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.
GK Per: Nova of 1901
Early in the 20th century, GK Persei briefly became one of the brightest stars in planet Earth's sky, an event known as Nova Persei 1901. Documented in this modern day composite…
Edge-on NGC 3628
Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. The tantalizing scene puts many astronomers in mind of…
IC 59 and IC 63 in Cassiopeia
These bright rims and flowing shapes suggest to some melting ice cream on a cosmic scale. Looking toward the constellation Cassiopeia , the colorful (zoomable) skyscape features…
NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula
What powers are being wielded in the Wizard Nebula? Gravitation strong enough to form stars, and stellar wind s and radiations powerful enough to create and dissolve towers of gas…
Hammer Versus Feather on the Moon
If you drop a hammer and a feather together, which reaches the ground first? On the Earth, it's the hammer, but is the reason only because of air resistance? Scientists even…
Ghost of the Cepheus Flare
Spooky shapes seem to haunt this starry expanse , drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus . Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds faintly visible in…
White Rock Fingers on Mars
What caused this unusual light rock formation on Mars? Intrigued by the possibility that they could be salt deposits left over as an ancient lakebed dried-up , detailed studies of…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble
Is this what our own Milky Way Galaxy looks like from far away? Similar in size and grand design to our home Galaxy (although without the central bar), spiral galaxy NGC 3370 lies…
October Skylights
As northern hemisphere nights grow longer, October is a good month for spotting auroras, or even other eerie apparitions after dark. And this week the night sky did not…
Young Suns of NGC 7129
Young suns still lie within dusty NGC 7129 , some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal constellation Cepheus . While these stars are at a relatively tender age, only a few…
In, Through, and Beyond Saturn's Rings
A fourth moon is visible on the above image if you look hard enough. First -- and farthest in the background -- is Titan , the largest moon of Saturn and one of the larger moons…
IC 1805: The Heart Nebula in HDR
What powers the Heart Nebula? The large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart . The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent…
HH-222: The Waterfall Nebula
What created the Waterfall Nebula? No one knows. The structure seen in the region of NGC 1999 in the Great Orion Molecular Cloud complex is one of the more mysterious structures…
Jupiter's Clouds from New Horizons
The New Horizons spacecraft took some stunning images of Jupiter on its way out to Pluto. Famous for its Great Red Spot , Jupiter is also known for its regular, equatorial cloud…
Jupiter Near Opposition
On October 29 (UT) , Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet , will be at opposition, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky, shining brightly and rising as the Sun sets. That…
Clouds of Perseus
Cosmic clouds of gas and dust drift across this magnificent panorama, spanning some 17 degrees near the southern boundary of the heroic constellation Perseus . The collaborative…
Tails of Comet Garradd
A good target for binoculars and small telescopes, Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) now shines in planet Earth's evening skies, a steady performer but just below naked-eye visibility.…
Draconid Meteors Over Spain
What are those streaks in the sky? They're meteors from the Draconids meteor shower that peaked earlier this month. The above composite image captured numerous meteor streaks over…
Movie: Approaching Light Speed
What would it look like to travel near the speed of light? Strange visual effects would appear as documented in the above relativistically-accurate animation. First of all,…
MACS 1206: A Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens
It is difficult to hide a galaxy behind a cluster of galaxies. The closer cluster's gravity will act like a huge lens , pulling images of the distant galaxy around the sides and…
A Picturesque Venus Transit
The rare transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in 2004 was one of the better-photographed events in sky history. Both scientific and artistic images flooded in from the…
NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours…
MAGIC Star Trails
Colorful star trails arc across the night in this surreal timelapse skyscape from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. A reflection of the…
The Color of IC 1795
This sharp cosmic portrait features glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds in IC 1795, a star forming region in the northern constellation Cassiopeia . Also cataloged as NGC 896,…
Viewing discoveries from 5 November 2011 through 13 October 2011.