Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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Superplumes Inside Earth
Why are there huge, unusual masses inside the Earth? No one is sure. By noting how earthquakes rumble through our planet 's interior, humanity has discovered two deep structures…
Trifid Pillars and Jets
Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains . They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are slowly being eroded away by a hostile environment.…
Seeing Titan
Shrouded in a thick atmosphere, the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan , is really hard to see. Small particles suspended in Titan's upper atmosphere cause an almost…
Markarian's Chain
Near the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster , a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain stretches across this telescopic field of view. Anchored in the frame at bottom right…
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Waves on Titan
Have you ever thought about surfing on an alien world? We can now expand the search for the perfect wave from Earth to the rest of the Solar System, and beyond . Scientists have…
The Moon, Venus, and the Pleiades
No, Earth did not recently acquire six more moons! Today’s APOD is a combination of images following the Moon, Venus, and the Pleiades across a southern Sicilian sky as twilight…
CG 30: Cometary Globules
They're like mountain peaks, but they are forming stars. Bright-rimmed, flowing shapes gather near the center of this rich starfield toward the borders of the nautical southern…
Comet R3 PanSTARRS Behind Satellite Trails
Can you find the comet? Somewhere through this web of satellite trails is Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) , a bright visitor passing through the inner Solar System . Now, the orbiting…
Mystic Mountain Monster being Destroyed
Inside the head of this interstellar monster is a star that is slowly destroying it. The huge monster, actually an inanimate series of pillars of gas and dust, measures light…
The Persistence of Sunlight
This seaside sunset offered a surreal experience, captured in a sea and skyscape from the west coast of Sardinia, Italy, planet Earth. The Daliesque scene is a composition of…
Young Moon and Sister Stars
Sunlit arms of a crescent moon seem to embrace the faint lunar night side in this dramatic celestial view from planet Earth. The single telephoto exposure tracking the sky was…
Large Scale Structure of the Universe
This is a map of the universe. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Kitt Peak National Observatory , Arizona , has finished its five-year survey . It observed more…
Earthset with an iPhone
What does it mean for the Earth to set? Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman gave us another spectacular view of Earth from their historic flyby of the Moon. Commander Wiseman's…
Three Sky Arches over Snowy Alps
Why are there three arches across the sky instead of two? Last month, after being dropped off by a helicopter at a high mountain peak in the Alps near the Swiss Italian border, an…
Comet R3 PanSTARRS over a Himalayan Valley
The best way to see comet R3 PanSTARRS’s long tail is with a camera. This week, the recently brightened comet appears in northern skies to the east just before dawn, but is only…
Eye on the Milky Way
Have you ever had stars in your eyes ? It appears that the eye on the left does, and moreover, it appears to be gazing at even more stars. The featured 27-frame mosaic was taken…
PanSTARRS and Planets
Near the eastern horizon before sunrise, Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS is getting brighter . Readily visible in binoculars and small telescopes, the comet may be just on the verge of…
M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind
Messier 82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a…
South Celestial Tree
If you live in the northern hemisphere , you may have learned how to locate the North Star, Polaris , in the night sky. It can be used to find north, and it approximately marks…
The ISS Transits the Moon
Nope, that is not an alien spaceship landing on the Moon! This is an image of the International Space Station (ISS) as it begins to transit in front of the Moon . The ISS is in…
The Long Wispy Tail of Comet R3 (PanSTARRS)
Why does Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) have a wispy tail? The newest bright member of the inner Solar System, Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) is already extending an impressive stream of…
NGC 602 and Beyond
The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years…
Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens
Comet R3 is brightening rapidly -- will it survive? C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has been slowly brightening and extending an ion tail since its discovery last year. This shedding…
Artemis II: Flight Day 6
On flight day 6 (April 6) the Artemis II mission achieved a historic lunar flyby . Rounding the lunar far side, the deep space maneuver marked humanity's first venture to the Moon…
Viewing discoveries from 4 May 2026 through 11 April 2026.