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.
Perseid over Vancouver
Colorful and bright, the city lights of Vancouver, Canada are reflected in the water in this portrait of the world at night . Recorded on August 12 during the Perseid Meteor…
Facing NGC 6946
From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy , we see NGC 6946 face-on . The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 10 million light-years away, behind a veil of…
Perseid Trail
This bright and colorful meteor flashed through Tuesday's early morning skies, part of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. The lovely image is one of over 350 frames captured on…
NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
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. This beautiful telescopic view…
A Mars Panorama from the Phoenix Lander
If you could stand on Mars, what would you see? The robotic Phoenix spacecraft that just landed on Mars in May recorded the above spectacular panorama . The above image is…
Black Hole Candidate Cygnus X-1
Is that a black hole? Quite possibly. The Cygnus X-1 binary star system contains one of the best candidates for a black hole . The system was discovered because it is one of the…
The Eagle Rises
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this remarkable stereo view from lunar orbit. Created from two photographs ( AS11-44-6633 , AS11-44-6634 ) taken by astronaut Michael…
Aurora Persei
Dark skies are favored for viewing meteor showers -- so the best viewing of this year's Perseids will occur in the early morning. While the Perseid meteor shower is scheduled to…
The Crown of the Sun
During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is an inspirational sight. The subtle shades and shimmering features of the corona that engage the…
At the Sun's Edge
A train trip on the Trans-Siberian railway to Novosibirsk resulted in this stunning view along the edge of the Sun recorded during the August 1st total solar eclipse . The picture…
NGC 1818: A Young Globular Cluster
Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way . Back in the old days , back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy . Today, there are…
A Total Solar Eclipse Over China
What's that black dot over the Sun? The Moon. This past weekend, the Sun went dark during the day as the Moon completely covered it. The total solar eclipse was visible over a…
X-Rays from the Cat's Eye Nebula
Haunting patterns within planetary nebula NGC 6543 readily suggest its popular moniker -- the Cat's Eye nebula. Starting in 1995, stunning false-color optical images from the…
Open Cluster NGC 290: A Stellar Jewel Box
Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. Like gems in a jewel box, though, the stars of open cluster NGC 290 glitter in a beautiful display of brightness and color. The…
Eclipse Shirt
Of course , everyone is concerned about what to wear to a solar eclipse . No need to worry though, nature often conspires to project images of the eclipse so that stylish and…
Moon Games
The Moon's measured diameter is around 3,476 kilometers (2,160 miles). But apparent angular size , or the angle covered by an object, can also be important to Moon enthusiasts .…
Galaxies on a String
Galaxies NGC 5216 (top right) and NGC 5218 really do look like they are connected by a string. Of course, that string is a cosmic trail of gas, dust, and stars about 22,000…
The International Space Station Transits the Sun
That's no sunspot. It's the International Space Station (ISS) caught by chance passing in front of the Sun. Sunspot s, individually, have a dark central umbra , a lighter…
The Milky Way Over Ontario
Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. Such was the case earlier this month over Ontario , Canada , when part of a spectacular sky also became…
SDSSJ1430: A Galaxy Einstein Ring
What's large and blue and can wrap itself around an entire galaxy? A gravitational lens mirage. Pictured above on the left, the gravity of a normal white galaxy has…
IC 4406: A Seemingly Square Nebula
How can a round star make a square nebula? This conundrum comes to light when studying planetary nebulae like IC 4406. Evidence indicates that IC 4406 is likely a hollow cylinder,…
Central IC 1805
Cosmic clouds seem to form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. Of course, the clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot…
Spitzer's M101
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this…
When Storms Collide
These detailed Hubble Space Telescope close-ups feature Jupiter's ancient swirling storm system known as the Great Red Spot . They also follow the progress of two newer storm…
Viewing discoveries from 16 August 2008 through 24 July 2008.