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.
Hubble's Lagoon
Like brush strokes on a canvas, ridges of color seem to flow across this scene . But here, the canvas is nearly 3 light-years wide and the colors map emission from ionized gas in…
Zarmina's World
A mere 20 light-years away in the constellation Libra, red dwarf star Gliese 581 has received much scrutiny by astronomers in recent years. Earthbound telescopes had detected the…
Coreshine from a Dark Cloud
Stars and their planets are born in cold, dark, interstellar clouds of gas and dust . While exploring the clouds at infrared wavelengths , astronomers have made a surprising…
An Airplane in Front of the Moon
If you look closely at the Moon, you will see a large airplane in front of it. Well, not always. OK, hardly ever. But if you wait for days with your camera attached to a Moon…
Venus' South Polar Vortex
What's happening over the South Pole of Venus? To find out, scientists have been studying images taken by the robotic Venus Express spacecraft when it passes over the lower spin…
The Dancing Auroras of Saturn
What drives auroras on Saturn? To help find out, scientists have sorted through hundreds of infrared images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft for other purposes, trying to…
Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tidal Tail
Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista recorded with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys , distant galaxies form a dramatic…
Melotte 15 in the Heart
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…
Equinox and the Harvest Moon
Did you enjoy the moonlight last night? The Full Moon closest to autumnal equinox and the beginning of Fall is traditionally known as the Harvest Moon , rising opposite the Sun…
Equinox and the Iron Sun
Today, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south at 03:09 Universal Time . Known as an equinox, this astronomical event marks the first day of autumn in the northern…
Discovery Rollout Shadow
Who goes there ? Although the spotlighted figure in white might not be identifiable by itself, surely the huge shadow behind it makes its identity clear: the space shuttle .…
Starry Night Over the Rhone
How can the majesty of the night sky best be captured in a painting? This was a continual challenge for Vincent van Gogh , a famous painter in the late 1800s who pioneered…
Aurora Over Norway
Auroras can make spectacular sights. Photographed above last weekend, flowing multi-colored auroras helped illuminate a busy sky above Troms , Norway . Besides the spectacular…
Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula
What dark forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? These ominous figures are actually molecular clouds , knots of molecular gas and dust so thick they have become opaque . In…
Opposite the Sun
Chances are the brightest star you've seen lately is actually planet Jupiter. Jupiter rules the sky in this labeled view of a starry September night from the Alborz mountains in…
Northern Lights over Prelude Lake
Curtains of shimmering green light sprawl across this gorgeous night skyscape. In the foreground lies the peaceful Prelude Lake, located about 30 kilometers east of Yellowknife,…
The Veil Nebula
Delicate in appearance, these filaments of shocked, glowing gas, draped in planet Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus, make up the Veil Nebula . The nebula is a large…
Clouds, Birds, Moon, Venus
Sometimes the sky above can become quite a show. Last week, for example, the Moon and Venus converged , creating quite a sight by itself for sky enthusiasts around the globe .…
An Extraordinary Spiral from LL Pegasi
What created the strange spiral structure on the left? No one is sure, although it is likely related to a star in a binary star system entering the planetary nebula phase, when…
Zodiacal Light Over Namibia
An unusual triangle of light is visible this time of year just before dawn, in the northern hemisphere. Once considered a false dawn , this triangle of light is actually zodiacal…
Oklo: Ancient African Nuclear Reactors
The remnants of nuclear reactors nearly two billion years old were found in the 1970s in Africa. These reactors are thought to have occurred naturally. No natural reactors exist…
Star Streams and the Sunflower Galaxy
A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation Canes Venatici . Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic…
Vela Supernova Remnant
The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape . At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails) the four frame mosaic is over…
Cepheus: Trunk to Bubble
Star clusters, glowing nebulae and dark dust clouds abound in Cepheus , royal constellation of the northern hemisphere. You can follow them in amazing detail across this broad…
Viewing discoveries from 2 October 2010 through 9 September 2010.