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.
An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Is there a monster in IC 1396 ? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula , parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms,…
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…
Astronomy Quilt of the Week
Demonstrating her mastery of a traditional astronomical imaging technique quilter and astronomy enthusiast Judy Ross has produced this spectacular composition of “Astronomy Quilt…
NGC 6888: X-Rays in the Wind
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula , is a cosmic bubble of interstellar gas about 25 light-years across. Created by winds from the bright, massive star seen near the…
Space Rock SQ222 Noticed After Pass
Why didn't we see it? An undetected asteroid zipped past the Earth undetected last month in the closest near miss yet recorded -- within a quarter of the distance to the Moon.…
Iridescent Clouds Over Aiguille de la Tsa
Before the sun rose over the mountains, iridescent colors danced across the sky. The unexpected light show was caused by a batch of iridescent clouds , and captured on film in…
Pelican Nebula Ionization Front
What's happening to the Pelican Nebula ? The light from young energetic stars is slowly transforming the Pelican 's cold gas to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the…
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured above is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of galaxies .…
Moonrise Over Seattle
Is the Moon larger when near the horizon? No -- as shown above, the Moon appears to be very nearly the same size no matter its location on the sky. Oddly, the cause or causes for…
Peculiar Arp 295
A spectacular bridge of stars and gas stretches for nearly 250,000 light-years and joins this famous peculiar pair of galaxies cataloged as Arp 295 . The cosmic bridge between the…
Radio Jupiter
This view of gas giant Jupiter , made from data recorded at the Very Large Array radio observatory near Socorro, New Mexico, may not look too familiar. In fact, there is no sign…
The Sombrero Galaxy from HST
Why does the Sombrero Galaxy look like a hat? Reasons include the Sombrero 's unusually large and extended central bulge of stars, and dark prominent dust lanes that appear in a…
The Colorful Horsehead Nebula
While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the…
A Near Record Ozone Hole in 2003
As expected, the ozone hole near Earth's South Pole is back again this year. This year's hole, being slightly larger than North America , is larger than last year but short of the…
Apollo 12 Visits Surveyor 3
Apollo 12 was the second mission to land humans on the Moon . The landing site was picked to be near the location of Surveyor 3, a robot spacecraft that had landed on the Moon…
X-Ray Moon
This x-ray image of the Moon was made by the orbiting ROSAT ( Röntgensatellit ) Observatory in 1990. In this digital picture, pixel brightness corresponds to x-ray intensity.…
Cold Comet Halley
While this may not be the most esthetic image of Comet Halley that you have ever seen, it is likely the most unique. The tiny cluster of pixels circled is the famous comet along…
Reflections on the 1970s
The 1970s are often overlooked. In particular, the beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 in Orion are often overlooked in favor of the…
An Unusual Event Over South Wales
Jon Burnett, a teenager from South Wales , UK , was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. By diverting his camera, he was…
The Sagittarius Dwarf Tidal Stream
Is our Milky Way Galaxy out to lunch? Recent wide field images and analyses now indicate that our home galaxy is actually still in the process of devouring its closest satellite…
Aurora Over the Chugach Mountains
Auroras can make spectacular sights. Photographed above , flowing green auroras help the Moon illuminate the serene Portage Lake and the snowy Chugach Mountains near Anchorage,…
Our Galaxy in Stars, Gas, and Dust
The disk of our Milky Way Galaxy is home to hot nebulae, cold dust, and billions of stars. The red nebulae visible in the above contrast-enhanced picture are primarily emission…
Surveyor Slides
“Safe!” In September 1967 ( during regular season play ), the Surveyor 5 lander actually slid several feet while making a successful soft landing on the Moon's Mare…
IC1340 in the Eastern Veil
These ghostly filaments of interstellar gas are just a small part of the expansive Veil Nebula , seen against a rich field of background stars in the long-necked constellation…
Viewing discoveries from 19 October 2003 through 26 September 2003.