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.
Lunar Dust and Duct Tape
Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, the history of constant micrometeorite bombardment has blasted away…
An Artful Sky over Lofoten Islands
Can the night sky be both art and science? If so, perhaps the featured image is an example. The digital panorama was composed of 10 landscape and 10 sky images all taken on the…
An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
Is there a monster in IC 1396 ? Known to some as the Elephant's Trunk Nebula , parts of gas and dust clouds of this star formation region may appear to take on foreboding forms,…
Io in True Color
The strangest moon in the Solar System is bright yellow. The featured picture , an attempt to show how Io would appear in the “true colors” perceptible to the average human eye,…
America and the Sea of Serenity
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo view of another world. Fifty years ago the scene was recorded by Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan on December 11,…
Mars Rises above the Lunar Limb
On the night of December 7 Mars wandered near the Full Moon. In fact the Red Planet was occulted, passing behind the Moon, when viewed from locations across Europe and North…
Orion and the Ocean of Storms
A camera on board the uncrewed Orion spacecraft captured this view on December 5 as Orion approached its return powered flyby of the Moon. Below one of Orion's extended solar…
NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula
A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, toward the constellation Aquarius , a sun-like star is dying. The dying star's last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula…
M16: A Star Forming Pillar from Webb
What's happening inside this interstellar mountain? Stars are forming. The mountain is actually a column of gas and dust in the picturesque Eagle Nebula (M16). A pillar like this…
Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the…
Video: Powers of Ten
How different does the universe look on very small scales? On very large scales? The most famous short science film of its generation gives breathtaking comparisons. That film,…
Stereo Mars near Opposition
Mars looks sharp in these two rooftop telescope views captured in late November from Singapore, planet Earth. At the time, Mars was about 82 million kilometers from Singapore and…
Merging Galaxy Pair IIZw096
Bright at infrared wavelengths, this merging galaxy pair is some 500 million light-years away toward the constellation Delphinus. The cosmic mashup is seen against a background of…
Artemis 1: Flight Day 13
On flight day 13 (November 28) of the Artemis 1 mission the Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth. In fact, over 430,000 kilometers from Earth its distant…
The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
This colorful skyscape spans about four full moons across nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in the royal northern constellation Cepheus . Near the…
The Gum Nebula Supernova Remnant
Because the Gum Nebula is the closest supernova remnant , it is actually hard to see. Spanning 40 degrees across the sky, the nebula appears so large and faint that it is easily…
Leonid Meteors Through Orion
Where will the next meteor appear? Even during a meteor shower, it is practically impossible to know. Therefore, a good way to enjoy a meteor shower is to find a place where you…
Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey
Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over the Jersey Shore, New Jersey , USA in 2018, the Sun came out in one direction but something…
Saturn at Night
Saturn is still bright in planet Earth's night skies. Telescopic views of the distant gas giant and its beautiful rings often make it a star at star parties . But this stunning…
NGC 6744: Extragalactic Close-Up
Beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744 is nearly 175,000 light-years across. That's larger than the Milky Way . It lies some 30 million light-years distant in the southern constellation…
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…
Earthset from Orion
Eight billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space. Taken on November 21, the sixth day of the Artemis 1 mission , their home world is setting behind the…
A Double Star Cluster in Perseus
Few star clusters are this close to each other. Visible to the unaided eye from dark sky areas, it was cataloged in 130 BC by Greek astronomer Hipparchus . Some 7,000 light-years…
The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble
Stars can make beautiful patterns as they age -- sometimes similar to flowers or insects. NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, is a notable example. Though its gaseous wingspan covers…
Viewing discoveries from 14 December 2022 through 21 November 2022.