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.
A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy? Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a Galactic war . Rather, astronomers at the…
Surprising Comet ISON
After failing to appear for Sun staring spacecraft at perihelion, its harrowing closest approach to the Sun, sungrazing Comet ISON was presumed lost. But ISON surprised observers…
Comet ISON Before and After
Sungrazing Comet ISON reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, November 28, at 18:45 UT. The comet passed just over 1 million kilometers above the solar…
NGC 1999: South of Orion
South of the large star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula, lies bright blue reflection nebula NGC 1999 . At the edge of the Orion molecular cloud complex some 1,500…
Comet ISON Rising
Will Comet ISON survive tomorrow's close encounter with the Sun? Approaching to within a solar diameter of the Sun's surface, the fate of one of the most unusual comets of modern…
Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas
One might say this was a bell weather day for the Sierra Nevada mountains . In January, just as the Sun was setting above the district of Albayzn in Grenada , Spain , a huge cloud…
Anemic Spiral NGC 4921 from Hubble
How far away is spiral galaxy NGC 4921? Although presently estimated to be about 310 million light years distant, a more precise determination could be coupled with its known…
Comet Hale-Bopp Over Indian Cove
Comet Hale-Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997, was quite a sight. In the above photograph taken on 1997 April 6, Comet Hale-Bopp was imaged from the Indian Cove Campground in the…
Comet ISON from STEREO
Still intact , on November 21 Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) swept into this animated field of view (left) from the HI-1 camera on the STEREO-A spacecraft. The camera has also captured…
From California to the Pleiades
An astronomical trip from the California Nebula to the Pleiades star cluster would cover just over 12 degrees across planet Earth's night sky. That's equivalent to the angular…
The Trail of a Minotaur
Star trails arc above a moonlit beach and jetty in this serene sea and night skyscape. Captured on November 19, the single time exposure looks south down the Atlantic coast from…
Heavy Black Hole Jets in 4U1630-47
What are black hole jets made of? Many black holes in stellar systems are surely surrounded by disks of gas and plasma gravitationally pulled from a close binary star companion.…
Globular Cluster M15 from Hubble
Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright globular cluster M15. This ball of over 100,000 stars is a relic from the early years of our Galaxy , and continues to orbit…
Aurora and Unusual Clouds Over Iceland
What's happening in the sky? On this cold winter night in Iceland, quite a lot. First, in the foreground, lies the largest glacier in Iceland : Vatnajokull . On the far left,…
The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught
Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, grew a spectacularly long and filamentary tail. The magnificent tail spread across the sky and was visible for several days to Southern…
Active Comet ISON
Falling through planet Earth's predawn skies toward its close encounter with the Sun on November 28, Comet ISON is coming to life . The much anticipated comet has now been…
The Flash Spectrum of the Sun
In a flash, the visible spectrum of the Sun changed from absorption to emission on November 3rd, during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse. That fleeting moment is captured…
The Jets of NGC 1097
Enigmatic spiral galaxy NGC 1097 shines in southern skies, about 45 million light-years away in the chemical constellation Fornax . Its blue spiral arms are mottled with pinkish…
In the Shadow of Saturn
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet's shadow earlier this year and looked back toward…
The Unexpected Tails of Asteroid P5
What is happening to asteroid P/2013 P5? No one is sure. For reasons unknown, the asteroid is now sporting not one but six discernible tails. The above images were taken two…
An Active Sun During a Total Eclipse
Sometimes, a total eclipse of the Sun is an opportunity. Taking advantage of such, the above image shows the solar eclipse earlier this month as covered and uncovered by several…
Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning
Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. In January 2007, people from Perth , Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far.…
Comet Lovejoy with M44
While anxiously waiting for Comet ISON to brighten further as it falls toward the Sun, northern skygazers can also find three other bright comets in the east before dawn. In fact…
Solar Eclipse from Uganda
The Sun's disk was totally eclipsed for a brief 20 seconds as the Moon's dark umbral shadow raced across Pokwero in northwestern Uganda on November 3rd. So this sharp telescopic…
Viewing discoveries from 1 December 2013 through 8 November 2013.