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 Full Moon of 2021
Every Full Moon of 2021 shines in this year-spanning astrophoto project, a composite portrait of the familiar lunar nearside at each brightest lunar phase . Arranged by moonth ,…
JWST on the Road to L2
This timelapse gif tracks the James Webb Space Telescope as it streaks across the stars of Orion on its journey to a destination beyond the Moon. Recorded on December 28, 12…
The Further Tail of Comet Leonard
Comet Leonard , brightest comet of 2021, is at the lower left of these two panels captured on December 29 in dark Atacama desert skies. Heading for its perihelion on January 3…
Giant Storms and High Clouds on Jupiter
What and where are these large ovals? They are rotating storm clouds on Jupiter imaged last month by NASA's Juno spacecraft . In general, higher clouds are lighter in color, and…
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…
Comet Leonard behind JWST Launch Plume
Which one of these two streaks is a comet? Although they both have comet-like features, the lower streak is the only real comet. This lower streak shows the coma and tail of Comet…
James Webb Space Telescope over Earth
There's a big new telescope in space. This one, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), not only has a mirror over five times larger than Hubble 's in area, but can see better in…
The Tail of a Christmas Comet
The tail of a comet streams across this three degree wide telescopic field of view captured under dark Namibian skies on December 21. In outburst only a few days ago and just…
M1: The Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on Charles Messier's famous 18th century list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova…
Three Planets and a Comet
Are you still looking for that perfect holiday gift for an astronomer? If your night sky is dark and horizon clear enough, the Solar System may have done your shopping for you.…
Launch of the IXPE Observatory
Birds don't fly this high. Airplanes don't go this fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on , nor could any human…
Solstice Sun and Milky Way
Welcome to December's solstice, first day of winter in the north and summer for the southern hemisphere. Astronomical markers of the seasons, solstice and equinox dates are based…
The Comet and the Fireball
This picture was supposed to feature a comet. Specifically, a series of images of the brightest comet of 2021 were being captured: Comet Leonard . But the universe had other…
Planetary Alignment over Italy
It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That's because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic . When viewed from inside…
Stephan's Quintet
The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan's Quintet is featured in this eye-catching image constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive . About…
Geminid of the North
An arid expanse of the Tengger Desert in north-central China, planet Earth fills the foreground of this starry scene. A widefield panoramic view, it was recorded shortly after…
Geminids of the South
Fireflies flash along a moonlit countryside in this scene taken on the night of December 13/14 from southern Uruguay, planet Earth. On that night meteors fell in the partly cloudy…
Comet Leonard from Space
What does Comet Leonard look like from space? Today's featured image from Origin.Space 's Yangwang-1 space telescope shows not only the currently bright comet -- but several other…
HH 666: Carina Dust Pillar with Jet
To some, it may look like a beehive . In reality, the featured image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a cosmic pillar of dust, over two- light years long, inside of which…
Meteors and Auroras over Iceland
What's going on behind that mountain? Quite a bit. First of all, the mountain itself, named Kirkjufell , is quite old and located in western Iceland near the town of…
Comet Leonard Before Star Cluster M3
Comet Leonard is now visible to the unaided eye -- but just barely. Passing nearest to the Earth today, the comet is best seen this week soon after sunset, toward the west, low on…
Postcard from the South Pole
From this vantage point about three quarters of a mile from planet Earth's geographic South Pole, the December 4 eclipse of the Sun was seen as a partial eclipse. At maximum the…
Eclipse on a Polar Day
During polar day , in Arctic and Antarctic summer, the Sun stays above the horizon for periods of 24 hours or more. Recorded on December 4, this fisheye timelapse image tracks the…
A Total Eclipse of the Sun
Few were able to stand in the Moon's shadow and watch the December 4 total eclipse of the Sun. Determined by celestial mechanics and not geographical boundaries, the narrow path…
Viewing discoveries from 1 January 2022 through 9 December 2021.