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.
WISE Infrared Andromeda
This sharp, wide-field view features infrared light from the spiral Andromeda Galaxy (M31) . Dust heated by Andromeda's young stars is shown in yellow and red, while its older…
Vesta Near Opposition
Main belt asteroid 4 Vesta is at its brightest now. The small world is near opposition (opposite the Sun in the sky) and closest to Earth. But even at its brightest, Vesta is just…
An Unusually Smooth Surface on Saturn's Calypso
Why is this moon of Saturn so smooth? This past weekend, humanity's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft passed as close to Saturn's small moon Calypso as it ever has, and imaged…
Dark Shuttle Approaching
What's that approaching? Astronauts on board the International Space Station first saw it far in the distance. Soon it enlarged to become a dark silhouette . As it came even…
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…
Field of Rosette
What surrounds the florid Rosette nebula? To better picture this area of the sky, the famous flowery emission nebula on the far right has been captured recently in a deep and…
Waterway to Orbit
The 32nd shuttle mission to the International Space Station, STS-130 , left planet Earth on February 8. Its early morning launch to orbit from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A…
Teide Sky Trails
The snow capped Teide volcano is reflected in a pool of water in this nearly symmetric night sky view from the Canary Island Tenerife. Bright north star Polaris stands above the…
Star Cluster M34
This pretty , open cluster of stars, M34, is about the size of the Full Moon on the sky. Easy to appreciate in small telescopes, it lies some 1,800 light-years away in the…
Sakurajima Volcano with Lightning
Why does a volcanic eruption sometimes create lightning? Pictured above, the Sakurajima volcano in southern Japan was caught erupting early last month. Magma bubbles so hot they…
Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour
Sometimes, the space shuttle launches at night. Pictured above , the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday's early morning hours from Launch Pad 39A in Kennedy Space…
A Sun Halo Over Cambodia
Have you ever seen a halo around the Sun? This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal…
The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens
Most galaxies have a single nucleus -- does this galaxy have four? The strange answer leads astronomers to conclude that the nucleus of the surrounding galaxy is not even visible…
Hong Kong Sky
This remarkable scene combines multiple exposures recorded on the evening of January 18th from a waterside perspective in Hong Kong, China . It follows a young crescent Moon ,…
Dust Storm on Mars
It's spring for the northern hemisphere of Mars and spring on Mars usually means dust storms . So the dramatic brown swath of dust (top) marking the otherwise white north polar…
Stardust in Perseus
This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers close to 3 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus . Right of center in the gorgeous skyscape is the dusty blue…
P/2010 A2: Unusual Asteroid Tail Implies Powerful Collision
What is this strange object? First discovered on ground based LINEAR images on January 6, the object appeared unusual enough to investigate further with the Hubble Space Telescope…
Mars and a Colorful Lunar Fog Bow
Even from the top of a volcanic crater, this vista was unusual. For one reason, Mars was dazzlingly bright two weeks ago, when this picture was taken, as it was nearing its…
Shepherd Moon Prometheus from Cassini
Another moon of Saturn has been imaged in detail by the Cassini spacecraft. Orbiting Saturn since 2004, the robotic Cassini got its closest look yet at Saturn's small moon…
The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript
The ancient text has no known title, no known author, and is written in no known language: what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations? The mysterious book…
Messier 88
Charles Messier described the 88th entry in his 18th century catalog of Nebulae and Star Clusters as a spiral nebula without stars. Of course the gorgeous M88 is now understood to…
Mars Opposition 2010
Mars is at opposition tonight , opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Of course, it will be easy to spot because Mars appears close to tonight's Full Moon, also opposite the Sun…
Kemble's Cascade
An asterism is just a recognized pattern of stars that is not one the 88 official constellations. For example, one of the most famous (and largest) asterisms is the Big Dipper…
Tethys Behind Titan
What's that behind Titan? It's another of Saturn's moons: Tethys . The robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn captured the heavily cratered Tethys slipping behind Saturn's…
Viewing discoveries from 19 February 2010 through 27 January 2010.