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.
Reflection Nebula vdB1
Every book has a first page and every catalog a first entry. And so this lovely blue cosmic cloud begins the van den Bergh Catalog (vdB) of stars surrounded by reflection nebulae.…
The Medusa Nebula
Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500…
NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of neighboring spiral galaxy Andromeda (M31), 2.5 million light-years distant. Seen near the…
Mammatus Clouds Over Saskatchewan
Normal cloud bottoms are flat . This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a…
The Horsehead Nebula
One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion , is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud . Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first…
Zodiacal Light and Milky Way
Ghostly apparitions of two fundamental planes in planet Earth's sky span this October all-sky view. The scene was captured from a lakeside campsite under dark skies in northern…
Merging NGC 2623
NGC 2623 is really two galaxies that are becoming one. Seen to be in the final stages of a titanic galaxy merger , the pair lies some 300 million light-years distant toward the…
A View from Next Door
Located just next door , Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to the Sun. A view from our interstellar neighbor a mere 4.3 light-years away is shown in this illustration. The…
Aurora Over White Dome Geyser
Sometimes both heaven and Earth erupt. Colorful aurorae erupted unexpectedly earlier this month, with green aurora appearing near the horizon and brilliant bands of red aurora…
A Spiral Nebula Surrounding Star R Sculptoris
What's happening around that star? An unusual spiral structure has been discovered around the Milky Way star R Sculptoris , a red giant star located about 1,500 light years away…
Black Sun and Inverted Starfield
Does this strange dark ball look somehow familiar? If so, that might be because it is our Sun. In the above image, a detailed solar view was captured originally in a very specific…
The Hubble Extreme Deep Field
What did the first galaxies look like? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope has just finished taking the eXtreme Deep Field (XDF), the deepest image of the…
Galaxies, Stars, and Dust
Spiky stars and spooky shapes abound in this deep cosmic skyscape . Its well-composed field of view covers about 2 Full Moons on the sky toward the constellation Pegasus . Of…
Pan-STARRS and Nebulae
A single field from the world's most powerful survey instrument captures this spectacular skyview. Looking toward Sagittarius, the scene spans nearly 3 degrees or six times the…
Aurorae over Planet Earth
North America at night is easy to recognize in this view of our fair planet from orbit, acquired by the Suomi-NPP satellite on October 8. The spectacular waves of visible light…
Nauset Light Star Trails
In myth, Atlas holds up the heavens, but in this scene they seem to pivot around a lighthouse beacon. Photographed with a camera fixed to a tripod, the well-planned image, a…
Simeis 147: Supernova Remnant
It's easy to get lost following the intricate filaments in this detailed mosaic image of faint supernova remnant Simeis 147 (S147). Also cataloged as Sh2-240, it covers nearly 3…
Spherical Planetary Nebula Abell 39
Ghostly in appearance, Abell 39 is a remarkably simple, spherical nebula about five light-years across. Well within our own Milky Way galaxy, the cosmic sphere is roughly 7,000…
The Same Color Illusion
Are square A and B the same color? They are! To verify this, either run your cursor over the image or click here to see them connected. The above illusion , called the same color…
At the Heart of Orion
Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait , at the heart of the Orion Nebula , are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium . Gathered within a region about 1.5…
Aurora and Fireball Over Norway
What's happening behind that mountain? A convergence of variable sky spectacles. One night in mid-September near Troms , Norway , high red aurora could be seen shimmering through…
NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula
A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius , a sun-like star is dying. Its last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a…
Goat Aurora Over Greenland
Sometimes it's hard to believe what you see in the sky. During the Shelios Expedition to Greenland in late August, even veteran sky enthusiasts saw auroras so colorful, so fast…
An Ancient Stream Bank on Mars
Fresh evidence of an ancient stream has been found on Mars. The robotic rover Curiosity has run across unusual surface features that carry a strong resemblance to stream banks on…
Viewing discoveries from 26 October 2012 through 2 October 2012.