Explanation: The first APOD appeared eleven years ago today, on 1995 June 16. 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. We again thank our readers and NASA for their continued support, but ask that any potentially congratulatory e-mail go to the folks who created the great pictures -- many times with considerable effort -- that APOD has been fortunate enough to feature over the past year. Many can be contacted by following links found in the credit line under the image. Some of these images are featured in the above spectacular collage of a fantasy sky above Mars submitted by an enthusiastic APOD reader skilled in digital image manipulation. How many APOD images can you identify?

Works Cited 

Serrano, Herman. “APOD Turns Eleven.” Asronomy Picture of the Day. Ed. Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. NASA.  18 Feb. 2009 .

I located the picture overhead on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website via the link on the Weekly Blog Assignments page. It was the Picture of the Day for June 16, 2006. That date in particular was my 13th birthday. Out of all the pictures taken on my birthday from 1995 untill now, I chose this picture for a specific reason. The image above is not an authentic image but more like a colage of many photos taken of spectacular sights in space. This portrait stood out to me because of the message it sends. To me, this photograph captures the wonder and splendor of all we have found in space while conveying the possibility of greater things in the future. Also, it shows how far we have come in terms of space travel while reminding us of how much is still unexplored. As you can see, a lot of things can be said about this one image.