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.
M110: Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy
Our Milky Way Galaxy is not alone. It is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group . Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31), M32 , M33 , the…
Rosetta Spacecraft Passes Asteroid Steins
What's that diamond in the sky ? Cruising though space, sometimes you'll come across an unusual object. Such was the case on Friday for ESA 's Rosetta spacecraft on its way to…
Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica
Where is the best place on Earth to find meteorites ? Although meteors fall all over the world, they usually just sink to the bottom of an ocean , are buried by shifting terrain,…
A Flock of Stars
Only a few stars can be found within ten light-years of our lonely Sun, situated near an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy . But if the Sun were found within one of our…
Milky Way Road Trip
In search of planets and the summer Milky Way , astronomer Tunç Tezel took an evening road trip . Last Saturday, after driving the winding road up Uludag , a mountain near Bursa,…
Spokes in the Helix Nebula
At first glance, the Helix Nebula ( aka NGC 7293 ), looks simple and round. But this well-studied example of a planetary nebula , produced near the end of the life of a sun-like…
31 Million Miles from Planet Earth
On July 4th, 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft directed a probe to impact the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 . Still cruising through the solar system, earlier this year the robotic…
NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide
Astronomers turn detectives when trying to figure out the cause of startling sights like NGC 1316 . Their investigation indicates that NGC 1316 is an enormous elliptical galaxy…
CG4: A Ruptured Cometary Globule
Can a gas cloud grab a galaxy? It's not even close. The “claw” of this odd looking “creature” in the above photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule . This globule,…
Eclipse over the Great Wall
Contrary to the famous myth , you can't see the Great Wall of China from the Moon ... even during a total solar eclipse . But on August 1 you could see the Moon eclipsing the Sun…
The View from Everest
What would it be like to stand atop the tallest mountain on Earth? To see a full panoramic vista from there, scroll right. Visible are snow peaked mountains near and far,…
Generations of Stars in W5
Giant star forming region W5 is over 200 light-years across and about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia . W5's sculpted clouds of cold gas and dust seem to…
Fermi's First Light
Launched on June 11 to explore the universe at extreme energies, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope has been officially renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope , in…
IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146 , the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 4,000 light years away…
47 Tuc: A Great Globular Cluster of Stars
Stars come in bunches. Of the over 200 globular star clusters that orbit the center of our Milky Way Galaxy , 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster (behind Omega…
NGC 7008: The Fetus Nebula
Compact and round, NGC 7008 is recognized as a planetary nebula about 2,800 light-years distant in the nebula rich constellation of Cygnus. This impressive telescopic view shows…
Grand Spiral Galaxy NGC 1232
Galaxies are fascinating not only for what is visible, but for what is invisible. Grand spiral galaxy NGC 1232 , captured in detail by one of the new Very Large Telescopes , is a…
The Matter of the Bullet Cluster
The matter in galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, fondly known as the “bullet cluster”, is shown in this composite image . A mere 3.4 billion light-years away, the bullet cluster's…
Active Galaxy NGC 1275
Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby Perseus Cluster of Galaxies . A prodigious source of x-rays and radio emission, NGC 1275…
August Moons
This August was eclipse season . The month's first New Moon and Full Moon were both seen in darkened skies during a solar and lunar eclipse. Blocking the Sun, the left panel's New…
Earth's Shadow
The dark, inner shadow of planet Earth is called the umbra . Shaped like a cone extending into space, the umbra has a circular cross section that can be most easily seen during a…
NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history , a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light…
Baily's Beads near Solar Eclipse Totality
Just before the Sun blacks out, something strange occurs. As the Moon moves to completely cover the Sun in a total solar eclipse , beads of bright sunlight stream around the edge…
Io's Surface: Under Construction
Like the downtown area of your favorite city, the roads you drive to work on, and any self-respecting web site ... Io's surface is constantly under construction . This moon of…
Viewing discoveries from 9 September 2008 through 17 August 2008.