In Praise of . . . The Astronomy Picture of the Day

No man is an island, Entire of itself

~John Donne

The internet is, among many other things, an ecosystem.  No site exists in isolation; articles are written, responses posted, rebuttals made, points elaborated upon, and so it goes: the endless conversation of the interwebs.

About a month ago, now, we posted In Praise of Good Show Sir, which we said at the time would be the first of a regular series of posts in which we would pay tribute to some of the sites that help inform, inspire and amuse us. Imagine our surprise, then, to glance up at the calendar and realise that an entire month has gone by without us shouting out to a second site.

Boo! Hiss! Time to rectify that right now, by lavishing our praise and affection on NASA‘s excellent Astronomy Picture of the Day site.  From photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope to Chesley Bonestell-style artists’ impressions, footage from Cassini fly-bys to animations depicting astronomical events, this is an essential bookmark in any self-respecting science geek’s web browser.

And what better example of APOD‘s excellence to praise on a science fiction blog than The Triffid Nebula? Here’s a snapshot; click through to the APOD site for more detail:

Astronomy Picture of the Day, we salute you. Long may you continue bringing the universe home to us.