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 Incredible Expanding Crab
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, an…
Himalayan Horizon From Space
This stunning aerial view shows the rugged snow covered peaks of a Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The seventh-highest peak on the planet , Dhaulagiri, is the high point on the…
Star Forming Region Hubble-V
How did stars form in the early universe? Astronomers are gaining insight by studying NGC 6822 , a nearby galaxy classified as irregular by modern standards but appearing more…
Asteroid 1998 WT24 Passes Near Earth
Last week, an asteroid approached unusually close to the Earth. Passing well outside the orbit of our Moon, Asteroid 1998 WT24 posed no danger, but became bright enough to see…
Saturn Aurora
the second largest planet in the Solar System, Saturn's Rings are one of the most spectacular sights for earthbound telescopes. This image from the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope…
Hot Stars in the Southern Milky Way
Hot blue stars, red glowing hydrogen gas, and dark, obscuring dust clouds are strewn through this dramatic region of the Milky Way in the southern constellation of Ara (the Altar)…
Partial Eclipse, Cloudy Day
Welcome to the December Solstice , first day of winter in the north and summer in the southern hemisphere of planet Earth. Today the Sun reaches its southernmost declination in…
Jupiter and Saturn Pas de Deux
Viewed from Earth, the solar system's planets do a cosmic dance that is hard to appreciate on any single night. But consider this well planned animated sequence combining 23…
Finding Dark Matter
Where is dark matter ? Galaxies rotate and move in clusters as if a tremendous amount of unseen matter is present. But does dark matter exist in the greater universe too -- and if…
Sharpless 212 in Hydrogen and Sulfur
Where do the most massive stars form? Observational evidence indicates that the outskirts of developing open clusters of stars are primary locations. Pictured above is one such…
Leaving the International Space Station
It was time to go home. During their eight days aboard the Earth- orbiting International Space Station (ISS), ESA Flight Engineer Claudie Haigner , Russian Commander Victor…
The Horsehead Nebula
One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion , is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud . Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first…
Ganymede: Torn Comet - Crater Chain
This striking line of 13 closely spaced craters on Jupiter's moon Ganymede was photographed by the Galileo spacecraft in 1997. The picture covers an area about 120 miles wide and…
NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus . Sometimes…
The South Pole of Mars
The south pole of Mars is the bright area near the center of the detailed, subtly shaded color image above. Recorded in September of this year by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)…
Leonids Over Korean Observatory
There were two peaks to this year's Leonid Meteor Shower . The first peak was best seen during the early morning hours of November 18 in North America , while the second peak,…
Venusian Half-Shell
Venus , second planet from the Sun, appears above imaged for the first time ever in x-rays (left) by the orbiting Chandra Observatory . Chandra's smoothed, false-color, x-ray view…
Globular Cluster M15
Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright globular cluster M15. This ball of over 100,000 stars is a relic from the early years of our Galaxy , and continues to orbit…
The Belt of Venus
Although you've surely seen it, you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless twilight , just before sunrise or after sunset , part of the atmosphere above the horizon appears…
Moon Struck
Craters produced by ancient impacts on the airless Moon have long been a familiar sight . But only since 1999 have observers seen elusive optical flashes on the lunar surface -…
Mediterranean Leonid 2001
A road trip from Ankara to the Mediterranean coast southeast of Antalya, Turkey found clear skies and splendid scenery for astrophotographer Tunc Tezel's viewing of the 2001…
Comet Linear (WM1) Brightens
A comet bright enough to be seen with binoculars is swooping into southern skies. Comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) continues to brighten and develop tails as it nears its closest…
A Sky Filled with Leonids
In the early morning hours of November 19, amateur Chen Huang-Ming caught a sky filled with astronomical wonders. With his fisheye camera set up on Ho-Huan Mountain in Taiwan for…
AE Aurigae: The Flaming Star
Is star AE Aurigae on fire? Although surrounded by what may look like smoke , the object known as the “flaming star” creates energy primarily by nuclear fusion , like other stars.…
Viewing discoveries from 27 December 2001 through 4 December 2001.