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Wikipedia:Picture of the day

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The picture of the day (POTD) is a section on the English Wikipedia's Main Page that is automatically updated every day with one or more featured pictures, accompanied by a blurb. Although it is generally scheduled and edited by a small group of regular editors, anyone can contribute. If you have concerns about today's or tomorrow's POTDs, please place a message at Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If you have concerns about other upcoming POTDs, consider either fixing it yourself or placing a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day.

Today's featured picture

Bathymetry is the study of the underwater depth of sea and ocean floors, lake floors, and river floors. It has been carried out for more than 3,000 years, with the first recorded evidence of measurements of water depth occurring in ancient Egypt. Bathymetric measurements are conducted with various methods, including depth sounding, sonar and lidar techniques, buoys, and satellite altimetry. However, despite modern computer-based research, the depth of the seabed of Earth remains less well measured in many locations than the topography of Mars. Bathymetry has various uses, including the production of bathymetric charts to guide vessels and identify underwater hazards, the study of marine life near the bottom of bodies of water, coastline analysis, and ocean dynamics, including predicting currents and tides. This video, created by the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, simulates the effect on a satellite world map of a gradual decrease in worldwide sea levels. As the sea level drops, more seabed is exposed in shades of brown, producing a bathymetric map of the world. Continental shelves appear mostly by a depth of 140 meters (460 ft), mid-ocean ridges by 3,000 meters (9,800 ft), and oceanic trenches at depths beyond 6,000 meters (20,000 ft). The video ends at a depth of 10,190 meters (33,430 ft) below sea level – the approximate depth of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the seabed.

Video credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Horace Mitchell, and James O'Donoghue

Guidelines

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  • The picture must already be a featured picture. To nominate a picture to be featured, see Featured picture candidates.
  • Featured pictures are currently selected in roughly the order in which they were promoted (i.e. a first in, first out order). See the category of featured pictures that have not appeared on the Main Page for this order. Exceptions are made for birthdays, anniversaries of events, national holidays or other occasions worth commemorating.
  • Linked articles must be up to scratch – at a minimum, the article should not be a stub, and the image used must appear in the article.
  • All facts mentioned in the blurb must be found in the target article, or in the description linked to the image itself (if it's a specific detail not relevant to the article topic).
  • All facts used in the blurb must have a citation to a reliable source, either in the linked article or in the image description page.
  • Not all featured pictures will appear as the picture of the day. Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Unused has a list of those that have been skipped.

Pictures of the day on your user page

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You can insert the picture of the day on your user page or talk page by adding the text {{Pic of the day}}. It will be displayed in a box of no more than 600 pixels wide and will include the blurb associated with the picture. A version without text is also available via {{POTD}}.

It is also possible to create your own custom POTD layouts, in case you do not wish to use the existing versions. Mix and match the following components to make your own. This system will only work for pictures of the day beginning January 1, 2007. Be sure to replace [date] with an appropriate date value. For a dynamically updating version, use {{#time:Y-m-d}} (example: {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|image}}).

Template Description Renders as
{{POTD/[date]|image}} The name of the image, without the File: prefix Draining the Oceans video by NASA.webm
{{POTD/[date]|size}} The size of the image, without the trailing px 700
{{POTD/[date]|caption}} The image caption (blurb) Bathymetry is the study of the underwater depth of sea and ocean floors, lake floors, and river floors. It has been carried out for more than 3,000 years, with the first recorded evidence of measurements of water depth occurring in ancient Egypt. Bathymetric measurements are conducted with various methods, including depth sounding, sonar and lidar techniques, buoys, and satellite altimetry. However, despite modern computer-based research, the depth of the seabed of Earth remains less well measured in many locations than the topography of Mars. Bathymetry has various uses, including the production of bathymetric charts to guide vessels and identify underwater hazards, the study of marine life near the bottom of bodies of water, coastline analysis, and ocean dynamics, including predicting currents and tides. This video, created by the Scientific Visualization Studio at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, simulates the effect on a satellite world map of a gradual decrease in worldwide sea levels. As the sea level drops, more seabed is exposed in shades of brown, producing a bathymetric map of the world. Continental shelves appear mostly by a depth of 140 meters (460 ft), mid-ocean ridges by 3,000 meters (9,800 ft), and oceanic trenches at depths beyond 6,000 meters (20,000 ft). The video ends at a depth of 10,190 meters (33,430 ft) below sea level – the approximate depth of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the seabed.
{{POTD/[date]|title}} A link to the article the image represents Bathymetry
{{POTD/[date]|texttitle}} A linkless short caption, also useful as an alt attribute Bathymetry
{{POTD/[date]|credit}} The credit line of the image, including the genre (e.g. photograph, painting) Video credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Horace Mitchell, and James O'Donoghue

There are two additional predefined layouts:

  • {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|column}}: This has the image and caption above each other with no borders. Used on some of the Main Page alternatives and also suitable for user pages.
  • {{POTD/{{#time:Y-m-d}}|row}}: This has the image and caption encapsulated in (usually) a single table row. This is the version used on the current Main Page.

It is also possible to permanently feature a POTD for a selected day. Just add a specific value for the date you want. For example, today's picture of the day is {{POTD/2024-12-30|image}}. Likewise, you can use date parameters with the other templates as well. If you like the pre-made formats, you can use date parameters there as well, like this: {{Pic of the day|date=2024-12-30}} or {{POTD|date=2024-12-30}}. Again, this system will only work for pictures of the day beginning January 1, 2007.

As a userbox

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Code Result
{{User:CFeyecare/templates/POTD}}
This user enjoys the
Picture of the Day.¤
Usage

Random picture of the day

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Use {{User:My Chemistry romantic/Templates/Random POTD}} to display a randomly selected picture of the day.

{{User:Tyw7/picofday}} also displays a randomly selected POTD, but without the header and footer.

As a thumbnail

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When you want to display the picture of the day like an ordinary thumbnail, similar to {{WP:Wikimedia Commons/POTD}}, you can use {{POTD Wikipedia}}. For instance, if you want a thumbnailed version, floated right, you can use {{POTD Wikipedia|float=right|title=yes|thumb=yes}}.

Older pictures of the day

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If you want to permanently include a POTD that was selected between November 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006, use the following: {{Wikipedia:Picture of the day/[month] [day], [year]}} or {{Wikipedia:POTD/[month] [day], [year]}}. For example, {{Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 31, 2006}}.

Pictures of the day selected from May 2004 through October 2004 are only accessible in month-at-a-time archives (see below) and can only be placed on user pages by using standard image syntax.


Picture of the day archives and future dates

2004: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2005: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2006: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2007: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2008: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2009: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2010: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2011: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2012: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2013: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2014: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2015: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2016: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2017: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2018: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2019: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2020: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2021: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2022: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2023: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2024: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2025: January February March April May June July August September October November December