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.
Occultations and Rising Moons
On April 23, the rising crescent Moon occulted (passed in front of) Venus and Jupiter. The double occultation was a rare event and only visible from certain locations tracing a…
Callisto Enhanced
Callisto is half rock and half ice. This moon of Jupiter is approximately the size of the planet Mercury , making it the third largest moon in the Solar System , after Ganymede…
Callisto in True Color
Callisto's surface has many stories to tell. The most distant of Jupiter 's Galilean Moons , Callisto shows the highest density of impact craters in the Solar System, but harbors…
Skylab Over Earth
Skylab was an orbiting laboratory launched by a Saturn V rocket in May 1973. Skylab was visited three times by NASA astronauts who sometimes stayed as long as two and a half…
The Water Vapor Channel
What alien planet's bizarre landscape lurks below these fiery-looking clouds? It's only Planet Earth , of course ... as seen on the Water Vapor Channel. Hourly, images like this…
A Gamma-Ray Burst Supernova?
Did a gamma-ray burst precede this supernova ? This intriguing suggestion came to light yesterday with the discovery of an evolving supernova that is potentially coincident with…
A Powerful Gamma-ray Burst
Gamma-ray bursts are thought to be the most powerful explosions in the Universe, yet the cause of these high-energy flashes remains a mystery . Blindingly bright for space-based…
Beijing Ancient Observatory
Did observatories exist before telescopes ? One example that still stands today is the Beijing Ancient Observatory in China. Starting in the 1400s astronomers erected large…
Aurora at Midnight
What's happening behind those trees? Aurora . This picture was taken at midnight near Fairbanks , Alaska , and captures familiar trees, common clouds, and a glowing sky markedly…
M57: The Ring Nebula
It looked like a ring on the sky. Hundreds of years ago astronomers noticed a nebula with a most unusual shape. Now known as M57 or NGC 6720, the gas cloud became popularly known…
Standing on the Moon
Humans once walked on the Moon. Pictured above is the second person to stand on the lunar surface: Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. During this Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong (the first…
The Frothy Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered that looking at dust along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy is a bit like looking into a frothy glass of beer. The dust between stars in our galaxy…
Venus: Just Passing By
Venus, the second closest planet to the Sun , is a popular way-point for spacecraft headed for the gas giant planets in the outer reaches of the solar system. Why visit Venus…
Mars: Big Crater in Stereo
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this stereo picture of “Big Crater” on Mars! (Pieces of red and blue or green clear plastic will do. Your right eye should look through…
Tornadoes on the Sun
Giant spinning clouds of gas, similar to Earth's tornadoes , have been found on the Sun. Solar tornadoes , however, can be larger than the entire Earth, and sustain wind gusts…
A Double Conjunction Eclipse
The crescent Moon , Venus , and Jupiter all appeared together in the early morning hours of April 23rd. Some locations on Earth were able to witness a rare double conjunction…
IC 4406: A Seemingly Square Nebula
How can a round star make a square nebula? This conundrum came to light with the discovery of planetary nebulae like IC 4406. IC 4406 is most probably cylindrical, with its square…
NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Like a butterfly , a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the…
Supernova Remnant and Neutron Star
A massive star ends life as a supernova, blasting its outer layers back to interstellar space. The spectacular death explosion is initiated by the collapse of what has become an…
Infrared Saturn
This delightfully detailed false color image of Saturn has been earmarked to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope . The picture is a combination of…
Three Dusty Stars
These separate radio images reveal three dusty debris disks surrounding three bright, young, nearby stars - evidence for solar systems in formation. From left to right are the…
HR 4796A: A Recipe for Planets
Two hundred and twenty light years from Earth, planets are forming. Recent observations of the binary star system HR 4796 have shown that one of the stars is surrounded by a dusty…
Water in Orion
Is Orion all wet? Recent observations have confirmed that water molecules now exist in the famous Orion Nebula , and are still forming. The Orion Nebula (M42, shown above) is…
Name This Satellite
Can you name this satellite? In December, NASA's third Great Observatory is planned for launch. The two NASA Great Observatories currently in orbit are the Hubble Space Telescope…
Viewing discoveries from 13 May 1998 through 20 April 1998.