My alternative APOD website

[Imad_Saddik]

Hello everyone,

My name is Imad Saddik, and I'm an AI & Data Science engineer. While I might be new to Asterisk, I've been a long-time fan of APOD, checking it almost every morning!

Being a developer, I decided to give APOD a fresh look, which led to the creation of https://myuniversehub.com/. It's now part of my daily routine, I love seeing the images displayed right when I land on the site, without needing to click through links.

I created this out of my passion for programming, astronomy, and APOD. I wanted to share this creation with you, and I would love to hear your feedback on it. You can create an account, like images to add them to your favourites list, and more to come.

Try it out and let me know what do you think about it.

Happy stargazing

[AVAO]

Wow. Congratulations. Your APOD website is great and looks great in terms of feel and like. What I particularly like is the search function.
Is it true that it only shows APOD images from 2019 onwards?

[Ann]

Very interesting. The "opening page", featuring recent APODs, looks very impressive and beautiful indeed!

However, me being me, I have my special hangups, and my main hangup is that I love blue things. My favorite deep sky object is the Pleiades, because they are so beautiful and sooo blue. So I used your search function to search for Pleiades APODs. And, unfortunately, the Pleiades-featuring APODs that your search engine showed me either did not highlight the Pleiades (they were seen in the background) or they didn't look blue. Yes, they looked blue in Tunc Tezel's image from 2024-08-02, and they looked blue (but so tiny!!!) in Marcin Ślipko's image from 2024-01-31, and they looked blue (but surrounded by a lot of brown stuff) in Craig Stocks' image from 2024-01-29, and they looked blue (but so, so tiny!!!) in Stefano Pellegrini's image from 2023-12-27.

Of course, your search engine displays APODs in the order in which they were posted, with the more recent ones first. I was able to load more Pleiades APODs. However, my extended search turned up a few images that didn't feature the Pleiades at all. There were two closeups of the California Nebula, one from 2023-12-19 and one from 2022-10-22, that didn't show the Pleiades at all. There was one featuring Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus from 2023-03-21, where the Pleiades were nowhere to be seen. And I couldn't find the Pleiades in Giorgia Hofer's image from 2023-03-25.

But I did, finally, come across my hands down favorite Pleiades APOD ever. It looks like a glittering blue snow storm. It is so, so beautiful. It is this one:

Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster. Image Credit & Copyright: Blake Estes (iTelescope Siding Spring Obs.) & Christian Sasse

---

So I was finally able to find my favorite Pleiades APOD, using your search engine! And I must agree that it is logical (logical, said Mr Spock) to show the APODs in the order in which they were posted. So, although I was unhappy with your display of Pleiades APODs at first, you have won me over.

But why did your search engine show me supposed Pleiades APODs where the Pleiades were not in the picture, even though I had asked for Pleiades APODs? Apparently because the Pleiades were mentioned in the APOD caption for one reason or another, even though they were not in the picture. Oh well.

Ann

[Imad_Saddik]

Wow. Congratulations. Your APOD website is great and looks great in terms of feel and like. What I particularly like is the search function.
Is it true that it only shows APOD images from 2019 onwards?

Thank you, Avao, for the kind words! At the moment, the earliest entry dates back to January 1, 2015. I might use the complete archive to extend back to 1995.

[Imad_Saddik]

Very interesting. The "opening page", featuring recent APODs, looks very impressive and beautiful indeed!

However, me being me, I have my special hangups, and my main hangup is that I love blue things. My favorite deep sky object is the Pleiades, because they are so beautiful and sooo blue. So I used your search function to search for Pleiades APODs. And, unfortunately, the Pleiades-featuring APODs that your search engine showed me either did not highlight the Pleiades (they were seen in the background) or they didn't look blue. Yes, they looked blue in Tunc Tezel's image from 2024-08-02, and they looked blue (but so tiny!!!) in Marcin Ślipko's image from 2024-01-31, and they looked blue (but surrounded by a lot of brown stuff) in Craig Stocks' image from 2024-01-29, and they looked blue (but so, so tiny!!!) in Stefano Pellegrini's image from 2023-12-27.

Of course, your search engine displays APODs in the order in which they were posted, with the more recent ones first. I was able to load more Pleiades APODs. However, my extended search turned up a few images that didn't feature the Pleiades at all. There were two closeups of the California Nebula, one from 2023-12-19 and one from 2022-10-22, that didn't show the Pleiades at all. There was one featuring Dark Nebulae and Star Formation in Taurus from 2023-03-21, where the Pleiades were nowhere to be seen. And I couldn't find the Pleiades in Giorgia Hofer's image from 2023-03-25.

But I did, finally, come across my hands down favorite Pleiades APOD ever. It looks like a glittering blue snow storm. It is so, so beautiful. It is this one:

Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster. Image Credit & Copyright: Blake Estes (iTelescope Siding Spring Obs.) & Christian Sasse

---

So I was finally able to find my favorite Pleiades APOD, using your search engine! And I must agree that it is logical (logical, said Mr Spock) to show the APODs in the order in which they were posted. So, although I was unhappy with your display of Pleiades APODs at first, you have won me over.

But why did your search engine show me supposed Pleiades APODs where the Pleiades were not in the picture, even though I had asked for Pleiades APODs? Apparently because the Pleiades were mentioned in the APOD caption for one reason or another, even though they were not in the picture. Oh well.

Ann

Oh Ann, I’m truly at a loss for words. Your comment made my day, and I’d love to explain how the search works. When you enter keywords in the search bar, I look for those terms in both the title and description. For instance, in the example shared by Marcin Ślipko on January 31, 2024, the focus wasn’t on the Pleiades, but since the term appeared in the description, it was included in the search results.

Your feedback means so much to me. I’ve been working on this project for a year and, although I didn’t have the time to refine everything perfectly, I wanted to share it and gather feedback to make it even better.

Improving the search feature is a top priority for me. I’d love to add filters for dates, types of objects, and more. However, this will be quite a challenge, since the images aren’t currently classified as deep-sky objects, planets, nebulae, etc. I have lots of ideas to enhance the search experience, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate the improvements.

I’m not sure when these features will be implemented, but stay tuned! By the way, I adore the Pleiades too.

Thank you again for your wonderful feedback!