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.
The First Explorer
The first US spacecraft was Explorer 1 . The cylindrical 30 pound satellite was launched (above) as the fourth stage of a Jupiter-C rocket (a modified US Army Redstone ballistic…
7,000 Stars And The Milky Way
This panorama view of the sky is really a drawing. It was made in the 1940s under the supervision of astronomer Knut Lundmark at the Lund Observatory in Sweden. To create the…
Signed, “A Black Hole”
This artistic image is actually the signature of a supermassive black hole in the center of distant galaxy M84 - based on data recently recorded by Hubble's new Space Telescope…
Hale-Bopp: Climbing Into Southern Skies
Fighting the glow of the setting sun and the city lights of Cape Town, South Africa, comet Hale-Bopp is just visible near the center of this panoramic view - photographed on May…
Hale-Bopp's Fickle Ion Tail
What's happening to Comet Hale-Bopp's blue ion tail? The comet's ion tail is fluctuating more rapidly as it passes a region of changing solar wind . As the comet passes from north…
Optical Transient Near GRB970508 Shows Distant Redshift
The GRB distance scale controversy may have just ended with a flash . Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are powerful explosions occurring in seemingly random positions on the sky. They are…
Lightning on Jupiter
Does lightning occur only on Earth? Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected radio signals consistent with lightning on other planets, including Venus , Jupiter , Saturn ,…
M42: A Mosaic of Orion's Great Nebula
The Great Nebula in Orion , an immense, nearby starbirth region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulae. Here, 15 pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope have…
Apollo 15's Home on the Moon
Could you ever call this place home? The lunar module shown above, named “Falcon,” served as home for Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin during their stay on the…
Apollo 12: Self-Portrait
Explanation : Is it art? In November of 1969, Apollo 12 astronaut-photographer Charles “Pete” Conrad recorded this masterpiece while documenting colleague Alan Bean's lunar soil…
Detailing Hale-Bopp
Explanation : This enhanced composite image detailing structure in the coma and dust tail of Hale-Bopp was recorded May 5 - one day before the comet's passage from north to south…
Ultraviolet Venus
Explanation : The forecast for Venus is cloudy, cloudy, cloudy. Although similar to the Earth in size and mass, Venus ' slightly closer orbit to the Sun create for it a much…
NGC4039: Starbirth and Galaxy Death
Explanation : Do star clusters form when galaxies collide? Quite possibly, according to Hubble Space Telescope observations of the “ Antennae ”, two galaxies thought to be in the…
Sunset with Hale-Bopp at Keck
Explanation : A famous star cluster and observatory highlight this picture of Comet Hale-Bopp. Taken last week from the observatory summit of Hawaii 's Mauna Kea Volcano, the dome…
The Last Moon Shot
Explanation : In 1865 Jules Verne predicted the invention of a space capsule that could carry people. In his science fiction story “From the Earth to the Moon” , he outlined his…
Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Galaxy Images
Explanation : What are those strange blue objects? Many are images of a single, unusual, beaded, blue, ring-like galaxy which just happens to line-up behind a giant cluster of…
X-Rays From IC 443
Explanation : The life-cycles of stars help drive the ecology of our Galaxy, churning, processing, and redistributing matter . Massive stars reach a spectacular evolutionary…
A Galactic Cloud of Antimatter
Explanation : The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is full of surprises . Its latest spectacular is a mysterious cloud glowing in gamma rays produced by annihilating antimatter…
Milky Way Molecule Map
Explanation : Where are the Milky Way's gas clouds and where are they going? Stars form in gas clouds , and the motion of gas clouds tell us about the size and rotation speed of…
Hale-Bopp and Orion
Explanation : Comet Hale-Bopp is still brighter than most constellations . In fact, Comet Hale-Bopp may now hold the record for staying bright the longest . Last week the comet…
Io's Sodium Cloud
Explanation : Io has its own cloud. Jupiter 's most active moon is visible on the left of the above false-color photograph , with its left side illuminated by sunlight. But what…
Sputnik: Traveling Companion Courtesy:
Explanation : Sputnik means “traveling companion”. Despite the innocuous sounding name, the launch of the Earth's first “artificial moon”, Sputnik 1 , by the Soviets on October 4,…
The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies
Explanation : Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky. Each of the fuzzy blobs in the above picture is a galaxy , together making up the Perseus…
Hale-Bopp Polarized
Explanation : Light polarization is familiar to many outdoor enthusiasts who use polarizing sunglasses to cut the glare of reflected light. These two views of comet Hale-Bopp also…
Viewing discoveries from 18 May 1997 through 25 April 1997.