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 Face on Mars
Wouldn't it be fun if clouds were castles ? Wouldn't it be fun if the laundry on the bedroom chair was a superhero ? Wouldn't it be fun if rock mesas on Mars were interplanetary…
Along the Milky Way
You can't walk along the Milky Way . Still, under a dark sky you can explore it . To the eye the pale luminous trail of light arcing through the sky on a dark, moonless night does…
AR2835: Islands in the Photosphere
Awash in a sea of incandescent plasma and anchored in strong magnetic fields , sunspots are planet-sized dark islands in the solar photosphere , the bright surface of the Sun.…
Perseverance Selfie with Ingenuity
On sol 46 (April 6, 2021) the Perseverance rover held out a robotic arm to take its first selfie on Mars . The WATSON camera at the end of the arm was designed to take close-ups…
Simulation: Formation of the First Stars
How did the first stars form? To help find out, the SPHINX computer simulation of star formation in the very early universe was created, some results of which are shown in the…
Orion Nebula: The Hubble View
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula . Also known as M42 , the nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar…
A Paper Moon Solar Eclipse
It may look like a paper Moon . Sailing past a canvas Sun . But those are not cardboard clouds. And it's not make believe. The featured picture of an orange colored sky is real --…
The Dancing Auroras of Saturn
What drives auroras on Saturn? To help find out, scientists have sorted through hundreds of infrared images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft for other purposes, trying to…
Pixels in the Sun
These two panels, composed of video frames made with a safe solar telescope and hydrogen alpha filter, show remarkably sharp details on the solar disk and giant prominences along…
Andromeda in a Single Shot
How far can you see? The Andromeda Galaxy , 2.5 million light years away, is the most distant object easily seen by the unaided eye. Other denizens of the night sky, like stars,…
Messier 99
Grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99 looks majestic on a truly cosmic scale. This recently processed full galaxy portrait stretches over 70,000 light-years across M99. The sharp…
STARFORGE: A Star Formation Simulation
How do stars form? Most form in giant molecular clouds located in the central disk of a galaxy. The process is started, influenced, and limited by the stellar winds, jets, high…
HD 163296: Jet from a Star in Formation
How are jets created during star formation? No one is sure , although recent images of the young star system HD 163296 are quite illuminating. The central star in the featured…
The Tadpole Galaxy from Hubble
Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista , based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive , distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted…
Sunrise Solstice over Stonehenge
Today the Sun reaches its northernmost point in planet Earth's sky. Called a solstice , many cultures mark this date as a change of seasons -- from spring to summer in Earth 's…
Northern Summer Twilight
Nights grow shorter and days grow longer as the summer solstice approaches in the north. Usually seen at high latitudes in summer months, noctilucent or night shining clouds begin…
Devil Horns from a Ring of Fire
Atmospheric refraction flattened the solar disk and distorted its appearance in this telescopic view of an Atlantic sunrise on June 10 . From Belmar, New Jersey on the US east…
NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25 light-years across blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. A triumvirate of astroimagers ( Joe , Glenn ,…
Scorpius Enhanced
If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well-known but rarely pointed out…
Zhurong: New Rover on Mars
There's a new rover on Mars. In mid-May, China 's Tianwen-1 mission delivered the Zhurong rover onto the red planet . As Mars means Planet of Fire in Chinese, the Zhurong rover's…
Ganymede from Juno
What does the largest moon in the Solar System look like? Jupiter 's moon Ganymede , larger than even Mercury and Pluto , has an icy surface speckled with bright young craters…
A Supercell Thunderstorm Over Texas
Is that a cloud or an alien spaceship? It's an unusual and sometimes dangerous type of thunderstorm cloud called a supercell. Supercells may spawn damaging tornados, hail,…
Eclipse on the Water
Eclipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an eclipse season that lasts about 34 days , Sun, Moon, and Earth can nearly align. Then the full and new phases of the Moon…
Eclipse Flyby
On June 10 a New Moon passed in front of the Sun. In silhouette only two days after reaching apogee , the most distant point in its elliptical orbit, the Moon's small apparent…
Viewing discoveries from 4 July 2021 through 11 June 2021.