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.
Comet ZTF and Mars
No, Comet ZTF is not going to hit Mars. Nicknamed the Green Comet for its bright green coma, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) did, however, pass almost in front of the much-more distant planet a…
Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat . This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific…
Magellanic Clouds over Chile
The two prominent clouds in this Chilean Atacama Desert skyscape captured on January 21 actually lie beyond our Milky Way galaxy. Known as the Large and the Small Magellanic…
ZTF meets ATLAS
Fading as it races across planet Earth's northern skies comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) shares this telescopic frame with comet C/2022 U2 (ATLAS) . Captured on the night of February 6 from…
Nacreous Clouds over Lapland
Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash across this skyscape from Kilpisjärvi, Finland. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But…
Stellar Wind-Shaped Nebula RCW 58
Imagine traveling to a star about 100 times as massive as our Sun, a million times more luminous, and with 30 times the surface temperature. Such stars exist, and some are known…
A Comet and Two Dippers
Can you still see the comet? Yes. Even as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) fades, there is still time to see it if you know where and when to look. Geometrically, Comet ZTF has passed its closest…
In the Heart of the Rosette Nebula
In the heart of the Rosette Nebula lies a bright cluster of stars that lights up the nebula. The stars of NGC 2244 formed from the surrounding gas only a few million years ago.…
Enceladus by Saturnshine
This moon is shining by the light of its planet. Specifically, a large portion of Enceladus pictured here is illuminated primarily by sunlight first reflected from the planet…
NGC 2626 along the Vela Molecular Ridge
Centered in this colorful cosmic canvas, NGC 2626 is a beautiful , bright, blue reflection nebula in the southern Milky Way. Next to an obscuring dust cloud and surrounded by…
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Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF
Stars trace concentric arcs around the North Celestial Pole in this three hour long night sky composite, recorded with a digital camera fixed to a tripod on January 31, near Àger,…
Reflections on the 1970s
The 1970s are sometimes ignored by astronomers. For example, this beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae in Orion - NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 - is usually overlooked in…
The Seventh World of Trappist-1
Seven worlds orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. A mere 40 light-years away, many of the exoplanets were discovered in 2016 using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals…
A Triple View of Comet ZTF
Comet ZTF has a distinctive shape. The now bright comet visiting the inner Solar System has been showing not only a common dust tail , ion tail , and green gas coma, but also an…
Globular Star Cluster NGC 6355 from Hubble
Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way . Back in the old days , back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy . Today, there are…
Barnard 68: Dark Molecular Cloud
Where did all the stars go? What used to be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular…
Comet ZTF over Mount Etna
Comet-like plumes are blowing over the volcanic peaks of Mount Etna in this wintry mountain-and-skyscape from planet Earth. The stacked and blended combination of individual…
Comet ZTF: Orbital Plane Crossing
The current darling of the northern night , Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF is captured in this telescopic image from a dark sky location at June Lake, California, USA. Of course Comet ZTF…
Active Galaxy NGC 1275
Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby Perseus Cluster of Galaxies . Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is…
LDN 1622: The Boogeyman Nebula
To some, the dark shape looks like a mythical boogeyman . Scientifically, Lynds' Dark Nebula ( LDN ) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible…
LHS 475 b: Earth-Sized Exoplanet
If you could stand on exoplanet LHS 475 b, what might you see? No one knows for sure but pictured here is an interesting guess made by an Earth-based artificial intelligence (AI)…
The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 274
Two galaxies are squaring off in Virgo and here are the latest pictures. When two galaxies collide , the stars that compose them usually do not. This is because galaxies are…
In Green Company: Aurora over Norway
Raise your arms if you see an aurora. With those instructions, two nights went by with, well, clouds -- mostly. On the third night of returning to same peaks, though, the sky not…
Naked-eye Comet ZTF
Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) no longer requires a telescope for viewing. By January 19, it could just be seen with the naked eye in this rural sky with little light pollution from a…
Viewing discoveries from 13 February 2023 through 21 January 2023.