be a cache issue, either in your browser, router, or ISP.

[royhamilton]

I have the same problem, though the "substitute" pictures appear to be from my local computer. Any idea what settings (or whatever) I need to change to allow the APOD, when it's interactive, to appear on my computer? There seems to be no problem with static images.

[geckzilla]

You can only use static images as desktop backgrounds. So on those days you should simply view APOD at the website. (And read the description! If all you do is look at the image, you are missing a lot.)