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.
The Big Dipper
The best known asterism in northern skies, The Big Dipper is easy to recognize , though some might see The Plough. Either way, the star names and the familiar outlines will appear…
Stereo Helene
Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Helene, small, icy moon of Saturn. Appropriately named, Helene is one of four known Trojan moons, so called because it orbits at a…
MESSENGER's Degas View
Now imaging inner planet Mercury from orbit, the MESSENGER spacecraft wide angle camera has returned this impressive color view of Degas Crater , with a full resolution of 90…
Eclipsed Moonlight
A celestial prelude to today's solstice , the June 15 total lunar eclipse was one of the longest in recent years. It was also one of the darkest, but not completely dark. Even…
Last Roll Out of a NASA Space Shuttle
In the final move of its kind, NASA's space shuttle Atlantis was photographed earlier this month slowly advancing toward Launch Pad 39A , where it is currently scheduled for a…
The Regolith of Asteroid Eros
From fifty kilometers above asteroid Eros , the surface inside one of its largest craters appears covered with an unusual substance: regolith . The thickness and composition of…
Lightning Eclipse from the Planet of the Goats
Thunderstorms almost spoiled this view of the spectacular June 15 total lunar eclipse. Instead, storm clouds parted for 10 minutes during the total eclipse phase and lightning…
Eclipsed Moon in the Milky Way
On June 15, the totally eclipsed Moon was very dark, with the Moon itself positioned on the sky toward the center of our Milky Way Galaxy . This simple panorama captures totality…
Mercury's Surface in Exaggerated Color
The robotic MESSENGER spacecraft recently completed over 100 orbits of Mercury . MESSENGER's cameras have recorded detailed pictures utilizing eight different colors across…
Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri
Featured in this sharp telescopic image , globular star cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is some 15,000 light-years away. Some 150 light-years in diameter, the cluster is packed…
The Universe Nearby
What does the universe nearby look like? This plot shows nearly 50,000 galaxies in the nearby universe detected by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) in infrared light . The…
M64: The Sleeping Beauty Galaxy
The Sleeping Beauty galaxy may appear peaceful at first sight but it is actually tossing and turning. In an unexpected twist, recent observations have shown that the gas in the…
Supernovae in the Whirlpool
Where do spiral galaxies keep their supernovae? Near their massive star forming regions, of course , and those regions tend to lie along sweeping blue spiral arms. Because massive…
The Sun Unleashed
On June 7, the Sun unleashed only a medium sized solar flare as rotation carried active regions of sunpots toward the solar limb. But that flare was followed by an astounding gush…
The Great Carina Nebula
A jewel of the southern sky , the Great Carina Nebula , also known as NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. Like the smaller,…
Space Shuttle and Space Station Photographed Together
How was this picture taken? Usually, pictures of the shuttle, taken from space, are snapped from the space station. Commonly, pictures of the space station are snapped from the…
A Last Landing for Space Shuttle Endeavour
Space shuttle Endeavour is home to stay. In a rare night landing last week, Endeavour glided onto a runway in Cape Canaveral , Florida , USA completing a 16-day mission that…
Geometer's Playground Over Wyoming
If you travel several kilometers off a main highway through Wyoming, you may see an unusual sight. In particular, near Buford , Wyoming , USA, you could run across the geometric…
Another Nearby Supernova in the Whirlpool Galaxy
One of the brightest supernovas in recent years has just been recorded in the nearby Whirlpool galaxy (M51). Surprisingly, a seemingly similar supernova was recorded in M51 during…
Dawn's Grand Finale
After more than a month, the lovely lineup of four naked-eye planets in dawn skies is coming to a close. Still, on May 31st a slender Moon joined the grouping along the eastern…
Midnight's Solar Eclipse
On June 1, the shadow of the New Moon was cast across a land of the midnight Sun in this year's second partial solar eclipse . This picture of the geocentric celestial event above…
Endeavour's Starry Night
This luminous night view of the space shuttle orbiter Endeavour , docked with the International Space Station for a final time, was captured on May 28. Orbiting 350 kilometers…
Jets from Unusual Galaxy Centaurus A
Jets of streaming plasma expelled by the central black hole of a massive spiral galaxy light up this composite image of Centaurus A . The jets emanating from Cen A are over a…
Last Panorama of the Spirit Rover on Mars
This is the last thing that the Spirit rover on Mars ever saw. Operating years beyond original expectations, Spirit eventually got mired in martian dirt and then ran out of power…
Viewing discoveries from 24 June 2011 through 30 May 2011.