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.
Equinox Sunset
Does the Sun set in the same direction every day? No, the direction of sunset depends on the time of the year. Although the Sun always sets approximately toward the west, on an…
Gibbous vs Crescent
Early risers around planet Earth have enjoyed a shining crescent Moon near brilliant Venus, close to the eastern horizon in recent morning twilight skies. And yesterday, on…
The NGC 6914 Complex
A study in contrasts, this colorful cosmic skyscape features stars, dust, and glowing gas in the vicinity of NGC 6914. The interstellar complex of nebulae lies some 6,000…
Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)
A new visitor from the outer Solar System , comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) also known as SWAN25B was only discovered late last week, on September 11. That's just a day before the comet…
Nebulas and Clusters in Sagittarius
Can you spot famous celestial objects in this image? 18th-century astronomer Charles Messier cataloged only two of them: the bright Lagoon Nebula (M8) at the bottom, and the…
New Comet SWAN25B over Mexico
A newly discovered comet is already visible with binoculars. The comet, C/2025 R2 (SWAN) and nicknamed SWAN25B, is brightening significantly as it emerges from the Sun's direction…
Star Trails over One-Mile Radio Telescope
The steerable 60 foot diameter dish antenna of the One-Mile Telescope at Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory , Cambridge, UK, is pointing skyward in this evocative night-skyscape.…
Lunar Eclipse in Two Hemispheres
September's total lunar eclipse is tracked across night skies from both the northern and southern hemispheres of planet Earth in these two dramatic timelapse series. In the…
The Umbra of Earth
The dark, inner shadow of planet Earth is called the umbra . Shaped like a cone extending into space, it has a circular cross section most easily seen during a lunar eclipse . And…
The Great Lacerta Nebula
It is one of the largest nebulas on the sky -- why isn't it better known? Roughly the same angular size as the Andromeda Galaxy , the Great Lacerta Nebula can be found toward the…
Up from the Earth: Gigantic Jet Lightning
What's that rising up from the Earth? When circling the Earth on the International Space Station early in July , astronaut Nicole Ayers saw an unusual type of lightning rising up…
IRAS 04302: Butterfly Disk Planet Formation
This butterfly can hatch planets. The nebula fanning out from the star IRAS 04302+2247 may look like the wings of a butterfly , while the vertical brown stripe down the center may…
All the Water on Planet Earth
How much of planet Earth is made of water? Very little, actually. Although oceans of water cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface, these oceans are shallow compared to the…
Sardinia Sunset
When the sun sets on September 7 , the Full Moon will rise. And on that date denizens around much of our fair planet, including parts of Antarctica, Australia, Asia, Europe, and…
47 Tucanae: Globular Star Cluster
Also known as NGC 104 , 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the southern sky. Not a star but a dense cluster of stars, it roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy along with some 200 other…
NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours…
Cir X-1: Jets in the Africa Nebula
How soon do jets form when a supernova gives birth to a neutron star? The Africa Nebula provides clues. This supernova remnant surrounds Circinus X-1 , an X-ray emitting neutron…
The Horsehead and Flame Nebulas
The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most famous nebulae on the sky. It is visible as the dark indentation to the orange emission nebula at the far right of the featured picture .…
Callisto: Dirty Battered Iceball
Its surface is the most densely cratered in the Solar System -- but what's inside? Jupiter 's moon Callisto is a battered ball of dirty ice that is slightly smaller than the…
NGC 7027: The Pillow Planetary Nebula
What created this unusual planetary nebula? Dubbed the Pillow Nebula and the Flying Carpet Nebula, NGC 7027 is one of the smallest, brightest, and most unusually shaped planetary…
A Two Percent Moon
A young crescent moon can be hard to see . That's because when the Moon shows its crescent phase (young or old) it can never be far from the Sun in planet Earth's sky . But even…
A Dark Veil in Ophiuchus
The diffuse hydrogen-alpha glow of emission region Sh2-27 fills this cosmic scene. The field of view spans nearly 3 degrees across the nebula-rich constellation Ophiuchus toward…
Galaxies, Stars, and Dust
This well-composed telescopic field of view covers over a Full Moon on the sky toward the high-flying constellation Pegasus. Of course the brighter stars show diffraction spikes ,…
WISPIT 2b: Exoplanet Carves Gap in Birth Disk
That yellow spot -- what is it? It's a young planet outside our Solar System. The featured image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile surprisingly captures a distant scene much…
Viewing discoveries from 21 September 2025 through 27 August 2025.