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.
M72: A Globular Cluster of Stars
Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way . Back in the old days , back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy . Today, there are…
Curiosity on Mars: Still Life with Rover
What does the Curiosity rover look like on Mars? To help find out, NASA engineers digitally synthesized multiple navigation camera images taken last week into what appears to be…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 5033
Magnificent island universe NGC 5033 lies some 40 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici . This telescopic portrait reveals striking…
NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a cosmic bubble about 25 light-years across, blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This colorful portrait of the…
Curiosity on Mars: A Wall of Gale Crater
If you could stand on Mars, what would you see? The above image is a digitally re-colored approximation of what you might see if the above Martian landscape had occurred on Earth.…
Perseid Meteors and the Milky Way
Where will the next Perseid meteor appear? Sky enthusiasts who trekked outside for the Perseid meteor shower that peaked over the past few days typically had this question on…
A Flight Through the Universe
What would it be like to fly through the universe? Possibly the best simulated video of this yet has been composed from recently-released galaxy data from the Sloan Digital Sky…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 4038 in Collision
This galaxy is having a bad millennium. In fact, the past 100 million years haven't been so good, and probably the next billion or so will be quite tumultuous. Visible on the…
The First Color Panorama from Mars by Curiosity
You've just landed on Mars and opened your eyes -- what do you see? If you're the Curiosity rover , you see a strange gravelly place with a large mountain in the distance. You've…
Perseid Below
Denizens of planet Earth watched last year's Perseid meteor shower by looking up into the bright moonlit night sky . But this remarkable view captured on August 13, 2011 by…
Mars in the Loop
This composite of images spaced some 5 to 7 days apart from late October 2011 (top right) through early July 2012 (bottom left), traces the retrograde motion of ruddy-colored Mars…
Curiosity Drops In
Just as it captured the Phoenix lander parachuting to Mars in 2008, the HiRise camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) snapped this picture of the Curiosity rover's…
A Wheel on Mars
A wheel attached to NASA's Curiosity rover is firmly on the martian surface in this early picture from the Mars Science Laboratory mission , captured after a successful landing on…
Nocturnal: Scenes from the Southern Night
Have you ever seen the night sky change? It does -- sometimes in beautiful and unexpected ways. To see it, though, usually requires patience. The above award winning video shows…
IC 1396: Emission Nebula in Cepheus
Stunning emission nebula IC 1396 mixes glowing cosmic gas and dark dust clouds in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus . Energized by the bright, bluish central star seen…
The Bubble Nebula
Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a surprisingly familiar shape . Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula .…
Messier 5
“Beautiful Nebula discovered between the Balance [Libra] & the Serpent [Serpens] ...” begins the description of the 5th entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous…
South Pole Star Trails
No star dips below the horizon and the Sun never climbs above it in this remarkable image of 24 hour long star trails . Showing all the trails as complete circles, such an image…
The Milky Way Over Monument Valley
You don't have to be at Monument Valley to see the Milky Way arch across the sky like this -- but it helps. Only at Monument Valley USA would you see a picturesque foreground that…
Curiosity Before Mars: Seven Minutes of Terror
Next week at this time, there may be an amazing new robotic explorer on Mars. Or there may be a new pile of junk. It all likely depends on many things going correctly in the…
Ash and Lightning Above an Icelandic Volcano
Why did the picturesque 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland create so much ash? Although the large ash plume was not unparalleled in its abundance, its location was particularly…
Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out
In the center of star-forming region 30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest, most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136 , were…
Trails in the Morning Sky
Brilliant Venus and bright Jupiter still rise together before dawn . The peaceful waters by a small lakeside house near Stuttgart, Germany reflect their graceful arcing trails in…
High Energy Stereoscopic System II
The largest of its kind, the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) II telescope stands in the foreground of this photo. Tilted horizontally it reflects the inverted landscape…
Viewing discoveries from 19 August 2012 through 27 July 2012.