Happy Birthday Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

I have a scheduled task on my office computer that pulls up Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) each morning. The pictures are always interesting and usually educational. Today their site celebrates the first APOD appearing eleven years ago.

Although garnering only 14 page views on that day, we are proud to estimate that APOD has now served over 400 million space-related images over the last eleven years. That early beginning, along with a nearly unchanging format, has allowed APOD to be a consistent and familiar site on a web frequently filled with change. Many people don’t know, though, that APOD is now translated daily into many major languages.

The spectacular collage of a fantasy sky above Mars submitted by an enthusiastic APOD reader skilled in digital image manipulation is today’s image.