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.
Reflections on Planet Earth
Catching sight of your reflection in a store window or shiny hubcap can be entertaining and occasionally even inspire a thoughtful moment. So consider this reflective view from…
Noctilucent Clouds Over Sweden
Sometimes it's night on the ground but day in the air. As the Earth rotates to eclipse the Sun, sunset rises up from the ground. Therefore, at sunset on the ground, sunlight still…
Venus Express Arrives at Venus
Humanity now has a spacecraft orbiting Venus. The robotic Venus Express spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency in 2005 November arrived at Venus in 2006 April. Venus…
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…
Reflecting Merope
In the well known Pleiades star cluster, starlight is slowly destroying this wandering cloud of gas and dust . The star Merope lies just off the upper left edge of this picture…
The Colorful Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi
This stunning mosiac of the sky around bright stars Antares (Alpha Scorpii ) and Rho Ophiuchi reveals spectacular colors in a cosmic starscape. Near the top, Rho Ophiuchi and…
A Space Shuttle Climbs to Orbit
You are going into space. New small cameras allow anyone with a web browser to virtually ride along with the space shuttle , at times from numerous angles, as it launches into…
A Manhattan Sunset
Today, if it is clear, Manhattan will flood dramatically with sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely on the centerline of every street. Usually, the tall buildings that line the…
Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn
Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly…
Dark Sun Sizzling
Is this our Sun? Yes. Even on a normal day, our Sun is sizzling ball of seething hot gas . Unpredictably, regions of strong and tangled magnetic fields arise, causing sunspots and…
NGC 2392 Nebula from Hubble
In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered NGC 2392 . From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope…
Discovery in Motion
On July 4th, the space shuttle orbiter Discovery rocketed into space on mission STS-121 . Now docked with the International Space Station, Discovery orbits planet Earth at about…
Bright Galaxy M81
Big and beautiful spiral galaxy M81 lies in the northern constellation Ursa Major . One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky, M81 is also home to the second brightest…
NGC 6888: A Tricolor Starfield
NGC 6888 , also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. Near the center of this…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2403 from Subaru
Sprawling spiral arms dotted with bright red emission nebulas highlight this new and detailed image of nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2403. Also visible in the photogenic spiral galaxy…
Elliptical Galaxy Centaurus A from CFHT
Why is peculiar galaxy Centaurus A so dusty? Dramatic dust lanes that run across the galaxy's center mark Cen A . These dust lanes are so thick they almost completely obscure the…
The View toward Husband Hill on Mars
This Martian vista is only part of one of the greatest panoramic views of Mars that has ever been attempted. The expansive mosaic is helping to keep the robotic Spirit rover busy…
Tornado and Rainbow Over Kansas
The scene might have been considered serene if it weren't for the tornado . Last June in Kansas , storm chaser Eric Nguyen photographed this budding twister in a different light…
Wind from a Black Hole
Binary star system GRO J1655-40 consists of a relatively normal star about twice as massive as the Sun co-orbiting with a black hole of about seven solar masses . This striking…
The Antennae
Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus , two large galaxies have collided . But stars in the two galaxies - NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 - don't collide…
Old Moon and Sister Stars
An old crescent Moon shares the eastern sky over Menton, France with the sister stars of the Pleiades cluster in this early morning skyscape recorded just last Friday, June 23rd.…
The Cat's Paw Nebula
Nebulae are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula…
The Moving Moons of Saturn
The moons of Saturn never stop. A space traveler orbiting the ringed giant planet would witness a continuing silent dance where Saturn's multiple moons pass near each other in…
Starry Night
The painting Starry Night is one of the most famous icons of the night sky ever created. The scene was painted by Vincent van Gogh in southern France in 1889. The swirling style…
Viewing discoveries from 19 July 2006 through 26 June 2006.