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.
When Mars met Neptune
On January 1, a Mars-assisted viewing opportunity allowed binocular-equipped skygazers to cross an ice giant off their life list. Remarkably, the line-of-sight to the bright Red…
Edge-On NGC 891
Large spiral galaxy NGC 891 spans about 100 thousand light-years and is seen almost exactly edge-on from our perspective. In fact, about 30 million light-years distant in the…
Mimas, Crater, and Mountain
Mimas is an icy, crater-pocked moon of Saturn a mere 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter. Its largest crater Herschel is nearly 140 kilometers wide. About a third the diameter…
Sentinels of a Northern Sky
Who guards the north? The featured picture was taken last March in Finnish Lapland where weather can include sub-freezing temperatures and driving snow. Surreal landscapes…
In the Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 5033
What's happening in the center of spiral NGC 5033? Many things -- some circular, some energetic, and some not well understood. NGC 5033 is known as a Seyfert galaxy because of the…
IC 4406: A Seemingly Square Nebula
How can a round star make a square nebula? This conundrum comes to light when studying planetary nebulae like IC 4406. Evidence indicates that IC 4406 is likely a hollow cylinder,…
Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula
Normally faint and elusive, the Jellyfish Nebula is caught in this alluring telescopic mosaic. The scene is anchored below by bright star Eta Geminorum, at the foot of the…
New York Harbor Moonset
Moonset on January 1 is captured in this sea and night sky snapshot from the port city of New York. Its warm moonlight shining through haze and thin clouds, this New Year's Moon…
Peculiar Galaxies of Arp 273
The spiky stars in the foreground of this sharp cosmic portrait are well within our own Milky Way Galaxy . The two eye-catching galaxies lie far beyond the Milky Way , at a…
Clouds of Andromeda
The beautiful Andromeda Galaxy is often imaged by planet Earth-based astronomers. Also known as M31, the nearest large spiral galaxy is a familiar sight with dark dust lanes,…
Pandora Close-up at Saturn
What do the craters of Saturn's small moon Pandora look like up close? To help find out, NASA sent the robotic Cassini spacecraft , now orbiting Saturn, past the unusual moon two…
Comet 45P Returns
An old comet has returned to the inner Solar System. Not only is Comet 45P/HondaMrkosPajdukov physically ancient, it was first discovered 13 orbits ago in 1948. Comet 45P spends…
A Full Sky Aurora Over Norway
Higher than the highest building , higher than the highest mountain , higher than the highest airplane , lies the realm of the aurora. Auroras rarely reach below 60 kilometers,…
Infrared Trifid
The Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20 , is easy to find with a small telescope, a well known stop in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius . But where visible light…
Lunar Farside
Tidally locked in synchronous rotation , the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth . From lunar orbit , the Moon's farside can become familiar,…
Shell Game in the LMC
An alluring sight in southern skies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen here through narrowband filters. The filters are designed to transmit only light emitted by ionized…
Curiosity Surveys Lower Mount Sharp on Mars
If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? If you were the Curiosity rover , then just last month you would have contemplated the featured image -- a breathtaking panorama…
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…
NGC 6357: Stellar Wonderland
For reasons unknown, NGC 6357 is forming some of the most massive stars ever discovered. This complex wonderland of star formation consists of numerous filaments of dust and gas…
The Magnificent Horsehead Nebula
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape . Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula , it is some…
Fox Fur, Unicorn, and Christmas Tree
Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas fill this colorful skyscape in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros , the Unicorn. A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264 , the…
Once Upon a Solstice Eve
Once upon a solstice eve a little prince gazed across a frozen little planet at the edge of a large galaxy. The little planet was planet Earth of course, seen in this horizon to…
An Airplane Glory
Looking out the window of an airplane, you might be lucky enough to see “the glory” in the direction directly opposite the Sun. Before airplanes , the phenomenon, known to some as…
Traces of the Sun
This year the December Solstice is today, December 21, at 10:44 UT, the first day of winter in the north and summer in the south. To celebrate, watch this amazing timelapse video…
Viewing discoveries from 13 January 2017 through 21 December 2016.