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 Dark Sand Dune on Mars
What is that dark sand dune doing on Mars? NASA 's robotic rover Curiosity has been studying it to find out, making this the first-ever up-close investigation of an active sand…
Proxima Centauri: The Closest Star
Does the closest star to our Sun have planets? No one is sure -- but you can now follow frequent updates of a new search that is taking place during the first few months of this…
The Galactic Center in Infrared
The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light , much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust . In infrared light , however, dust glows more and obscures…
The View Toward M106
A big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106 is at the center of this galaxy filled cosmic vista. The two degree wide telescopic field of view looks toward the well-trained…
Wright Mons in Color
Informally named Wright Mons, a broad mountain about 150 kilometers across and 4 kilometers high with a wide, deep summit depression is featured in this inset image captured…
Infrared Portrait of the Large Magellanic Cloud
Cosmic dust clouds ripple across this infrared portrait of our Milky Way's satellite galaxy , the Large Magellanic Cloud. In fact, the remarkable composite image from the Herschel…
Reflections on the 1970s
The 1970s are sometimes ignored by astronomers, like this beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae in Orion - NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 - usually overlooked in favor of the…
The California Nebula
What's California doing in space? Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on the west coast of…
A Colorful Solar Corona over the Himalayas
What are those colorful rings around the Sun? A corona visible only to Earth observers in the right place at the right time. Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Sun or…
Sun Storm: A Coronal Mass Ejection
What's happening to our Sun? Another Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)! The Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft has imaged many erupting filaments lifting off the active solar surface and…
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70 million light-years away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus . This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the…
Prometheus and the F Ring
In Greek myth Prometheus was a Titan, known for bringing fire from Mount Olympus. But in modern times the name is given to a small moon of Saturn , orbiting just inside Saturn's F…
High Energy Andromeda
A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, really is just next door as large galaxies go. In this (inset) scan, image data from NASA's Nuclear…
Comets and Bright Star
This timely , telescopic, two panel mosaic spans about 10 full moons across planet Earth's predawn skies. Recorded as the year began from Tenerife, Canary Islands, near the top of…
The Lagoon Nebula in Hydrogen, Sulfur, and Oxygen
The majestic Lagoon Nebula is filled with hot gas and the home for many young stars. Spanning 100 light years across while lying only about 5000 light years distant, the Lagoon…
Earthset from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
On the Moon, the Earth never rises -- or sets. If you were to sit on the surface of the Moon, you would see the Earth just hang in the sky. This is because the Moon always keeps…
A Starry Night of Iceland
On some nights, the sky is the best show in town. On this night, the sky was not only the best show in town, but a composite image of the sky won an international competition for…
Sky Lights in the New Year
Triggered by the impact of a coronal mass ejection on New Year's eve, a moderate geomagnetic storm brought a celebration of sky lights to planet Earth's high latitudes yesterday.…
Comet Catalina Tails
A new year's treat for binoculars, as 2016 begins Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) now sweeps through planet Earth's predawn skies near bright Arcturus, alpha star of Bootes. But this…
Solstice Sun at Lulworth Cove
A southern exposure and striking symmetry made Lulworth Cove , along the Jurassic Coast of England, planet Earth a beautiful setting during December's Solstice. Five frames in…
The Fox Fur Nebula
This interstellar canine is formed of cosmic dust and gas interacting with the energetic light and wind s from hot young stars. The shape, visual texture, and color, combine to…
Dust of the Orion Nebula
What surrounds a hotbed of star formation? In the case of the Orion Nebula -- dust. The entire Orion field , located about 1600 light years away, is inundated with intricate and…
Falcon 9 First Stage Landing
The booster has landed. Spaceflight took a step toward the less expensive last week when the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket set down on a landing pad not far from its Florida…
Doomed Star Eta Carinae
Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when - it may be next year, it may be one million years from now. Eta Carinae 's mass - about 100 times greater than our Sun…
Viewing discoveries from 19 January 2016 through 27 December 2015.