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.
The Upper Michigan Blizzard of 1938
Yes, but can your blizzard do this? In Upper Michigan 's Storm of the Century in 1938, some snow drifts reached the level of utility poles . Nearly a meter of new and unexpected…
Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms
Also known as the Moon's “ashen glow” or the “Old Moon in the New Moon's arms”, earthshine is earthlight reflected from the Moon's night side. This stunning image of earthshine…
Clouds in the LMC
An alluring sight in southern skies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen in this deep and detailed telescopic mosaic . Recorded with broadband and narrowband filters, the…
Blue Comet in the Hyades
Stars of the Hyades cluster are scattered through this mosaic spanning over 5 degrees on the sky toward the constellation Taurus. Presently cruising through the Solar System, the…
In the Valley of Orion
This exciting and unfamiliar view of the Orion Nebula is a visualization based on astronomical data and movie rendering techniques. Up close and personal with a famous stellar…
An Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
With image data from telescopes large and small, this close-up features the dusty Elephant's Trunk Nebula. It winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster complex IC…
Rigel and the Witch Head Nebula
By starlight this eerie visage shines in the dark, a crooked profile evoking its popular name, the Witch Head Nebula . In fact, this entrancing telescopic portrait gives the…
Three Galaxies and a Comet
Diffuse starlight and dark nebulae along the southern Milky Way arc over the horizon and sprawl diagonally through this gorgeous nightscape. The breath-taking mosaic spans a wide…
Launch and Landing
A composite of three consecutive exposures, this night skyscape follows the January 7 launch and first stage landing of a Falcon 9 rocket from a beach on planet Earth's space…
Blue Comet PanSTARRS
Discovered with the PanSTARRS telescope on September 7, 2016, this Comet PanSTARRS, C/2016 R2 , is presently about 24 light minutes (3 AU) from the Sun, sweeping through planet…
RCW 114: A Dragon's Heart in Ara
Large and dramatically shaped , this cosmic cloud spans nearly 7 degrees or 14 full moons across planet Earth's sky toward the southern constellation Ara. Difficult to image, the…
NGC 2623: Merging Galaxies from Hubble
Where do stars form when galaxies collide? To help find out, astronomers imaged the nearby galaxy merger NGC 2623 in high resolution with the Hubble Space Telescope . Analysis of…
Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble
It is one of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky -- what should it be named? First discovered in 1878, nebula NGC 7027 can be seen toward the constellation of the Swan…
Clouds of Andromeda
What are those red clouds surrounding the Andromeda galaxy? This galaxy, M31, is often imaged by planet Earth-based astronomers. As the nearest large spiral galaxy, it is a…
A Tether in Space
One of the greatest unrequited legends of outer space is the tether. Tethers , long strands of material, hold the promise of stabilizing satellites , generating electricity , and…
Planets on the Wing
Lately , bright Jupiter and fainter Mars have been easy to spot for early morning skygazers. Before dawn on January 7 the two naked-eye planets will reach a close conjunction near…
Carina over Lake Ballard
A jewel of the southern sky , the Great Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372, is one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. Easily visible to the unaided eye it stands…
M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, an…
The Helix Nebula from CFHT
Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula , a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like…
Unexpected X-Rays from Perseus Galaxy Cluster
Why does the Perseus galaxy cluster shine so strangely in one specific color of X-rays? No one is sure, but a much-debated hypothesis holds that these X-rays are a clue to the…
Sun Halo over Sweden
What's happened to the Sun? Sometimes it looks like the Sun is being viewed through a giant lens). In the featured video, however, there are actually millions of tiny lenses: ice…
To Fly Free in Space
What would it be like to fly free in space? At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger , Bruce McCandless II was living the dream -- floating farther…
Apollo 17 VIP Site Anaglyph
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo scene from Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon! The color anaglyph features a detailed 3D view of Apollo 17's Lunar Rover in…
M78 Wide Field
Interstellar dust clouds and glowing nebulae abound in the fertile constellation of Orion . One of the brightest, M78 , is centered in this colorful, wide field view , covering an…
Viewing discoveries from 21 January 2018 through 29 December 2017.