What Did NASA See on Your Birthday?

Ever wondered what the night sky looked like or what space anomaly could be seen the night you were born? If you’re curious about all things space related, NASA has a website dedicated to it’s astronomy archives.

NASA’s astronomy archive, titled “Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive” (APOD), consists of a featured image of something space related daily, including sky views, nebulas, astronauts, galaxies, space technology, stars, and many more. With the featured image of the day also comes a brief explanation of the image.

APOD was created by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU) and images featured daily vary, including artist renditions, actual photos, false color images, animations, video footage, etc. The archive was launched on June 16, 1995 and images from then on can be found.

APOD divides it’s images into four categories: Cosmos, Solar System, Space Technology, and Sky. To view the archive, you can go to https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html. The website also provides an index and search bar if you are looking for a specific date.

Now, about birthdays- the featured image on the day of your birth may not be exactly what was in the sky at the time of your birth, but it’s relatively close to that date or may be the topic that was currently popular at the time. Here are a few pictures of random featured images: