Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
Browse the NASA APOD archive without needing the exact date first. Filter by media type and keep moving deeper into older images and videos.
The Gullies Of Mars
The recently revealed gullies on Mars are rare. But they may prove to be sites of present day, near surface, liquid water , holding out the tantalizing possibility of martian life…
Blue Stragglers In NGC 6397
In our neck of the Galaxy stars are too far apart to be in danger of colliding, but in the dense cores of globular star clusters star collisions may be relatively common. In fact,…
Solstice Celebration
Season's greetings! At 01:48 Universal Time on June 21 the Sun reaches its northernmost point in planet Earth's sky marking a season change and the first solstice of the year…
Ganymede: The Largest Moon in the Solar System
If Ganymede orbited the Sun, it would be considered a planet. The reason is that Jupiter 's moon Ganymede is not only the largest moon in the Solar System , it is larger than…
The Long Jet of Pictor A
A jet stretching nearly a million light years has been imaged emanating from galaxy Pictor A. The thin jet of electrons and protons shoots out at nearly light-speed likely from…
The Milky Way Near the Southern Cross
This breathtaking patch of sky would be above you were you to stand at the South Pole of the Earth . Just above and to the right of this photograph's center are the four stars…
The Last Moon Shot
In 1865 Jules Verne predicted the invention of a space capsule that could carry people. In his science fiction story “From the Earth to the Moon” , he outlined his vision of a…
APOD Is Five Years Old Today
Welcome to the sixth year of Astronomy Picture of the Day ( APOD )! Above are the industrious Robert Nemiroff (left) and persistent Jerry Bonnell (right), still engaged in…
X-rays From The Perseus Cluster Core
The Perseus Cluster of thousands of galaxies, 320 million light-years distant, is one of the most massive objects in the Universe . At its core lies the giant cannibal galaxy…
A Slice of the Universe with 2dF
What can 100,000 galaxies tell you? Perhaps the structure and composition of the universe. Astronomers using the Two Degree Field (2dF) spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian…
The Carina Nebula in Infrared
About three million years ago, the stars in the Keyhole Nebula began to form. The above picture of the Keyhole Nebula , also known as the Carina Nebula or NGC 3372, shows in…
A Bubbling Galaxy Center
What's happening in the center of this galaxy? Close inspection of the center of NGC 4438 , as visible in this recently released representative-color image by the Hubble Space…
Sirius: The Brightest Star in the Night
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is visible on the far left of the above photograph, to the left of the constellation of Orion and Comet Hale-Bopp .…
M101: An Ultraviolet View
This picture of giant spiral galaxy Messier 101 (M101) was taken by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT). UIT flew into orbit as part of the Astro 2 mission on-board the Space…
Vela Pulsar: Neutron Star-Ring-Jet
This stunning image from the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory is centered on the Vela pulsar -- the collapsed stellar core within the Vela supernova remnant some 800 light-years…
Active Regions, CMEs, and X-Class Flares
Space Weather forcasters are predicting major storm conditions over the next few days as the active Sun has produced at least three strong flares and a large coronal mass ejection…
Up Close to Jupiter's Moon Io
Above is the highest resolution photograph yet taken of the Solar System 's strangest moon. The surface of Jupiter 's moon Io is home to violent volcanoes that are so active they…
A Continuous Eruption on Jupiter's Moon Io
A volcano on Jupiter's moon Io has been photographed recently during an ongoing eruption. Hot glowing lava is visible on the left on this representative-color image . A glowing…
In the Heart of the Crab
The supernova explosion that formed the Crab Nebula was first seen on the year 1054. Last week, astronomers released a new image of the still-evolving center of the explosion. The…
MyCn18: An Hourglass Nebula
The sands of time are running out for the central star of this hourglass-shaped planetary nebula . With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a…
Compton Re-entry
Nine years ago the massive Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , the second of NASA's space-based great observatories , was deployed in low earth orbit. Lofted above the protective…
The Secret Spiral Of IC3328
IC3328 is an otherwise unremarkable dwarf elliptical galaxy about 50 million light-years away in the Virgo cluster . But hidden within IC3328 is a subtle, beautifully symmetric…
X-Ray Wind From NGC 3783
A black hole is supposed to inexorably attract matter. But the intense radiation generated as material swirls and plunges into its high gravity field also heats up surrounding gas…
Astronaut at Work
Did you ever have a day where everything got turned around and you just couldn't tell which way was up? Fortunately, this didn't happen to astronaut James S. Voss on May 21, who…
Viewing discoveries from 23 June 2000 through 31 May 2000.