Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2001 April 1
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download 
 the highest resolution version available.

Americans Defeat Russians in First Space Quidditch Match
Credit: STS-92 Crew, NASA

Explanation: A historic first Space Quidditch match came to a spectacular conclusion last night as astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria caught the Golden Snitch to give the Americans a hard fought victory over the Russians. "The Russians used brilliant strategy, but only NASA had the T2KQMU (Thunderbolt 2000 Quidditch Maneuvering Unit)," commented Lopez-Alegria, pictured above squeezing the elusive Golden Snitch in his left hand. Happy April Fools Day from the folks at APOD. In reality, Astronauts Jeff Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria are shown space-walking last October during a space shuttle mission to help build the International Space Station.

Tomorrow's picture: Auroral Weekend


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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.