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.
A Seemingly Square Sun
Isn't the Sun round? Yes, but in the above picture, the Earth's atmosphere makes it appear almost square. Here a layer of air near the Earth was so warm it acted like a giant lens…
M83: A Barred Spiral Galaxy
M83 is a bright spiral galaxy that can be found with a small telescope in the constellation of Hydra . M83 is a member of the Centaurus group of galaxies, a nearby group dominated…
A High Energy Fleet
Looking like a fleet of futuristic starcruisers, NASA's highly successful series of High Energy Astrophysical Observatory (HEAO) spacecraft appear poised over planet Earth .…
7,000 Stars And The Milky Way
This panorama view of the sky is really a drawing. It was made in the 1950s under the supervision of astronomer Knut Lundmark at the Lund Observatory in Sweden. To create the…
The Center of Centaurus A
A fantastic jumble of young blue star clusters, gigantic glowing gas clouds, and imposing dark dust lanes surrounds the central region of the active galaxy Centaurus A. This…
Bright Comet SOHO
Discovered this month with an orbiting solar observatory, bright Comet SOHO has now emerged from the Sun's glare. This telephoto picture of the new naked-eye comet was taken by…
Discovery Image: Comet SOHO (1998 J1)
Staring at the Sun from a vantage point in space ( Kids , don't try this at home!), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory ( SOHO ) has enabled the discovery of much about our…
Apollo 11: Onto a New World
A human first set foot on another world on July 20, 1969 . This world was Earth's own Moon . Pictured above is Neil Armstrong preparing to take the historic first step . On the…
NGC 6369: A Donut Shaped Nebula
Why isn't the star in the center of the nebula? NGC 6369 appears to be a fairly ordinary planetary nebula . It can be seen with a good telescope in the constellation of Ophiuchus…
Our Solar System from Voyager
After taking spectacular pictures of our Solar System's outer planets, Voyager 1 looked back at six planets to take our Solar System's first family portrait. Here Venus , Earth ,…
Helios Helium
This image of the relatively quiet Sun was made using ultraviolet light emitted by ionized Helium atoms in the Solar chromosphere . Helium was first discovered in the Sun in 1868,…
TRACE and the Active Sun
This dramatic high resolution picture looking across the edge of the Sun was taken April 24th by a telescope on board the newly launched Transition Region and Coronal Explorer…
Comet Stonehouse
Comets move against a field of background stars. Their apparent motion is slow but carefull tracking reveals their orbits, allowing these visitors to the inner solar system to be…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 26 May 1998 through 3 May 1998.