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.
Mars, Pleiades, and Andromeda over Stone Lions
Three very different -- and very famous -- objects were all captured in a single frame last month. On the upper left is the bright blue Pleiades , perhaps the most famous cluster…
Descending Toward Asteroid Bennu
What would it be like to land on an asteroid? Although no human has yet done it, NASA's robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is scheduled to attempt to touch the surface of asteroid…
Milky Way over the Pinnacles in Australia
What strange world is this? E a r t h . In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles , unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia . Made of…
Virgo Cluster Galaxies
Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster are scattered across this deep telescopic field of view. The cosmic scene spans about three Full Moons, captured in dark skies near Jalisco, Mexico,…
The Very Large Array at Moonset
An inspirational sight, these giant dish antennas of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) rise above the New Mexico desert at moonset. Mounted on piers but transportable on…
Mare Frigoris
Lighter than typically dark, smooth, mare the Mare Frigoris lies in the far lunar north. Also known as the Sea of Cold, it stretches across the familiar lunar nearside in this…
Ou4: A Giant Squid in a Flying Bat
A very faint but very large squid-like nebula is visible in planet Earth's sky -- but inside a still larger bat. The Giant Squid Nebula cataloged as Ou4, and Sh2-129 also known as…
Mars Approach 2020
Look to the east just after sunset tonight and you'll see a most impressive Mars. Tonight, Mars will appear its biggest and brightest of the year, as Earth passes closer to the…
NGC 5643: Nearby Spiral Galaxy from Hubble
What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 5643? A swirling disk of stars and gas, NGC 5643 's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and brown dust , as shown in…
Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur
Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula 's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an…
Driving to the Sun
How long would it take to drive to the Sun? Brittany age 7, and D.J. age 12, ponder this question over dinner one evening. James also age 7, suggests taking a really fast racing…
Biking to the Moon
As you watched October's first Full Moon rise last night, the Full Moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox, you were probably asking yourself, “How long would it take to…
Solis Lacus: The Eye of Mars
As telescopes around planet Earth watch, Mars is growing brighter in night skies, approaching its 2020 opposition on October 13. Mars looks like it's watching too in this view of…
Sonified: Eagle Nebula Pillars
Yes, but have you ever experienced the Eagle Nebula with your ears ? The famous nebula, M16, is best known for the feast it gives your eyes, highlighting bright young stars…
GW Orionis: A Star System with Tilted Rings
Triple star system GW Orionis appears to demonstrate that planets can form and orbit in multiple planes. In contrast, all the planets and moons in our Solar System orbit in nearly…
Filaments of the Cygnus Loop
What lies at the edge of an expanding supernova? Subtle and delicate in appearance, these ribbons of shocked interstellar gas are part of a blast wave at the expanding edge of a…
Lightning over Colorado
Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? Join the crowd. Oddly, details about how lightning is produced remains a topic of research. What is known is that updrafts carry…
Moon Pairs and the Synodic Month
Observe the Moon each night and its visible sunlit portion will gradually change. In phases progressing from New Moon to Full Moon to New Moon again, a lunar cycle or synodic…
Moon over Andromeda
The Great Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda (also known as M31 ), a mere 2.5 million light-years distant , is the closest large spiral to our own Milky Way. Andromeda is visible to the…
Enceladus in Infrared
One of our Solar System's most tantalizing worlds, icy Saturnian moon Enceladus appears in these detailed hemisphere views from the Cassini spacecraft. In false color, the five…
ISS Transits Mars
Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you know when and where to look , watching the bright International Space Station (ISS) drift across your night sky is a…
Equinox in the Sky
Does the Sun set in the same direction every day? No, the direction of sunset depends on the time of the year. Although the Sun always sets approximately toward the west, on an…
Omega Sunrise
Capturing this sunrise required both luck and timing. First and foremost, precise timing was needed to capture a sailboat crossing right in front of a rising Sun . Additionally,…
Breaking Distant Light
In the distant universe, time appears to run slowly. Since time-dilated light appears shifted toward the red end of the spectrum ( redshifted ), astronomers are able to use…
Viewing discoveries from 13 October 2020 through 20 September 2020.