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.
Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturn's Ring Plane
If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn's “appendages” disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not understand why. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn 's…
Solar System Rising Over Fire Island
If you wait long enough, the entire Solar System will rise before you. To see such a sight, however, you will need to look in the direction of the ecliptic . All of the planets…
Methusaleh Outcrop on Mars
What is the history of the outcropping of rock called Methuselah? The unusual rock group is visible on the left of the above image taken by the robot Spirit rover current…
Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create…
The Moons of Earth
While orbiting the planet during their June 1998 mission, the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery photographed this view of two moons of Earth. Thick storm clouds are visible in…
Small Moon Epimetheus
Small saturnian moon Epimetheus ( ep-ee-MEE-thee-us ) is at most 116 kilometers across. Its cratered surface and irregular shape are highlighted by dramatic shadows in this…
M51: Cosmic Whirlpool
Follow the handle of the Big Dipper away from the dipper's bowl, until you get to the handle's last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you…
The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies
These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster , an archipelago of “island universes” a mere 650 million light-years distant. This cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star…
A Martian Dust Devil Passes
What goes there across the plains of Mars? A dust devil . For the first time, definitive movies of the famous spinning dust towers have been created from ground level . The robot…
The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains , the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as…
M16: Stars from Eagle's EGGs
Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula. This image , taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) emerging from pillars of…
Eclipsed Moon in Infrared
In September of 1996, the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite had a spectacular view of a total lunar eclipse from Earth orbit . SPIRIT III, an on board infrared telescope,…
Albert Einstein's Miraculous Year
In 1905 Albert Einstein had a miraculous year . One hundred years ago, he wrote four papers which revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. The papers outlined; the idea…
G21.5-0.9: A Supernova's Cosmic Shell
The picture is lovely, but this pretty cosmic shell was produced by almost unbelievable violence - created when a star with nearly 20 times the mass of the sun blasted away its…
Barnard's Loop Around Orion
Why is the belt of Orion surrounded by a bubble? Although glowing like an emission nebula , the origin of the bubble, known as Barnard's Loop , is currently unknown. Progenitor…
Orion in Infrared
Do you recognize the constellation Orion? This striking but unfamiliar looking picture of the familiar Orion region of the sky was produced using survey data from the now-defunct…
Saturnian Moon and Rings
When can a robot produce art ? When it glides past the rings of Saturn . As the robot spacecraft Cassini orbiting Saturn crossed outside the famous photogenic ring plane of the…
Asteroids in the Distance
Rocks from space hit Earth every day. The larger the rock, though, the less often Earth is struck. Many kilograms of space dust pitter to Earth daily. Larger bits appear initially…
Celebrating Hubble With NGC 6751
Planetary nebulae can look simple, round, and planet-like in small telescopes. But images from the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope have become well known for showing these…
RCW 79: Stars in a Bubble
A cosmic bubble of gas and dust, RCW 79 has grown to about 70 light-years in diameter, blown by the winds and radiation from hot young stars. Infrared light from the dust embedded…
April's Moon and the Pleiades
After parting with the Sun late last week, April's moon graced the early evening sky. Its slender , three-day-old crescent shares this lovely telescopic skyview with the nearby…
A Window to the Once Secret Sky
If there were a window nearby to the distant universe -- would you look through it? Quite possibly, there is, in the form of a small telescope . A local skykeeper could be a…
Earth or Mars?
Which image is Earth, and which is Mars? One of the above image s was taken by the robot Spirit rover currently climbing Husband Hill on Mars . The other image was taken by a…
Clouds, Plane, Sun, Eclipse
How can part of the Sun just disappear? When that part is really hiding behind the Moon . Last Friday, the first partial solar eclipse of 2005 and the last total eclipse of the…
Viewing discoveries from 4 May 2005 through 11 April 2005.