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 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 Radio Sky: Tuned to 408MHz
Tune your radio telescope to 408MHz (408 million cycles per second) and check out the Radio Sky! In the 1970s large dish antennas at three radio observatories, Jodrell Bank ,…
V838 Mon: Light Echo Update
Expanding light echoes continue to illuminate the dusty environs of V838 Monocerotis , mysterious variable star near the edge of our Galaxy. This stunning image , produced from…
SMART-1: Pythagoras Crater
Stark shadows show off the central peaks and terraced walls of 120 kilometer wide Pythagoras Crater in this mosaic of images from ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft. Characteristic of…
A Twisted Meteor Train
Did this meteor leave a twisting path? Evidently. Meteor trains that twist noticeably are rare - and even more rarely photographed - but have been noted before . The underlying…
Saturn's Iapetus: Moon with a Strange Surface
What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? A strange ridge crosses the moon near the equator, visible near the bottom of the above image, making Iapetus appear similar to the pit…
NGC 2467: From Gas to Stars
One might guess that the group of stars on the left is responsible for shaping the gas cloud on the right -- but it probably is not. Observations of many of the stars in the NGC…
The Holographic Principle
Is this image worth a thousand words? According to the Holographic Principle , the most information you can get from this image is about 3 x 1065 bits for a normal sized computer…
Southern Cross in Mauna Loa Skies
Gazing across this gorgeous skyscape, the Southern Cross and stars of the constellation Centaurus are seen above the outline of Mauna Loa (Long Mountain), planet Earth's largest…
The Swarm
What do you call a group of black holes ... a flock, a brace, a swarm? Monitoring a region around the center of our Galaxy , astronomers have indeed found evidence for a…
Shadow Set
A nearly full Moon and planet Earth's shadow set together in this scene captured Monday from snowy Mt. Jelm, home of the Wyoming Infrared Observatory . For early morning risers…
First Launch of the Delta IV Heavy
The new Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle is the largest rocket ever to be launched by the US Air Force . The Delta IV Heavy is capable of launching over 23,000 kilograms into low…
NGC 6946: The Fireworks Galaxy
Why is this galaxy so active? Nearby spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is undergoing a tremendous burst of star formation with no obvious cause. In many cases spirals light up when…
Riverbeds and Lakebeds Discovered on Saturn's Titan
Methane rain, evaporating lakes, flowing rivers, and water ice-volcanoes all likely exist on Saturn's moon Titan, according to preliminary analyses of recent images taken by the…
NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Like a butterfly , a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the…
The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript
The ancient text has no known title, no known author, and is written in no known language: what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations? The mysterious book…
Metal on the Plains of Mars
What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars? While traversing a vast empty plain in Meridiani Planum , one of Earth's yearling rolling robots found a surprise when visiting the…
A Waterspout off the Florida Keys
What's happening over the water? Pictured above is one of the better images yet recorded of a waterspout , a type of tornado that occurs over water. Waterspouts are spinning…
Eight Kilometers Above Titan
What are these surface features on Titan? Scroll right to see the panoramic view captured last week by the Huygens probe as it descended toward Saturn 's mysterious moon .…
NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud
A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) is a wonder of the southern sky, a mere 210,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana . Found…
Titan Landscape
This color view from Titan gazes across a suddenly familiar but distant landscape on Saturn's largest moon . The scene was recorded by ESA's Huygens probe after a 2 1/2 hour…
Nebula Nova Cygni Turns On
Old photographs show no evidence of the above nebula. In 1992, a white dwarf star toward the constellation of Cygnus blew off its outer layers in a classical nova explosion: an…
Huygens Images Titan's Surface
After a seven year interplanetary voyage on board the the Cassini spacecraft, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe parachuted to a historic landing on Saturn's moon Titan on…
Descent to Titan
Today's descent to the surface of Titan by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe was the most distant landing ever by a spacecraft from Earth. At 10:13 UT (5:13am EST, 11:13…
Viewing discoveries from 6 February 2005 through 14 January 2005.