Date Top Pick Title Comment(s) ___________________________________________________________________ Feb 01 Abell 2218: ... cluster lensbeats jupiter's brain out Feb 02 All-Sky Panorama picture Feb 03 Colorful Clouds Of Carina beats m100 Feb 04 Jupiter's Brain replaces mediocre pics Feb 05 The Ant Nebula beats jupiter giant storms Feb 06 Sombrero Galaxy from VLT Feb 07 coronal hole beats m103 open cluster Feb 08 Happy Birthday Jules Verne verne's birthday. swapped in. Feb 09 The Deep Field alt - sn1987a star field Feb 10 Aurora Astern good stuff Feb 11 Reflection Neb. M78 beats space walz, sputnick Feb 12 Pluto Not Yet Explored artist concept/text Feb 13 Great Orion Neb (Gendler) wow. beats 7,000 stars and milkyway Feb 14 Rosette Neb (Gendler) beats "dark sky bright sun" for date Feb 15 Lord of the Rings wow. Feb 16 Cosmic IR Background replaces mediocre pics Feb 17 A Wind From the Sun clear choice Feb 18 A Radio Vista of Cygnus good radio image! Feb 19 Shuttle Plume Shadow beats Czech Fireball Feb 20 Astro I in Orbit mediocre text Feb 21 Sonic Boom include "bow shock" in text? Feb 22 Gamma Ray Sky gro heritage? alternate "purple color" image? Feb 23 Saturn at the Lunar Limb Saturn Occultation here? Feb 24 Lyman Alpha Forest weird. good text (beat IR Horsehead?) Feb 25 Crescent Europa beat High Energy Fleet ... Feb 26 Sungrazer beat garradd all-sky, mars sanddunes Feb 27 Pleiades Star Cluster beat Witchhead Neb. (save for oct31?) Feb 28 ESO 184-G82: SupernovaGrb include graphic box? Feb 29 Julius Caesar Leap day? centurial year 2000 Apr 01 Green Cheese Moon april fools day ... Apr 02 Dark Sky Bright Sun picked up from Feb. Apr 03 Radio Sky all sky at 408 MHz Apr 04 Superwind Cigar Galaxy beats out merc astronauts Apr 05 Jet from Galaxy M87 beats out X-ray pleiades Apr 06 Supernova Star Field sub'd Apr 07 The Eskimo Nebula beats other hubbles + "real mars face" Apr 08 Compton Observatory the really great obs. (beats surv3+apollo12) Apr 09 Snake Nebula serpentine! Apr 10 M51 Whirlpool Galaxy wow. beats canary's sky Apr 11 Canaries Sky replace mediocre images Apr 12 Stars From Eagle's EGGs the one Apr 13 Galaxy is not A Comet M31+Ikeya-Zhang Apr 14 Return to Cydonia mark open if dupes root beer ... real face on mars Apr 15 7,000 Stars and Milky Way mark open if dupes all-sky mellinger Apr 16 Millions of Stars in OmegaCen beats upsilon and (lynette cook art) Apr 17 Blue Marble 2000 big blue one + moon Apr 18 Europa Ice Line mark open if too many europas? Apr 19 Old Moon in New Moon's Arms text Apr 20 Io: Moon Over Jupiter good one Apr 21 Center of Centaurus A oh yes Apr 22 Where is Upsilon Andromedae?credit marcy/butler in text Apr 23 The Newly Expanded ISS change title? beats cluster bends Apr 24 The Trifid Nebula from AAO also liked barsoom text/frothy milky way Apr 25 Southern Cross in Mauna Loa aloha Apr 26 NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New WDbeats out horsehead noao view Apr 27 Horsehead Rides Again use noao horsehead view +other text? Apr 28 Venus' Molten Surface replace mediocre stuff Apr 29 NGC 2266: Old Cluster in ...beats out dewey vdh Apr 30 The Holographic Principle > 10^65 bits Jun 01 Mir Dreams replace mediocre stuff Jun 02 The Pulsar Powered Crab cosmic crustacean Jun 03 GRB Symphony text (image so-so) Jun 04 MyCn18: An Hourglass Nebula (beats ngc3603, comet Soho+neb) Jun 05 Heart of the Crab Jun 06 Eruption on Io Jun 07 Hubble Deep Field beats starbirth in trifid Jun 08 Active ... X class flares solar x-ray pic with notsogood text Jun 09 Lunar Rover beats hst "telling spiral" Jun 10 H, He, and the Stars of M10 Jun 11 How to Make Planets Jun 12 Bubbling Galaxy beats Venus just passing by Jun 13 Carina Neb in IR (2mass image) html title different from text title! Jun 14 Venus, Just Passing By replaces mediocre stuff ... Jun 15 Messiers and Mars Jun 16 Neutron Star Earth first APOD (apod b'day,deceit of images?) Jun 17 Colorful Clouds of Carina (too much carina?) Jun 18 Jewel Box of Stars southern stuff Jun 19 Crescent Neptune slightly neptune (beats good morn mars) Jun 20 Total Eclipse of Active Sun ... will this text work? Jun 21 Solstice Celebration beats out sn1987a rings Jun 22 Gullies of Mars water or what? Jun 23 Cygnus Loop how many jeff hesters? Jun 24 Eight Burst Nebula beats out Venus Rift Val Jun 25 The Clouds of Jupiter replaced image.beats strange gal,GRB host Jun 26 Happy Birthday Charles Messier (better crab neb image?) Jun 27 Sunflower Galaxy (m63) beats cobe dipole, ahu hoku, mars facts Jun 28 Cat's Eye Neb pat harrington's greatest hit Jun 29 Ida and Dactyl asteroid and moon ... Jun 30 Vintage Gamma-rays beats "stars of M10" Aug 01 String of Pearls beats "ring plane crossing" ? Aug 02 Jupiter Swallows SL9 beats LMC by NOAO Aug 03 Warped Spiral Aug 04 Galaxy Dwingeloo beats jupiter's rings Aug 05 Orbiting Iceberg beats geysers on triton ... Aug 06 Hale-Bopp from Indian Cove Aug 07 A Flock of Stars sub'd Aug 08 NGC 1365 Barred Spiral sub'd Aug 09 Solar Filament lifts off text? Aug 10 Tycho and Copernicus ray craters! Aug 11 Mystery in Gamma Rays et al. Aug 12 Perseid Meteor Aug 13 Doomed Star Eta Car beats out "dust" Aug 14 Mars Rocks Sojourner Rolls ... the beat ... Aug 15 The Solar Spectrum oooooooohhhh Aug 16 Cen A, Active Galaxy centaurus a in x-rays (cxc) Aug 17 The 47 UMa System worlds of a distant sun ... Aug 18 Phobos Doomed Moon Aug 19 Mercury Cratered Inferno Aug 20 Lagoon Nebula in Three Colors Aug 21 Galaxies Away Aug 22 Twistin by the Lagoon Aug 23 Dark Spots on Neptune sub'd Aug 24 Microlensing Caustics Aug 25 Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079 Aug 26 Brown Dwarfs of Orions Trapezium (alt- perseid aurora) Aug 27 Prometheus Plume (alt A Fleeting Eclipse) Aug 28 The Helix Nebula From CFHT (alt - x-ray pleiades) Aug 29 The Regolith of Asteroid Eros Aug 30 Eclipsed Earth (from Mir) Aug 31 Full Throttle Deep Space 1 (alt picture at Ion Drive) Oct 01 Welcome to Planet Earth sub'd Oct 02 Moons of Earth sub'd Oct 03 Europa's Surface sub'd Oct 04 The Perfect Spiral perfect Oct 05 Sunspot Up Close Oct 06 Hen 1357: A New Born Nebula Oct 07 A Galaxy Cluster Lens Oct 08 A Yukon Aurora (alt richat structure, far side moon) Oct 09 Not A Comet Oct 10 Triton: Neptune's Largest Moon date of triton discovery by herschel Oct 11 VDB 142 in Cepheus Oct 12 The Water Vapor Channel high res version? Oct 13 A Flock of Stars sub'd Oct 14 Far Side of the Moon sub'd Oct 15 Phobos over Mars quirky? Oct 16 Dust and Gas/ R Cor Australis Oct 17 Mist in Mariner Valley Oct 18 NGC 3606 Active Star Cluster Oct 19 X-ray Stars and Winds Rosette chandra x-ray image ... Oct 20 IR Uranus (don't laugh) alt-Surveyor Slides Oct 21 Sombrero Gal VLT alt follow sunspots, titan's surface Oct 22 Iridium 52: Not a Meteor Oct 23 Pluto: New Horizons sub'd Oct 24 Sun Also Rises high res version? Oct 25 Hubble's Variable Neb sub'd Oct 26 Map of Eros Oct 27 Elements in Aftermath chandra x-ray image ... Oct 28 Rafting for Solar Neutrinos update text ... Oct 29 Io Full Face high res updated version? Oct 30 Witch Head Nebula sub'd Oct 31 Ghost Head Nebula alt - witch head nebula! Dec 01 Neptune's Great Dark Spot alt - frosty crater on mars Dec 02 Rumors of a Strange Universelatest vers. text mods?alt-leonidfireball Dec 03 Rhea: Saturn's ... Dec 04 AE Aurigae Flaming Star Dec 05 Layered Mars revise text? alt - Sky Filled w/Leonids Dec 06 Southern Pinwheel M83 Dec 07 Pipe Nebula sub'd Dec 08 Mediteranean Leonid 2001 Dec 09 Apollo 17 Lunarscape ... Dec 10 The Antennae Galaxies sub'd HST view ... Dec 11 Reflecting Merope Dec 12 Driving to the Sun ... alt Milky Way thru Summer Triangle Dec 13 South Pole of Mars Dec 14 NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula Dec 15 Plains and Ridges on Europa Dec 16 3-D Mars North Pole Dec 17 M2-9 Wings of a Butterfly Dec 18 Irregular Galaxy Sextans A alt Sky Full of Hydrogen,Neb in Pink/blue Dec 19 Cartwheel of Fortune alt Close up of Aurora on Jup Dec 20 Hot Stars in the Trifid Neb. Dec 21 Summer at the South Pole dec. solstice text? Dec 22 Frosty Crater on Mars sub'd Dec 23 Saturn Aurora Dec 24 30 Doradus Across the Spectrum ... christmas tree nebula? Dec 25 Earth Rise due to orbital motion! text? Dec 26 West Of The Great Red Spot Dec 27 Saturn Nebula Dec 28 Moon Mare y Montes Dec 29 Milky Way in Infrared cobe ... Dec 30 Trifid Pillars and Jets Dec 31 APOD Astronomer and Geographer apologies to vermeer + text?