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.
NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way
A mere 168,000 light-years distant, this large, lovely cluster of stars, NGC 1850 , is located near the outskirts of the central bar structure in our neighboring galaxy, the Large…
A Total Eclipse Over Africa
What's that dark spot on the Sun? It's the Moon. Last month, on June 21, a total solar eclipse was visible in parts of Africa . In one of the most spectacular records of this…
Sudbury Indicates Nonstandard Particle Model
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has been detecting so few neutrinos from the Sun that the Standard Model of fundamental particles in the universe may have to be revised.…
Air Pollution Earth
Where on Earth is the air most polluted? Recently released images from the Terra satellite show not only areas of high pollution, but also how polluted air moves. In the above…
The Galactic Center in Infrared
The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light , much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust . In infrared light , however, dust glows more and obscures…
A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind
The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf , currently 63 light-years away in the…
Bakasa Eclipse Sequence
Starting at the upper left, this sequence of images follows the progress of the magnificent 21 June, 2001 solar eclipse in the clear skies over Bakasa, Zimbabwe. These pictures…
C/2001 A2 (LINEAR): Comet !
Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) has crossed the celestial equator and is heading north. Outward bound , this primordial piece of the solar system is still just visible to the unaided eye…
Moonbow with Sailboats
Have you ever seen a moonbow? Just as rainbows are lit by the Sun , moonbows are lit by the Moon . Since the Sun is so much brighter than the Moon , sunlit rainbows are much…
Unusual Flashes Toward Globular Cluster M22
What is causing the unusual flashes behind globular cluster M22? This teeming ball of stars is the brightest globular cluster visible from Earth's northern hemisphere. M22 , shown…
The Seasons of Saturn
Soon it will be winter in Saturn's northern hemisphere. Since Saturn is tilted in its orbit around the Sun , it has seasons just like the Earth . When a hemisphere is tilted so…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 7742
This might resemble a fried egg you've had for breakfast , but it's actually much larger. In fact, ringed by blue-tinted star forming regions and faintly visible spiral arms , the…
Hydrogen, Helium, and the Stars of M10
Stars like the Sun use hydrogen for fuel, “burning” hydrogen into helium at their cores through nuclear fusion . But what happens when that hydrogen runs out? For a while,…
Ice Volcanoes on Mars?
What causes these unusual cone-shaped features on Mars ? Spanning an average of only 100 meters at the base, these small cones appear near massive Martian volcanoes such as…
The Topography of Mars
Mars has its ups and downs. Visible on the above interactive topographic map of the surface of Mars are giant volcanoes , deep valleys , impact craters , and terrain considered…
Moonlight, Mars, and Milky Way
Aloha and welcome to a breath-taking skyscape. In this celestial scene, a four day old Moon illuminates a dreamlike foreground while bright planet Mars (above center) rules and…
All of Mars
From pole to pole , from east to west, this is all of Mars . The above picture was digitally reconstructed from over 200 million laser altimeter measurements taken by the Mars…
A Brighter Comet LINEAR
Brighter than ever expected , comet LINEAR -- you know , the one designated C/2001 A2 -- is a sight to see in southern skies. This comet LINEAR first brightened impressively in…
NGC 3132: The Eight Burst Nebula
It's the dim star, not the bright one, near the center of NGC 3132 that created this odd but beautiful planetary nebula . Nicknamed the Eight-Burst Nebula and the Southern Ring…
The Cygnus Loop
The shockwave from a 20,000 year-old supernova explosion in the constellation of Cygnus is still expanding into interstellar space. The collision of this fast moving wall of gas…
Eclipse in African Skies
Yesterday, for a brief few minutes, a total eclipse of the Sun brought darkness to southern Africa's daytime skies. During this first total solar eclipse of the third millennium…
Diamond Ring in the Sun
Today, earthbound skygazers can celebrate a solstice , a new Moon , the closest approach of planet Mars since 1988 ... oh yes, and a total eclipse of the Sun, the first total…
Total Eclipse of the Active Sun
A total eclipse of the Sun is that special geocentric celestial event where the Moon passes exactly in front of the solar disk. During a fleeting few minutes of totality,…
Crescent Neptune and Triton
Gliding silently through the outer Solar System , the Voyager 2 spacecraft camera captured Neptune and Triton together in crescent phase in 1989. The above picture of the gas…
Viewing discoveries from 12 July 2001 through 19 June 2001.