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.
Comet Ikeya-Zhang's Busy Tail
One of the brightest comets of the past five years will likely reach its peak brightness this week. Comet Ikeya-Zhang , officially known as C/2002 C1, can now be seen without aide…
NGC 2244: A Star Cluster in the Rosette Nebula
In the heart of the Rosette Nebula lies a bright open cluster of stars that lights up the nebula. The stars of NGC 2244 formed from the surrounding gas only four million years ago…
The Colorful Moon
Do you recognize the Earth's Moon when you see it? The crazy, patchwork appearance of the false-color image makes this almost full view of the Moon's familiar near side look very…
Neutron Mars
Looking for water on Mars, researchers using detectors on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft have created this false-color global map of energetic neutrons from the…
SM3B: Mission to Hubble
Now complete, Servicing Mission 3B (SM3B) was really the fourth trip to the Hubble Space Telescope , as the originally planned mission 3 was split into two parts. Falling around…
LL Orionis: When Cosmic Winds Collide
This arcing, graceful structure is actually a bow shock about half a light-year across, created as the wind from young star LL Orionis collides with the Orion Nebula flow. Adrift…
Atete Corona on Venus
What could cause a huge cylindrical mountain to rise from the surface of Venus ? Such features that occur on Venus are known as coronas . Pictured above in the foreground is…
The 100-Meter Green Bank Radio Telescope
The largest single-dish fully steerable radio telescope began operation in 2000 August in Green Bank , West Virginia , USA . Dedicated as the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope,…
A Southern Sky View
On 1996 March 22, a Galaxy and a comet shared the southern sky. They were captured together, from horizon to horizon, in the night sky above Loomberah, New South Wales, Australia…
A Quasar Portrait Gallery
Quasars (QUASi-stellAR objects) lie near the edge of the observable Universe . Discovered in 1963, astronomers were astounded that such objects could be visible across billions of…
Columbia Dawn
Trailing a thick column of exhaust, the Space Shuttle Columbia blasted into the twilight morning sky on March 1, its thundering rockets briefly flooding a cloud bank with the…
Comet Ikeya-Zhang Brightens
In the last week , Comet Ikeya-Zhang has become bright enough to be just visible to the unaided eye. Based on its present activity, observers are optimistic that Ikeya-Zhang will…
Simulated Galaxy Cluster View
Stunningly detailed, this picture is a computer simulated view of a cluster of galaxies in the distant cosmos . A large, elliptical galaxy dominates this hypothetical cluster's…
Earth in True Color
Here are the true colors of planet Earth . Blue oceans dominate our world, while areas of green forest , brown mountains , tan desert , and white ice are also prominent. Oceans…
The Shuttle Crawler Transporter
NASA's Crawler-Transporters are the largest tracked vehicles in existence. Although the crawlers pack over 5,000 horsepower , their top speed is less than two kilometers per hour…
The Regolith of Asteroid Eros
From fifty kilometers above asteroid Eros, the surface inside one of its largest craters appears covered with an unusual substance: regolith . The thickness and composition of the…
M27: Not A Comet
While searching the skies above 18th century France for comets, astronomer Charles Messier diligently recorded this object as number 27 on his list of things which are definitely…
Jupiter's Great X-Ray Spot
The Solar System's largest planet, gas giant Jupiter , is famous for its swirling Great Red Spot . In the right hand panel above, the familiar giant planet with storm system and…
ESO 184-G82: Supernova - Gamma Ray Burst Connection
Modern astronomers keep a long list of things that go bump in the night . Near the top are supernovae - the death explosions of massive stars, and gamma-ray bursts - the most…
A Cloud Shadow Sunrise
What could cause a ray of dark? Such a ray was caught in spectacular fashion above the Florida Everglades two years ago. The cause is something surprisingly familiar: a shadow .…
Jets from Radio Galaxy 3C296
Jets of streaming plasma expelled by the central black hole of a massive elliptical galaxy likely light up this composite image of 3C296 . The jets emanating from NGC 5532 and are…
Crescent Europa
Although the phase of this moon might appear familiar, the moon itself might not. In fact, this crescent shows part of Jupiter 's moon Europa . The passing robot spacecraft…
Isaac Newton Explains the Solar System
Sir Isaac Newton changed the world. Born in 1642, Newton was only an above-average student. But he went home from Cambridge one summer in 1665, thought a lot about the physical…
Shocked by Supernova 1987A
Fifteen years ago today, the brightest supernova of modern times was sighted . Over time, astronomers have watched and waited for the expanding debris from this tremendous stellar…
Viewing discoveries from 18 March 2002 through 23 February 2002.