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.
NGC 1514: The Crystal Ball Nebula
What do you see in this crystal ball? The featured image shows NGC 1514 , known as the Crystal Ball Nebula , observed by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea , in Hawai'i . NGC…
PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula
What is a pair of headphones doing in the sky? Today’s image features the Headphone Nebula, also known as PK 164 +31.1 or Jones-Emberson 1 . This planetary nebula , the remnant of…
NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660 , a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has…
Thackeray's Globules
What are these strange space globs? Situated in rich star field s and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to…
Preview unavailable
Open the archive entry to view the source media.
A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun
What's that passing in front of the Sun? It looks like a moon, but it can't be Earth's Moon , because it isn't round. It's the Martian moon Phobos . The featured video was taken…
Messier 2
After the Crab Nebula , this giant star cluster is the second entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous list of things that are not comets. M2 is one of the…
The Nebulous Realm of WR 134
This cosmic snapshot covers a field of view over twice as wide as the full Moon within the boundaries of the high-flying constellation Cygnus. Made using astronomical narrowband…
A Collision of Galaxy Clusters
This big beautiful spiral shines in X-ray light . It is about 20 times larger than our Galaxy . It belongs to Abell 2029 , a galaxy cluster one billion light-years away. (To see…
The Dark Wolf Nebula
A dark wolf lies in gum. No, this isn’t a riddle! Today's image features the Dark Wolf Nebula ( Sandqvist-Lindroos 17), a spooky dust cloud embedded within the Gum 55 ( RCW 113)…
NGC 2170: The Angel Nebula
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…
Unraveling NGC 3169
Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, south of bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation…
NGC 1300: Barred Spiral Galaxy
Across the center of this spiral galaxy is a bar . And at the center of this bar is smaller spiral . And at the center of that spiral is a supermassive black hole . This all…
Aurora Slathers Up the Sky
Like salsa verde on your favorite burrito, a green aurora slathers up the sky in this 2017 June 25 snapshot from the International Space Station. About 400 kilometers (250 miles)…
R3 PanSTARRS: An Orion Comet
Comet R3 PanSTARRS might be best remembered as an Orion comet. A key reason is because Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) was near its most spectacular -- in terms of tail visibility --…
Messier Catalog at Uniform Scale
What are some of the most interesting astronomical objects you can see in the night sky? Armed with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope, if you live in the Northern…
NGC 188: Old Cluster in the New General Catalog
The New General Catalog of star clusters and nebulae really isn't so new. In fact, it was published in 1888 - an effort by J. L. E. Dreyer to consolidate the work of astronomers…
The Conjunction of Comet R3 PanSTARRS and the Orion Nebula
Today’s composite image features something old , something new, something borrowed, and something blue! Comet R3 PanSTARRS , streaking across the right of the image, likely…
Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
These people are not in danger. What is coming down from the left is just the Moon, far in the distance. Luna appears so large here because she is being photographed through a…
Comet R3 PanSTARRS and Orion
Orion never had a sword like this. As Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) heads out of the inner Solar System, it is putting on quite a show for long exposure cameras . Currently seen…
Messier Craters in Stereo
Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given…
Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before Rigel
Which way is Comet R3 PanSTARRS going? Not towards the star at the top of the image, because that is Rigel , which, being far in the background, is unrelated to the comet. Not…
Preview unavailable
Open the archive entry to view the source media.
Supernova in a Sideways Spiral
A long time ago, in a distant galaxy , a massive star was destroyed in a supernova explosion. The light of this event travelled for tens of millions of years and reached Earth…
The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune
What does it mean for Saturn and Neptune to be in retrograde? Featured is a composite of images taken over 34 nights from May 2025 to February 2026 tracing Saturn (brighter,…
Orion over Mount Teide
Orion is rarely seen like this. To achieve this majestic vista , you need a camera capable of taking such long duration exposures that faint features in the night sky become…
Viewing discoveries from 28 May 2026 through 5 May 2026.