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.
NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide
Astronomers turn detectives when trying to figure out the cause of startling sights like NGC 1316 . Their investigation indicates that NGC 1316 is an enormous elliptical galaxy…
Distorted Green Flash Sunset over Italy
This was one strange sunset. For one thing, the typically round Sun appeared distorted, geometrically, and multiply layered . For another, some of these layers appeared unusually…
The Shark Nebula
There is no sea on Earth large enough to contain the Shark nebula. This predator apparition poses us no danger, though, as it is composed only of interstellar gas and dust . Dark…
Earthrise
What's that rising over the edge of the Moon? Earth. About 47 years ago, in December of 1968, the Apollo 8 crew flew from the Earth to the Moon and back again. Frank Borman ,…
Atlas V Rising
Early morning risers along Florida's Space Coast, planet Earth, were treated to a launch spectacle on September 2nd . Before dawn an Atlas V rocket rose into still dark skies…
Milky Way with Airglow Australis
After sunset on September 1 , an exceptionally intense, reddish airglow flooded this Chilean winter night skyscape. Above a sea of clouds and flanking the celestial Milky Way, the…
Arp 159 and NGC 4725
Pointy stars and peculiar galaxies span this cosmic snapshot , a telescopic view toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices . Bright enough to show off diffraction…
The Flare and the Galaxy
Is this person throwing a lightning bolt? No. Despite appearances, this person is actually pointing in the direction of a bright Iridium flare , a momentary reflection of sunlight…
Distant Neutrinos Detected Below Antarctic Ice
From where do these neutrinos come? The IceCube Neutrino Observatory near the South Pole of the Earth has begun to detect nearly invisible particles of very high energy. Although…
Pluto in Enhanced Color
Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and images of our Solar System's most famous dwarf planet , taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in…
M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
What is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy ? Andromeda. In fact, our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda . Together these two galaxies dominate the…
The Seagull Nebula
A broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth , suggesting its popular moniker - The Seagull Nebula. This portrait of the…
Puppis A Supernova Remnant
Driven by the explosion of a massive star, supernova remnant Puppis A is blasting into the surrounding interstellar medium about 7,000 light-years away. At that distance, this…
The Large Cloud of Magellan
The 16th century Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result,…
Collinder 399: The Coat Hanger
Is this coat hanger a star cluster or an asterism? This cosmic hang-up has been debated over much of last century, as astronomers wondered whether this binocular-visible object is…
Meteors and Milky Way over Mount Rainier
Despite appearances, the sky is not falling. Two weeks ago, however, tiny bits of comet dust were. Featured here is the Perseids meteor shower as captured over Mt. Rainier ,…
Dione, Rings, Shadows, Saturn
What's happening in this strange juxtaposition of moon and planet? First and foremost, Saturn's moon Dione was captured here in a dramatic panorama by the robotic Cassini…
Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Images
What are those strange blue objects? Many of the brightest blue images are of a single, unusual, beaded, blue, ring-like galaxy which just happens to line-up behind a giant…
Little Planet Curiosity
A curious robot almost completely straddles this rocky little planet. Of course, the planet is really Mars and the robot is the car-sized Curiosity Rover, posing over its recent…
Sprites from Space
An old Moon and the stars of Orion rose above the eastern horizon on August 10. The Moon's waning crescent was still bright enough to be overexposed in this snapshot taken from…
M27: Not a Comet
While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets.…
Central Cygnus Skyscape
In cosmic brush strokes of glowing hydrogen gas , this beautiful skyscape unfolds across the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy and the center of the northern constellation Cygnus the…
Announcing Comet Catalina
Will Comet Catalina become visible to the unaided eye? Given the unpredictability of comets, no one can say for sure, but it seems like a good bet. The comet was discovered in…
Andromeda Rising over the Alps
Have you ever seen the Andromeda galaxy? Although M31 appears as a faint and fuzzy blob to the unaided eye, the light you see will be over two million years old, making it likely…
Viewing discoveries from 9 September 2015 through 17 August 2015.