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.
Galaxy Cluster Magnifies Distant Supernova
How do you calibrate a huge gravitational lens? In this case the lens is the galaxy cluster Abell 383 , a massive conglomeration of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter that lies…
A Scorpius Sky Spectacular
If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well-known but rarely pointed out…
T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula
The yellowish star near center in this dusty telescopic skyview is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Just next door is the yellow cosmic cloud…
That Night over Half Dome
Captured one night last May this eight frame mosaic starts on the left, down Northside Drive through Yosemite National Park. It ends thousands of light-years away though, as the…
Brisbane Sunset Moonset
In skies over Brisbane at the southeastern corner of Queensland, Australia, Planet Earth , the Sun and New Moon set together on April 29 . There the celestial line-up, the first…
A Partially Eclipsed Setting Sun
If you look closely, you will see something quite unusual about this setting Sun. There are birds flying to the Sun's left, but that's not so unusual . A dark sea covers the Sun's…
Aurora Dog over Alaska
Sometimes it is hard to believe what you see in the sky. While leading his annual aurora tour last month near Fairbanks in central Alaska , astrophotographer John Chumack and his…
Time Lapse of a Total Lunar Eclipse
Why would a bright full Moon suddenly become dark? Because it entered the shadow of the Earth. Almost two weeks ago this exact event happened as the Moon underwent a total lunar…
SuitSat-1: A Spacesuit Floats Free
A spacesuit floated away from the International Space Station eight years ago, but no investigation was conducted. Everyone knew that it was pushed by the space station crew.…
Southern Annular Eclipse
It's eclipse season , and on April 29 around 06:00 UT the shadow of the new Moon will reach out and touch planet Earth, though only just . Still, if you're standing on the…
Hubble's 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…
Lyrids in Southern Skies
Earth's annual Lyrid meteor shower peaked before dawn on April 22nd, as our fair planet plowed through dust from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher . Even in the dry and dark…
Arp 81: 100 Million Years Later
From planet Earth , we see this strongly distorted pair of galaxies , cataloged as Arp 81, as they were only about 100 million years after their close encounter. The havoc wreaked…
The El Gordo Massive Galaxy Cluster
It is bigger than a bread box. In fact, it is much bigger than all bread box es put together. Galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102-4915 is one of the largest and most massive objects…
Massive Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841
It is one of the more massive galaxies known. A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major . This sharp…
Ash and Lightning above an Icelandic Volcano
Why did a 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…
Earth-size Kepler-186f
Planet Kepler-186f is the first known Earth- size planet to lie within the habitable zone of a star beyond the Sun. Discovered using data from the prolific planet-hunting Kepler…
Red Moon, Green Beam
This is not a scene from a sci-fi special effects movie. The green beam of light and red lunar disk are real enough, captured in the early morning hours of April 15. Of course,…
Waterton Lake Eclipse
Recorded on April 15th, this total lunar eclipse sequence looks south down icy Waterton Lake from the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, planet Earth. The most…
Spica, Mars, and Eclipsed Moon
A beautiful, reddened Moon slid through dark skies on April 15, completely immersed in Earth's shadow for well over an hour. It was the year's first total lunar eclipse and was…
Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat . This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific…
An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Is there a monster in IC 1396 ? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula , parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms,…
Saturn in Blue and Gold
Why is Saturn partly blue? The above picture of Saturn approximates what a human would see if hovering close to the giant ringed world. The above picture was taken in 2006 March…
Clouds and Crosses over Haleakala
Aloha and welcome to a breathtaking skyscape. The dreamlike panoramic view from March 27 looks out over the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala on Maui, Hawai'i. A cloud layer seeps…
Viewing discoveries from 5 May 2014 through 12 April 2014.