Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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NGC 4755: A Jewel Box of Stars
Explanation : The great variety of star colors in this open cluster underlie it's name: The Jewel Box. The bright central star Kappa Crucis is red, in contrast to the many blue…
Columbia Launches
Explanation : Rocket engines blazing, the Space Shuttle Columbia arcs into Florida's morning sky after lifting off from pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center . Seen here in January of…
Surveyor Hops
Explanation : This panorama of the cratered lunar surface was constructed from images returned by the US Surveyor 6 lander. Surveyor 6 was not the first spacecraft to accomplish a…
A Solar Corona Ejection
Explanation : The Sun would not be a nice place to spend the summer. One reason, besides the extreme heat, is that explosions are common there . In the above picture, magnetic…
Fields of Minerals on Ganymede
Explanation : What treasures lie on the surface of Ganymede ? Last week, NASA released a map of Jupiter's largest moon made by the Galileo Orbiter highlighting ice and minerals…
Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4881 in Coma
Explanation : Elliptical galaxies are unlike spiral galaxies and hence unlike our own Milky Way Galaxy . The giant elliptical galaxy named NGC 4881 on the upper left lies at the…
The Coma Cluster of Galaxies
Explanation : Almost every object in the above photograph is a galaxy. The Coma Cluster of Galaxies pictured is one of the densest clusters known - it contains thousands of…
The Martian Spring
Explanation : As spring comes to the northern latitudes of Mars , increased solar heating brings warmth and a change in the weather. The winds produced by the large temperature…
Surveyor Night Launch
Explanation : In early November of 1967, a dramatic night launch of an Atlas Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral lofted the successful Surveyor 6 spacecraft toward the Moon. The…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 253 Almost Sideways
Explanation : NGC 253 is a normal spiral galaxy seen here almost sideways. It is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies , the nearest group to our own Local Group of…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3628 Edge On
Explanation : This is what a spiral galaxy looks like sideways. This view of NGC 3628 nearly resembles our own Milky Way Galaxy , which is also known to be a spiral . The dark…
The Barren Moon
Explanation : The above photo , taken as the Apollo 17 astronauts orbited the Moon in 1972, depicts the stark lunar surface around the Eratosthenes and Copernicus craters. Many…
Grand Design Spiral Galaxy NGC 2997
Explanation : NGC 2997 is a grand design spiral galaxy. Its small nucleus and sprawling spiral arms give it a type “Sc” designation. NGC 2997 is speeding away from us at about…
Io Full Face
Explanation : Io is a colorful place. The closest large moon of Jupiter , Io is the most volcanic moon in the Solar System with its surface being completely buried in volcanic…
The Weather on Neptune
Explanation : Today's weather on Neptune will be typical. Highs in the upper atmosphere will be about -150 Centigrade , with winds ranging about 900 miles per hour near the…
Io's Active Volcanoes
Explanation : Why is Io green at night? In this just-released nighttime picture of Jupiter 's moon Io , the red spots clearly show Io 's current volcanically active regions . But…
Mir Over New Zealand
Explanation : The Russian space station Mir was photographed last month high above New Zealand . Before returning with record-breaking astronaut Shannon Lucid , the space shuttle…
A Flyby View of Ganymede
Explanation : This is what it would look like to fly over the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. NASA's robot spacecraft Galileo recently approached only 6000 miles from this…
Starbirth in the Lagoon Nebula
Explanation : Stars are forming even today in the Lagoon Nebula. This bright nebula is visible in the constellation of Sagittarius with binoculars. The above photo is the result…
The Large Cloud of Magellan (LMC)
Explanation : Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during their famous voyage around the world. As a result, two fuzzy cloud like objects in the…
The Cracked Ice Plains of Europa
What caused the cracks in this giant ice-ball? Jupiter 's moon Europa has smoothest surface in the solar system and is composed mostly of cracked water-ice. In the above…
Orionids Meteor Shower to Peak Tonight
Tonight you might be able to see Halley's Comet again - or at least some pieces of it. It is widely thought that that the meteors from the Orionids meteor shower , which peaks…
Surveyor Slides
“Safe!” -- In September 1967 ( during regular season play ), while making a successful soft landing on the Moon's Mare Tranquillitatis, the Surveyor 5 lander actually slid several…
Lalande 21185: The Nearest Planetary System?
What's the closest extrasolar planetary system ? It may well be planets of the dim red dwarf star cataloged as Lalande 21185 -- a mere 8 light years distant. This star is too…
Viewing discoveries from 11 November 1996 through 19 October 1996.