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 Heart Of Orion
Newborn stars lie at at the heart of the the Orion Nebula , hidden from view by the dust and gas of the giant Orion Molecular Cloud number 1 (OMC-1). Sensitive to invisible…
Planets In The Sun
Today , all five naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) plus the Moon and the Sun will at least approximately line-up. As viewed from planet Earth, they will be…
Planets Above The Clouds
Clouds scatter the faint orange rays of the setting sun in the foreground of this breathtaking photograph from the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii . Taken on April 7th, this skyscape…
BOOMERANG Images The Early Universe
Drifting through the stratosphere above Antarctica in late 1998 , the balloon -borne BOOMERANG telescope peered into the cosmos at millimeter wavelengths. The blotchy structures…
An Iridium Flash Sunset
Did you see that flash? Lasting only about 15 seconds, it's possible that nobody you ask can confirm it, but what you might have seen is sunlight reflecting off an orbiting…
The North America Nebula
Here's a familiar shape in an unfamiliar location! This emission nebula is famous partly because it resembles Earth's continent of North America. To the right of the North America…
The Small Cloud of Magellan (SMC)
Almost unknown to casual observers in the northern hemisphere , the southern sky contains two diffuse wonders known as the Magellanic Clouds . The Magellanic Clouds are small…
3D View Of Jupiter's Clouds
Every day is a cloudy day on Jupiter , the Solar System's reigning gas giant. This 3-dimensional visualization presents a simplified model view from between Jovian cloud decks…
Leonid Glowworm
Recent Leonid meteor showers have been rich in bright fireball meteors which leave lingering trails stretching across the night sky. These trails, or persistent trains , are…
Calderas And Cliffs Near Io's South Pole
Braving intense radiation belts , the Galileo spacecraft once again flew past the surface of Jupiter's moon Io (sounds like EYE-oh ) on February 22. Combining high resolution…
Filaments In The Cygnus Loop
Subtle and delicate in appearance, these are filaments of shocked interstellar gas -- part of the expanding blast wave from a violent stellar explosion. Recorded in November 1997…
Layers of the Martian South Polar Cap
The South Pole of Mars is stranger than was previously thought. Pictured above are unexpectedly complex layers photographed recently by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft…
Reflection Nebula M78
An eerie blue glow and ominous columns of dark dust highlight M78, a bright reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion . The dust not only absorbs light, but also reflects…
Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Images
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 galaxies. Cluster…
Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
In Jules Verne 's science fiction classic A Journey to the Center of the Earth , Professor Hardwigg and his fellow explorers encounter many strange and exciting wonders. What…
M82: Starburst In X-rays
Star formation occurs at a faster pace in M82 -- a galaxy with about 10 times the rate of massive star birth (and death) compared to our Milky Way . Winds from massive stars and…
Blue Marble 2000
This newly released digital portrait of our planet is reminiscent of the Apollo-era pictures of the “big blue marble” Earth from space. To create it , researchers at Goddard Space…
Redshift 5.8: A New Farthest Quasar
The distance record for a quasar has been broken yet again. At the present time, no other object in the universe has been found to be more distant than the above speck. The…
Europa: Ice Line
This bright white swath cutting across the surface of icy Jovian moon Europa is known as Agenor Linea . In all about 1000 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, only a section is…
Flying Over Asteroid Eros' West End
The robot spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker continues to orbit asteroid Eros. This condensed 40-minute long time-lapse sequence taken last month shows what it looks like to pass within…
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…
Surveyor Hops
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 soft landing…
Supernova Remnant E0102-72 from Radio to X-Ray
Not all stars form a big Q after they explode. The shape of supernova remnant E0102-72 , however, is giving astronomers a clue about how tremendous explosions disperse elements…
Exploring Comet Tails
Comets are known for their tails. In the spring of 1997 and 1996 Comet Hale-Bopp (above) and Comet Hyakutake gave us stunning examples as they passed near the Sun. These extremely…
Viewing discoveries from 6 May 2000 through 13 April 2000.