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.
Hurricane Ivan from the Space Station
Ninety percent of the houses on Grenada were damaged by the destructive force of Hurricane Ivan . At its peak, Ivan was a Category 5 hurricane , the highest power category on the…
Mercury Chases the Sunset
This colorful view of the western sky at sunset features last Wednesday's slender crescent Moon. Of course, when the Moon is in its crescent phase it can never be far from the Sun…
Polaris Dust Nebula
Centered on North Star Polaris , this 4 degree wide field of view covers part of a complex of relatively unfamiliar , diffuse dust clouds soaring high above the plane of our Milky…
Active Galaxy Centaurus A
A mere 11 million light-years away, Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy - the closest active galaxy to Earth. This remarkable composite view of the galaxy combines image data…
Hidden Galaxy IC 342 from Kitt Peak
Beautiful nearby spiral galaxy IC 342 could be more famous if it wasn't so hidden. A sprawling island universe , IC 342 would be a prominent galaxy in our night sky , but it is…
A Jupiter-Io Montage from New Horizons
As the New Horizons spacecraft sweeps through the Solar System, it is taking breathtaking images of the planets. In February of last year, New Horizons passed Jupiter and the…
Quadrantid Meteors and Aurora from the Air
Where do meteor showers originate? To help answer this question, astronomers studied in some detail the Quadrantid meteor shower that occurred over this past weekend. In…
Jupiter's Rings Revealed
Why does Jupiter have rings? Jupiter's rings were discovered in 1979 by the passing Voyager 1 spacecraft , but their origin was a mystery. Data from the Galileo spacecraft that…
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 Milky Way at 5000 Meters
Climb up to 5000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level, near Cerro Chajnantor in the northern Chilean Andes , and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista. Recorded from…
Geminids in 2007
Dust from curious near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon seems to fall from the constellation Gemini in this fisheye skyview. The composite image was recorded over four December nights…
A Galaxy is not a Comet
This gorgeous galaxy and comet portrait was recorded on December 30th, in the skies over Hoogeveen, The Netherlands. The combined series of 60 x 60 second exposures finds the…
Rays from an Unexpected Aurora
This aurora was a bit of a surprise. For starters, on this day in 2002, no intense auroral activity was expected at all. Possibly more surprising, however, the aurora appeared to…
A Year of Spectacular Comets
Two spectacular comets graced Earth's skies during 2007. Both comets became bright enough to be seen by the unaided eye of the casual sky enthusiast . Early in 2007, Comet…
Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico
Normal cloud bottoms are flat because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a very specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very…
Saturn's Infrared Glow
Known for its bright ring system and many moons , gas giant Saturn looks strange and unfamiliar in this false-color view from the Cassini spacecraft. In fact, in this Visual and…
A Beautiful Boomerang Nebula
This symmetric cloud dubbed the Boomerang Nebula was created by a high-speed wind of gas and dust blowing from an aging central star at speeds of nearly 600,000 kilometers per…
Earth at Twilight
No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth . Instead, the shadow line or terminator is…
Trifid Pillars and Jets
Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains . They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are being slowly eroded away by a hostile environment.…
Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley
Welcome to The World At Night. Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley , USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes. Buttes are…
Emission Nebula IC 1396
Sprawling across hundreds of light-years, emission nebula IC 1396 mixes glowing cosmic gas and dark dust clouds . Stars are forming in this area, only about 3,000 light-years from…
Moon and Mars Tonight
The Full Moon and a brilliant, ruddy Mars will share the sky tonight. Skygazers can easily enjoy the celestial pairing as the two are separated by a degree or even less. In fact,…
Tyrrhenian Sea and Solstice Sky
Today the Solstice occurs at 0608 Universal Time , the Sun reaching its southernmost declination in planet Earth's sky . Of course, the December Solstice marks the beginning of…
Horizon to Horizon
Scroll right and journey from horizon to horizon as your gaze sweeps through the zenith in the night sky over Beg-Meil, France. Recorded on December 13th, the entertaining…
Viewing discoveries from 13 January 2008 through 21 December 2007.