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.
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741
The rim of the large blue galaxy at the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. AM…
Fleming's Triangular Wisp
Chaotic in appearance, these tangled filaments of shocked, glowing gas are spread across planet Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus as part of the Veil Nebula . The…
CG4: A Ruptured Cometary Globule
Can a gas cloud grab a galaxy? It's not even close. The “claw” of this odd looking “creature” in the featured photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule . This globule,…
Crescent Neptune and Triton
Gliding silently through the outer Solar System , the Voyager 2 spacecraft camera captured Neptune and Triton together in crescent phase. The elegant picture of the ice-giant…
The Edge of Space
Where does space begin? For purposes of spaceflight some would say at the Karman line , currently defined as an altitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles). Others might place a line 80…
Elephant, Bat, and Squid
Sprawling emission nebulae IC 1396 and Sh2-129 mix glowing interstellar gas and dark dust clouds in this 10 degree wide field of view toward the northern constellation Cepheus the…
NGC 7814: Little Sombrero with Supernova
Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies . NGC 7814 is centered in the pretty field…
Colors: Ring Nebula versus Stars
What if you could see, separately, all the colors of the Ring? And of the surrounding stars? There's technology for that. The featured image shows the Ring Nebula (M57) and nearby…
Thor's Helmet
Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically…
Framed by Trees: A Window to the Galaxy
The photographer had this shot in mind for some time. He knew that objects overhead are the brightest -- since their light is scattered the least by atmospheric air . He also that…
The Andromeda Galaxy in Ultraviolet
What does the Andromeda galaxy look like in ultraviolet light? Young blue stars circling the galactic center dominate. A mere 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda Galaxy ,…
Alphonsus and Arzachel
Point your telescope at tonight's first quarter Moon. Along the terminator , the shadow line between night and day, you might find these two large craters staring back at you with…
Love and War by Moonlight
Venus , named for the Roman goddess of love, and Mars , the war god's namesake, come together by moonlight in this serene skyview, recorded on July 11 from Lualaba province,…
The Dark Tower in Scorpius
In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnalogical constellation Scorpius , this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark…
GW200115: Simulation of a Black Hole Merging with a Neutron Star
What happens when a black hole destroys a neutron star? Analyses indicate that just such an event created gravitational wave event GW200115, detected in 2020 January by LIGO and…
Preview unavailable
Open the archive entry to view the source media.
Saturn's Iapetus: Painted Moon in 3D
What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? Vast sections of this strange world are dark brown, while others are as bright white. The composition of the dark material is unknown,…
M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
What will become of our Sun? The first hint of our Sun 's future was discovered inadvertently in 1764 . At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not…
Find the Moon
Where's the Moon? Somewhere in this image, the Earth's Moon is hiding. The entire Moon is visible, in its completely full phase, in plain sight. Even the photographer's keen eye…
Mercury and the Da Vinci Glow
On July 8th early morning risers saw Mercury near an old Moon low on the eastern horizon. On that date bright planet, faint glow of lunar night side, and sunlit crescent were…
M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind
M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact , through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a…
Perihelion to Aphelion
Aphelion for 2021 occurred on July 5th. That's the point in Earth's elliptical orbit when it is farthest from the Sun. Of course, the distance from the Sun doesn't determine the…
Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light
What would it look like to fly into the Orion Nebula? The exciting dynamic visualization of the Orion Nebula is based on real astronomical data and adept movie rendering…
Saturn and Six Moons
How many moons does Saturn have? So far 82 have been confirmed , the smallest being only a fraction of a kilometer across. Six of its largest satellites can be seen here in a…
IC 4592: The Blue Horsehead Reflection Nebula
Do you see the horse's head? What you are seeing is not the famous Horsehead nebula toward Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a familiar form with deeper…
Viewing discoveries from 28 July 2021 through 5 July 2021.