Date Top Pick Title Comment(s) ___________________________________________________________________ Jan 01 The Largest Rock Known Picked for text Jan 02 Mercury: A Cratered Inferno Jan 03 Orion's Horsehead Nebula Malin wide angle Jan 04 Galaxies Cluster Toward the Great Attractor Jan 05 Earth's Richat Structure Jan 06 M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula Jan 07 The Mysterious Cone Nebula Jan 08 Cone Nebula Close-Up Jan 09 Blue Flash Use text, title from ap000507 (Green Flash) Jan 10 Brown Sun Bubbling Jan 11 Great Orion Neb (Gendler) wow. beats 7,000 stars and milkyway Jan 12 The Wind on Mars Use Mars dunes later Jan 13 Lunokhod 1: Moon Robot Good text! Jan 14 M57: The Ring Nebula Jan 15 The Sun Also Rises Jan 16 Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079 Jan 17 NGC 1818: A Young Globular Cluster Jan 18 Saturn, Rings, and Two Moons Jan 19 Telescope with Lightning Jan 20 Callisto Full Face Beats Venus Arachnoids Jan 21 Our Dusty Universe Beats Mira; Volcano & Aurora Jan 22 Neutron Bounce Quantized in Earth Gravity Jan 23 Saturnian Aurora Jan 24 Eskimo Nebula from Hubble Jan 25 A Lunar Eclipse in Three Exposures Beats Falling Stardust Jan 26 Venus' Once Molten Surface Jan 27 Hubble Deep Field Replaces Earthrise (->Dec25) Jan 28 CMB Dipole: Speeding Through the Universe Jan 29 An Airplane in Front of the Sun Jan 30 Moonrise Over Seattle Beats Milky Way in Infrared Jan 31 Welcome to the Planet Earth Feb 01 Abell 2218: ... cluster lens Feb 02 All-Sky Panorama Feb 03 Colorful Clouds Of Carina beats m100 Feb 04 Jupiter's Brain Feb 05 The Ant Nebula beats jupiter giant storms Feb 06 Message from Earth Feb 07 coronal hole beats m103 open cluster Feb 08 Happy Birthday Jules Verne Feb 09 Saturn the Giant Topical Feb 10 Aurora Astern Feb 11 Reflection Neb. M78 beats space walz, sputnick Feb 12 Tales of Hale-Bopp New Feb 13 Lord of the Rings wow. Feb 14 Rosette Neb (Gendler) beats "dark sky bright sun" for date Feb 15 NGC 2244: A Star Cluster Feb 15 Rosette Nebula in H, O & S Feb 16 Cosmic IR Background replaces mediocre pics Feb 17 A Wind From the Sun clear choice 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 Feb 28 ESO 184-G82: SupernovaGrb include graphic box? Feb 29 Julius Caesar Leap day? centurial year 2000 (Book title: 366 days?) Mar 01 Galaxy Dwingeloo 1 Emerges Place after Lyman Alpha forest? Mar 02 Rumors of a Strange UniverseMight need image of SN1999D, updated text Mar 03 The Regolith of Asteroid Eros Mar 04 Ganymede Mosaic Mar 05 The Pipe Dark Nebula Beats Earth in True Color Mar 06 Hubble Floats Free Beats M27: The Dumbbell Nebula Mar 07 Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor 3 Mar 08 Columbia Dawn Mar 09 Sirius: Brightest Star New Mar 10 A Southern Sky View Mar 11 Plains and Ridges on Europa Mar 12 Cracks and Ridges on Europa 3 similar ones follow with better color pics?! Mar 13 M27: The Dumbbell Nebula Newly restored Mar 14 A GRB 000301C Symphony Good text Mar 15 Happy Face Crater on Mars Mar 16 Asteroids in the Distance Good text Mar 17 Comet Hale-Bopp Over Val Mar 18 Interstellar Dust-Bunnies Mar 19 Breaking Distant Light Mar 20 Antares and Rho Ophiuchi Mar 21 Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 2903 Mar 22 A Spherule from Outer Space Mar 23 A Chamaeleon Sky Mar 24 The Cat's Eye Nebula Mar 25 The Crab Nebula from VLT Mar 26 The Pulsar Powered Crab cosmic crustacean Mar 27 A Radio Vista of Cygnus good radio image! Mar 28 The Coma Cluster of Galaxies Mar 29 Fullerenes as Miniature Good text Mar 30 Supernova Star Field sub'd Mar 31 The Mysterious Rings 1987A 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 An Anomalous SETI Signal Good text; beats Venus Unveiled Apr 07 Tails of Comet Hyakutake jnew Apr 08 Compton Observatory the really great obs. Replace w/ap000116 ? Apr 09 Snake Nebula Apr 10 M51 Whirlpool Galaxy wow. Apr 11 Canaries Sky Apr 12 Stars From Eagle's EGGs the one Apr 13 Galaxy is not A Comet M31+Ikeya-Zhang Apr 14 Ray of Dark Cloud Shadow New Apr 15 Pluto in True Color but pluto isn't brown! says durda (ruddy,reddish) Apr 16 Pluto: New Horizons use text from ap960212.html Apr 17 Blue Marble 2000 big blue one + moon Apr 18 NGC 2266: Old Cluster in ...beats out dewey vdh 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 Cen A, Active Galaxy centaurus a in x-rays (cxc) 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 WD Apr 27 Ski Enceladus Newly added Apr 28 Betelgeuse Newly added. Mira better? Apr 29 Resolving Mira New Apr 30 The Holographic Principle > 10^65 bits May 01 In the Center Omega Nebula May 02 Arp 188 Tadpole's Tidal TailNew HST ACS picture May 03 Thackeray's Globules May 04 Equinox + 1 May 05 A Solar System Portrait May 06 NGC 4676: When Mice Collide May 07 Venus Unveiled jnew May 08 Spinning Black Hole Beat Sunspot Loops May 09 The M7 Open Star Cluster May 10 Apollo 15's Home on the Moon(better high res version?!) May 11 Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks May 12 Warped Spiral Galaxy ESO510-13 May 13 All of Mars jnew May 14 A Cerro Tololo Sky May 15 A Halo Around the Moon Beats TRACE and the Active Sun May 16 N44C: A Nebular Mystery Replacement beats U. Filled with Hydrogen May 17 The Far Infrared Sky May 18 The Near Infrared Sky Beats NGC 6369: A Donut Shaped Nebula May 19 The Horsehead Nebula Beats Nearby Leo I May 20 Sagittarius Star Cloud May 21 Sunspot Loops in UV New May 22 Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232 Beats Center of Centarus A ... very green! May 23 Seemingly Square Nebula jnew May 24 Pleiades, Planets, Hot Plasma May 25 Piece of Interplanetary Dust New May 26 Alpha Centauri: Closest Star May 27 Cosmic Ripples New May 28 Close-up of the Face on MarsRoot beer (nearly duplicates cydonia; another face on mars!) May 29 Working in Space May 30 Very Large Array Turns Twenty Generalize 20 May 31 Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars Jun 01 Dust Hip-Deep on Phobos too similar to doomed phobos? Jun 02 An Unusual Globule in IC 1396 Jun 03 Galaxies Away Jun 04 MyCn18: An Hourglass Nebula (beats ngc3603, comet Soho+neb) Jun 05 Heart of the Crab Jun 06 Eruption on Io Jun 07 Annular Eclipse: Ring of Fire New 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 Too Close to a Black Hole Replaces Neutron Star Earth Jun 17 Sky Full of Hydrogen jnew 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 Messier image: ap000311.html (adapt text) Jun 27 Sunflower Galaxy (m63) beats cobe dipole, ahu hoku, mars facts Jun 28 Inside the Eagle Nebula Jun 29 Ida and Dactyl asteroid and moon ... Jun 30 Vintage Gamma-rays beats "stars of M10" Jul 01 Spiral Galaxy NGC 7742 Move to Dec 25, mention wreath similarity? Jul 02 Aurora at Midnight Jul 03 Local Interstellar Cloud New Jul 04 Local Bubble New Jul 05 Step Gravitational Wave New Jul 06 Orange Soil on the Moon New Jul 07 The Gal Center Across Infrared Beats Apollo 15's Home on the Moon Jul 08 7,000 Stars and Milky Way jnew Jul 09 Shapley 1 Annular PN New Jul 10 The Sudbury Neutrino Detector Update text w/new Sudbury APOD Jul 11 A Total Eclipse Over Africa Jul 12 Asteroid Gaspra's Best Face Beats NGC 1850 Jul 13 Vela Supernova Remnant Optical Jul 14 White Dwarf Stars Cool New Jul 15 Io in True Color Jul 16 Pelican Nebula Ion Front Replacement Jul 17 Carina Nebula Three Colors Beats Lightning, Hyakutake Jul 18 Dwarf Elliptical NGC 205 New Jul 19 The Tarantula Zone jnew Jul 20 Apollo 12 Self-Portrait jnew Jul 21 Nearby Spiral M33 Jul 22 Slightly Above Mars Pathfinder Beats M83; too similar to other marspath? Jul 23 A Presidential Panorama Mars Jul 24 Atlantis to Orbit Jul 25 Why Stars Twinkle ?Use single frame? too grainy? Jul 26 Noctilucent Clouds Jul 27 Antares Replacement Jul 28 A Daytime Fireball in 1944 Beats Impact on Jupiter Jul 29 Sagittarius Dwarf New. Great text vs horrible picture Jul 30 A Blue Moon Beats Eagle Castle, R136 Breaks Out Jul 31 CL1358+62: New Farthest Object R136 is very good and should find a home. Aug 01 String of Pearls beats "ring plane crossing" ? Aug 02 Jupiter Swallows SL9 beats LMC by NOAO Aug 03 3C196 Radio Galaxy New ?? is this really a radio image (check if +optical)?? Aug 04 Anticrepuscular rays New 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 ... too similar to yogi rock! Aug 15 The Solar Spectrum oooooooohhhh Aug 16 Where is Upsilon Andromedae?credit marcy/butler in text Aug 17 The 47 UMa System worlds of a distant sun ... Aug 18 On the Origin of Gold New Aug 19 First Shuttle Launch New. Move to April 12? Aug 20 Lagoon Nebula in Three Colors Aug 21 Twistin by the Lagoon Aug 22 East of the Lagoon Nebula New, place near Lagoon? Aug 23 Dark Spots on Neptune too similar to Nep's Great Dark Spot Aug 24 Microlensing Caustics Aug 25 In the Center of the Trapezium Beats Close Up of Bubble Nebula Aug 26 Brown Dwarfs of Orions Trapezium (alt- perseid aurora) Aug 27 Trapezium: Teardrops in My Skies Aug 28 The Helix Nebula From CFHT (alt - x-ray pleiades) Aug 29 The Eclipse Tree New Aug 30 Eclipsed Earth (from Mir) Aug 31 Full Throttle Deep Space 1 (alt picture at Ion Drive) Sep 01 1999 JM8: A Rock Too Close Sep 02 Hot Gas and Dark Matter Sep 03 Star Cluster R136 Bursts OutBeats '96 Pleiades Sep 04 2dF Sees Waves of Galaxies Sep 05 CFHT Star Trails Sep 06 HCG 87: Small Group GalaxiesBeats Largest Impact Crater Sep 07 North America Nebula New Sep 08 Spirograph Nebula Replacement Sep 09 Solar Magnetic Bananas New Sep 10 Gal Cen Flicker Black Hole Beats WDs Cool Sep 11 Spiral Galaxy NGC 3310 Beats Proplyds Sep 12 Red Spider Planetary Nebula Beats M51, Infrared Saturn Sep 13 Southwest Mercury Sep 14 Mir Dreams replace mediocre stuff Sep 15 The Big Corona Too similar to Moon AND Sun, Beats O Mons Sep 16 Jupiters Rings Revealed Beats Sun Erupts Sep 17 Southwest Andromeda Beats GRB Fireball Persists Sep 18 Zodiacal Light False Dawn Replacement Sep 19 Tycho Supernova Remnant New. X-ray pic! Sep 20 Leonids From Orbit jnew Sep 21 The Quintuplet Star Cluster Sep 22 At the Edge of the Helix Beats Grand C of Mars, Solar M Arcade Sep 23 Equinox Eruptive Prominence Beats Barnard 68 Sep 24 Molecular Cloud Barnard 68 Sep 25 Love and War by Moonlight jnew Sep 26 Comet Borrelly's Nucleus nucleus is dark, hot, very dry! change text? Sep 27 A Venus Landing Beats Our Galaxy in Stars, Gas, and Dust; higher res. available Sep 28 Our Galaxy in Stars, Gas, Dust Replacement; too similar to other Milky Way shots?! Sep 29 A Lonely Neutron Star Replacement Sep 30 Dusk of the Planets Beats Spiral 1232, Massive Stars 30 Dor; highres color available? Oct 01 Volcano Aurora Iceland New Oct 02 Moons of Earth sub'd Oct 03 Einstein Cross Lens New Oct 04 The Perfect Spiral perfect Oct 05 Sunspot Up Close Oct 06 Hen 1357: A New Born Nebula Oct 07 First Rocket Cape Canaveral New Oct 08 A New Farthest Quasar New Oct 09 Brightest Object Yet Known New Oct 10 3C175: Quasar Cannon New Oct 11 Triton: Neptune's Largest Moon date of triton discovery by herschel Oct 12 The Water Vapor Channel high res version? Oct 13 Astronaut at Work New Oct 14 Far Side of the Moon sub'd Oct 15 Orion 2Mass New 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 Millions of Stars in OmegaCen beats upsilon and (lynette cook art) Oct 24 N132D and the Color of X-ray jnew 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 NGC 6791 Open Cluster New Oct 30 Witch Head Nebula sub'd Oct 31 Ghost Head Nebula alt - witch head nebula! Nov 01 Total Lunar Eclipse Replacement Nov 02 PG 1115+080 Ghost Lensing Past Beats WD Cool, Galaxy Collision NGC 6745 Nov 03 A Galaxy Collision in NGC 6745 Replacement Nov 04 Leonids from Leo Beats Apollo 12: Self-Portrait Nov 05 Natural Saturn Cassini Cruise Nov 06 Heaven on Earth Nov 07 Sun Pillar in Red and Violet Nov 08 Gum Nebula Supernova RemnantReplacement Beats Simulating the Universe Nov 09 Spiral Galaxies in Collision Nov 10 Ultraviolet Earth from Moon Replacement Nov 11 The First Lunar Observatory Beats Aurora Above Nov 12 Pangea Ultima New Nov 13 Disorder in Stephan's Quintet Beats Seven Jets from Comet Hale-Bopp Nov 14 M31: The Andromeda Galaxy andromeda island universe is better pic! Beats Yardangs, Aurora in Orion Nov 15 Recycling Columbia Beats Deimos Nov 16 A RADARSAT Map of Antarctica Nov 17 Summer at the South Pole dec. solstice text? Nov 18 Prometheus Plume (alt A Fleeting Eclipse) Nov 19 Diffraction Spikes Beats Our Dusty Universe Nov 20 A Leonids Star Field Nov 21 Fire on Earth Beats Galactic Ring of NGC 6782 Nov 22 Orion Nebula in Hydrogen Beats Fireball, Smoke Trail, Meteor Storm Nov 23 Leonids Above Torre Beats Triton Nov 24 Saturn's Moon Tethys Nov 25 Two Hours Before Neptune New Nov 26 Earth's North Magnetic Pole New Nov 27 Earth at Night Beats Ancient Layered Rocks on Mars Nov 28 Shadow at the Lunar South Pole Nov 29 Galactic Ring of NGC 6782 Replacement beats Leonids from Orbit Nov 30 Europa Full Face Dec 01 Hale-Bopp and Nebula New Dec 02 Magnetic Carpet of Sun New 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 Dueling Auroras New 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 3-D Mars North Pole Dec 14 South Pole of Mars Dec 15 Sher 25: Pending Supernova New Dec 16 NGC 3603: Beginning To End New Dec 17 NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula Dec 18 CG4: Ruptured Globule New Dec 19 Cartwheel of Fortune alt Close up of Aurora on Jup Dec 20 Hot Stars in the Trifid Neb. Dec 21 Catching Falling Stardust Dec 22 Nebula Nova Cygni Turns On New Dec 23 Earth in True Color New Dec 24 West Of The Great Red Spot Dec 25 30 Doradus Across the Spectrum ... christmas tree nebula? Dec 26 Saturn Nebula mediocre Dec 27 Moon Mare y Montes Dec 28 Trifid Pillars and Jets Dec 29 Millennium Defined Earth New Dec 30 Millennium Defines Universe New (see Dec 29) Dec 31 APOD Astronomer and Geographer apologies to vermeer + text? Waiting List: Wai 01 Astronaut Kicks Lunar Field Goal Wai 02 orion nebulosities Wai 03 cone nebula IR close-up Wai 04 planets over stonehenge Wai 05 fireball smoke trail meteor storm Wai 06 deimos, a small martian moon Wai 07 aeolian mars Wai 08 Equinox and Eruptive Prominence