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.
Moon Pi and Mountain Shadow
What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it…
The Seagull Nebula
A broad expanse of glowing gas and dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth , suggesting its popular moniker: the Seagull Nebula . This portrait of the…
A Galaxy-Shaped Rocket Exhaust Spiral
What's that over the horizon? What may look like a strangely nearby galaxy is actually a normal rocket's exhaust plume -- but unusually backlit. Although the SpaceX Falcon 9…
A Full Plankton Moon
What glows in the night? This night featured a combination of usual and unusual glows. Perhaps the most usual glow was from the Moon , a potentially familiar object. The full…
A Total Eclipse at the End of the World
Would you go to the end of the world to see a total eclipse of the Sun? If you did, would you be surprised to find someone else there already? In 2003, the Sun , the Moon,…
Comet Pons-Brooks in Northern Spring
As spring approaches for northern skygazers, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is growing brighter. Currently visible with small telescopes and binoculars, the Halley-type comet could reach…
The Tarantula Zone
The Tarantula Nebula , also known as 30 Doradus, is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic…
The Crew-8 Nebula
Not the James Webb Space Telescope's latest view of a distant galactic nebula, this cloud of gas and dust dazzled spacecoast skygazers on March 3. The telephoto snapshot was taken…
M102: Edge-on Disk Galaxy
What kind of celestial object is this? A relatively normal galaxy -- but seen from its edge. Many disk galaxies are actually just as thin as NGC 5866, the Spindle galaxy, pictured…
NGC 2170: Angel Nebula Abstract Art
Is this a painting or a photograph? In this celestial abstract art composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 , also known as the Angel Nebula, shines just above the…
Light Pillars Over Inner Mongolia
What's happening across that field? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars , a phenomenon typically much closer. In most places on Earth , a lucky viewer can see a…
A Total Solar Eclipse Close-Up in Real Time
How would you feel if the Sun disappeared? Many eclipse watchers across the USA surprised themselves in 2017 with the awe that they felt and the exclamations that they made as the…
Odysseus on the Moon
Methalox rocket engine firing, Odysseus' landing legs absorb first contact with the lunar surface in this wide-angle snapshot from a camera on board the robotic Intuitive Machines…
Odysseus and The Dish
Murriyang, the CSIRO's Parkes Radio Telescope , points toward a nearly Full Moon in this image from New South Wales, Australia, planet Earth. Bathed in moonlight, the 64 meter…
Julius Caesar and Leap Days
In 46 BC Julius Caesar reformed the calendar system . Based on advice by astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria , the Julian calendar included one leap day every four years to account…
Shades of Night
How does the sky turn dark at night? In stages, and with different characteristic colors rising from the horizon. The featured image shows, left to right, increasingly late…
Supernova Remnant Simeis 147
It's easy to get lost following the intricate, looping, and twisting filaments of supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sharpless 2-240, the filamentary nebula goes by…
Martian Moon Eclipses Martian Moon
What if there were two moons in the sky -- and they eclipsed each other? This happens on Mars. The featured video shows a version of this unusual eclipse from space. Pictured are…
A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland
All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland , on a quiet September night, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a new burst…
Odysseus to the Moon
Intuitive Machines' robotic lander Odysseus has accomplished the first U.S. landing on the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 . Launched on a SpaceX rocket on February 15,…
The Pencil Nebula Supernova Shock Wave
This supernova shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Centered and moving upward in the sharply detailed color composite its thin,…
A View Toward M106
Big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106 dominates this cosmic vista. The nearly two degree wide telescopic field of view looks toward the well-trained constellation Canes…
Seagull Nebula over Pinnacles' Peak
The bird is bigger than the peak. Nicknamed for its avian shape, the Seagull Nebula is an emission nebula on the night sky that is vast , spanning an angle over five times the…
AM1054: Stars Form as Galaxies Collide
When galaxies collide, how many stars are born? For AM1054-325, featured here in a recently released image by the Hubble Space Telescope , the answer is millions. Instead of stars…
Viewing discoveries from 14 March 2024 through 20 February 2024.