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.
Star Cluster IC 348 from Webb
Sometimes, it's the stars that are the hardest to see that are the most interesting. IC 348 is a young star cluster that illuminates surrounding filamentary dust. The stringy and…
Dragon Aurora over Iceland
Have you ever seen a dragon in the sky? Although real flying dragons don't exist, a huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over Iceland in 2019 . The aurora was caused by…
Circling the Sun
Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle, it's an ellipse. The point along its elliptical orbit where our fair planet is closest to the Sun is called perihelion. This year,…
Good Morning Moon
Yesterday, the Moon was New . But on January 9, early morning risers around planet Earth were treated to the sight of an old Moon, low in the east as the sky grew bright before…
Quadrantids of the North
Named for a forgotten constellation , the Quadrantid Meteor Shower puts on an annual show for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers. The shower's radiant on the sky lies…
The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
This colorful skyscape spans about three full moons across nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation Cepheus . Near…
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…
The Phases of Venus
Venus goes through phases . Just like our Moon, Venus can appear as a full circular disk, a thin crescent , or anything in between. Venus, frequently the brightest object in the…
The Cat's Eye Nebula in Optical and X-ray
To some it looks like a cat's eye. To others, perhaps like a giant cosmic conch shell . It is actually one of the brightest and most highly detailed planetary nebula known,…
The Snows of Churyumov-Gerasimenko
You couldn't really be caught in this blizzard while standing by a cliff on periodic comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Orbiting the comet in June of 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft's…
Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula , are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium . Gathered within a region about 1.5…
Zeta Oph: Runaway Star
Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi produces the arcing interstellar bow wave or bow shock seen in this stunning infrared portrait. In the…
A SAR Arc from New Zealand
What is that unusual red halo surrounding this aurora? It is a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc. SAR arc s are rare and have only been acknowledged and studied since 1954. The…
Rocket Transits Rippling Moon
Can a rocket make the Moon ripple? No, but it can make a background moon appear wavy . The rocket, in this case, was a SpaceX Falcon Heavy that blasted off from NASA 's Kennedy…
NGC 1232: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
Galaxies are fascinating not only for what is visible, but for what is invisible. Grand spiral galaxy NGC 1232 , captured in detail by one of the Very Large Telescopes , is a good…
Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe
How did we get here? Click play, sit back, and watch. A computer simulation of the evolution of the universe provides insight into how galaxies formed and perspectives into…
The Persistence of Moonlight
Known to some in the northern hemisphere as December's Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon , the last full moon of 2023 is rising in this surreal mountain and skyscape. The Daliesque…
Shakespeare in Space
In 1986, Voyager 2 became the only spacecraft to explore ice giant planet Uranus close up. Still, this newly released image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on the James…
Jupiter and the Geminid
For a brief moment , this brilliant fireball meteor outshone Jupiter in planet Earth's night. The serendipitous image was captured while hunting meteors under cold Canadian skies…
Rainbow Aurora over Icelandic Waterfall
Yes, but can your aurora do this? First, yes, auroras can look like rainbows even though they are completely different phenomena. Auroras are caused by Sun-created particles being…
IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula
Why is this jellyfish swimming in a sea of stars? Drifting near bright star Eta Geminorum , seen at the right, the Jellyfish Nebula extends its tentacles from the bright arcing…
Cathedral, Mountain, Moon
Single shots like this require planning. The first step is to realize that such an amazing triple-alignment actually takes place. The second step is to find the best location to…
NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
What's that in the center? Like a butterfly , a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon of gas that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun…
A December Summer Night
Colours of a serene evening sky are captured in this 8 minute exposure, made near this December's solstice from New Zealand, southern hemisphere, planet Earth . Looking south,…
Viewing discoveries from 15 January 2024 through 23 December 2023.