Starship Asterisk*

APOD is 20 Years Old Today

Explanation: Welcome to the vicennial year of the Astronomy Picture of the Day! Perhaps a source of web consistency for some, APOD is still here. As during each of the 20 years of selecting images, writing text, and editing the APOD web pages, the occasionally industrious Robert Nemiroff (left) and frequently persistent Jerry Bonnell (right) are pictured above plotting to highlight yet another unsuspecting image of our cosmos. Although the featured image may appear similar to the whimsical Vermeer composite that ran on APOD's fifth anniversary, a perceptive eye might catch that it has been digitally re-pixelated using many of the over 5,000 APOD images that have appeared over APOD's tenure. (Can you find any notable APOD images?) Once again, we at APOD would like to offer a sincere thank you to our readership for continued interest, support, and many gracious communications. If you consider yourself a fan of APOD, you might want to consider joining the Friends of APOD.

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My thanks for all of the people behind APOD for providing the easy access to these magnificent images and for the explanations / backup for the images and the manner in which they are presented. It is appreciated.

Congratulations, APOD!

Thanks for the pixellation, Rob. Where are you these days?

Ann

The person on the left is the same as the original Vermeer "The Geographer", I do not think the APOD person existed back then.

george5 wrote:The person on the left is the same as the original Vermeer "The Geographer", I do not think the APOD person existed back then.

No, that's obviously Richard Gere!

Happy birthday APOD.

The sense of time, and paradoxically of timelessness, is remarkable.

If that room still exists today ...

Thanks - and I did, as I hope many more will, make a donation to Friends of APOD http://friendsofapod.org/

Probably a silly question. Does anyone know what the plot on the wall (under the date) represents?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY APOD!!!!


( <-- this is a birthday doughnut, since there's no 'birthday cake' image )

As a relative novice to the wonders of APOD i would like to congratulate you all on your anniversary. Many thanks for the opportunity to broaden my sense of amazement and imagination. Long may you live.

Congratulations, apod, and a big thank you to all who work to make it happen. I start my day with apod. Puts the remainder of the day into a healthier perspective.

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear APOOOOOODDD!!
Happy Birthday to you!

Woohoo! Yay! Where is the cake?

Congratulations on 20 years! It certainly has been comforting oasis of consistency for me. I love how the page HAS NOT changed visually
in the 15 years I've dropped in. Good job guys!!

Happy birthday! And thank you for bringing an APOD to us every day for 20 years.

Congratulations APOD!!! Way to go!!! Thank you for everything you have done. I have learned quite a lot while reading the pictures and related discussions. Here's to another 20 more years!!!

Anon wrote:Probably a silly question. Does anyone know what the plot on the wall (under the date) represents?

The image is a composite of 'The Astronomer' and 'The Geographer', both by Vermeer. Both paintings appear to have been done in the same room. Still, as a composite, it is well put together. We looked at images of the original works and can see no trace of the plot on the wall under the date; the date on the wall only being in 'The Geographer'. The picture hung on the wall in one seems to be a map of some sort in one image, and seems to be a painting of a number of people in the other. Otherwise the wall is clear of images other than the shadow from the large piece of furniture. Whatever the plot is that appears in the APOD image, it was added by someone for some reason. As to the picture hung on the wall, we can't make out what the APOD representation is supposed to be. Perhaps a computer generated artifact? The decoration on the upper door of the furniture is also something that was added, tho it is difficult to make out what it is supposed to be. Perhaps Jupiter and a collection of its moons?

Still Happy Birthday!!! We are learning a lot, especially when we have to do research before asking any questions...

First thing I do every day when sitting at a keyboard is check out the APOD site. This is a tremendous resource that reminds us all how fragile, small, and yet unique we humans are in the vastness of the Cosmos. Thank you to the APOD team for all that you do. Happy Birthday.

I have started my day with this for years and have told so many friends about this - which leads to an interesting relationship once they know a goofy blonde is a nerd.

george5 wrote:The person on the left is the same as the original Vermeer "The Geographer"

... and the one on the right is the same as the original Vermeer "The Astronomer" (see the image credits)

Guest wrote: the date on the wall only being in 'The Geographer'.

The date (and signature) in 'The Astronomer' is on the cabinet front just above his right hand

Can someone help me register

Congratulations APOD for completing your twentieth, uninterrupted year.

Of course, I did not start viewing in 1995. I came to know about your existence merely by chance in 2003 but since that first day, I have not missed a single post. If I missed a few because of vacations and other similar interruptions, I made sure that I went back and saw all the ones during my absence. You have broadened my vision of the universe in a way that I do not have words to describe, and as a consequence of which, the vision of the whole of existence itself.

Through all the last twelve years though, I had no idea that there was a place for making donations. I came to know about it through "RedFishBlueFish's" post earlier today, with the website being...............http://friendsofapod.org/

I promptly went there moments ago and made my contribution, which though meager, is from the bottom of my heart. I will try to make a regular monthly contribution from now on, which I will set up later. Honestly, I really wish you to advertise this a little more. I am sure there are many others who would like to contribute but simply don't know how.

Through all these years, you have remained focused on the subject of astronomy and sicence in general, no matter what else happened in the world around us. A question had once come up in my mind and that was, what did you post on September-12, 2001? I had gone back to your complete archive and found that out, which was: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010912.html It was just like any other, past or future to be. You are scientists and you have strictly kept us there.

Thank you very much and congratulations again.

The quote from Lewis Carroll in "bystander's" post above caught my eye:

"If you set to work to believe everything, you will tire out the believing-muscles of your mind, and then you'll be so weak you won't be able to believe the simplest true things."

There is one very close to the above by Henri Poincare:

"To doubt everything, or, to believe everything, are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection."

Anon wrote:Probably a silly question. Does anyone know what the plot on the wall (under the date) represents?

That plot represents the time history of the first gamma ray burst ever observed (APOD from July 2, 2000).

The image to the right (on the right edge) is actually photo of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory during deployment by the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1991 (APOD from April 8, 2000).

Both Nemiroff and Bonnell have long had a research interest in gamma ray bursts. Both were heavily involved in the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory mission.

Happy Birthday to APOD!

Thanks for all the pictures

Guest wrote:

Anon wrote:Probably a silly question. Does anyone know what the plot on the wall (under the date) represents?

That plot represents the time history of the first gamma ray burst ever observed (APOD from July 2, 2000).

Thanks for that. I thought it was going to drive me up the walls looking for it. Itried loading a cleaned up copy of the plot into google images but no dice, and I wouldn't have thought of gamma rays.