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 Double Cluster in Perseus
This pretty starfield spans about three full moons (1.5 degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus . It holds the famous pair of open star clusters , h and Chi…
NGC 6559: East of the Lagoon
Slide your telescope just east of the Lagoon Nebula to find this alluring field of view in the rich starfields of the constellation Sagittarius toward the central Milky Way. Of…
M43: Streams of Orion
Where do the dark streams of dust in the Orion Nebula originate? This part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex , M43 , is the often imaged but rarely mentioned neighbor of the…
Sunrise at the South Pole
Sunrise at the South Pole is different. Usually a welcome sight , it follows months of darkness -- and begins months of sunshine. At Earth's poles , it can take weeks for the Sun…
NGC 4676: When Mice Collide
These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the “ Mice ” because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other.…
The Holographic Principle and a Teapot
Sure, you can see the 2D rectangle of colors, but can you see deeper? Counting color patches in the featured image , you might estimate that the most information that this 2D…
A Light and Dusty Night
Posing as a brilliant evening star , Venus lies near the western horizon in this southern hemisphere, early spring, night skyscape. To create the composite view exposures tracking…
The Central Milky Way from Lagoon to Pipe
Dark markings and colorful clouds inhabit this stellar landscape. The deep and expansive view spans more than 30 full moons across crowded star fields toward the center of our…
The Hydrogen Clouds of M33
Gorgeous spiral galaxy M33 seems to have more than its fair share of glowing hydrogen gas. A prominent member of the local group of galaxies, M33 is also known as the Triangulum…
Gigantic Jet Lightning from Puerto Rico
Have you ever seen a gigantic jet? They are extremely rare but tremendously powerful. Gigantic jets are a type of lightning discharge documented only this century that occur…
Night of the Perseids
Have you ever experienced a meteor shower? To help capture the wonder, a video was taken during the peak of the recent Perseid meteor shower above the Indian Astronomical…
Unwrapped: Five Decade Old Lunar Selfie
Here is one of the most famous pictures from the Moon -- but digitally reversed. Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969 and soon thereafter many pictures were taken, including an…
The Red Square Nebula
How did a round star create this square nebula? No one is quite sure. The round star, known as MWC 922 and possibly part of a multiple star system , appears at the center of the…
The Bubble and the Star Cluster
To the eye, this cosmic composition nicely balances the Bubble Nebula at the right with open star cluster M52. The pair would be lopsided on other scales, though. Embedded in a…
Perseid Outburst at Westmeath Lookout
This year an outburst of Perseid meteors surprised skywatchers. The reliable meteor shower's peak was predicted for the night of August 12/13. But persistent visual observers in…
Harvest Moon Trail
Famed in festival, story, and song the best known full moon is the Harvest Moon . For northern hemisphere dwellers that's a traditional name of the full moon nearest the September…
Equinox on a Spinning Earth
When does the line between night and day become vertical? Today. Today is an equinox on planet Earth, a time of year when day and night are most nearly equal. At an equinox, the…
Sun Spot Hill
Is this giant orange ball about to roll down that tree-lined hill? No, because the giant orange ball is actually the Sun . Our Solar System's central star was captured rising…
Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula ( LDN ) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the dusty molecular cloud is part of a…
Rings and Seasons of Saturn
On Saturn, the rings tell you the season. On Earth, Wednesday marks an equinox , the time when the Earth's equator tilts directly toward the Sun. Since Saturn's grand rings orbit…
Rubin's Galaxy
In this Hubble Space Telescope image the bright, spiky stars lie in the foreground toward the heroic northern constellation Perseus and well within our own Milky Way galaxy. In…
Video: Flash on Jupiter
There has been a flash on Jupiter. A few days ago, several groups monitoring our Solar System's largest planet noticed a two-second long burst of light. Such flashes have been…
North America and the Pelican
Fans of our fair planet might recognize the outlines of these cosmic clouds . On the left, bright emission outlined by dark, obscuring dust lanes seems to trace a continental…
Cyclone Paths on Planet Earth
Where on Earth do cyclones go? Usually known as hurricanes when in the Atlantic Ocean and typhoons when in the Pacific, the featured map shows the path of all major storms from…
Viewing discoveries from 8 October 2021 through 15 September 2021.