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 Tarantula Zone
The Tarantula Nebula is more than 1,000 light-years across - a giant emission nebula within our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud . Inside this cosmic arachnid lies a…
A Partial Eclipse Over the Golden Gate Bridge
Part of the Sun disappeared behind the Moon earlier this week. Previously, the waning Moon was best visible from all places on Earth during the early morning hours because it led…
Inside the Eagle Nebula
From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle . A closer look of the Eagle Nebula , however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell…
Annular Eclipse: The Ring of Fire
Today, a few lucky people will see a “ring of fire.” That's a name for the central view of an annular eclipse of the Sun by the Moon . At the peak of this eclipse , the middle of…
A Chamaeleon Sky
A photogenic group of nebulae can be found toward Chamaeleon , a constellation visible predominantly in skies south of the Earth's equator . Celestial objects visible there…
A Fleeting Eclipse
A lunar eclipse can be viewed in a leisurely fashion. Visible to anyone on the night side of planet Earth (weather permitting), totality often lasts an hour or so as the moon…
Portrait of an Infant Solar System
This infant solar system was discovered posing along the lonely outskirts of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud , a star forming region 500 light-years from Earth. Enlarged in an…
Cone Nebula Infrared Close-Up
After astronauts repaired NICMOS - the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer - during the latest Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission , astronomers were quick to…
NGC 3621: Far Beyond the Local Group
Far beyond the local group of galaxies lies NGC 3621 , some 22 million light-years away. Found in the serpentine southern constellation Hydra , the loose spiral arms of this…
A Martian Metamorphosis
Is it an Escher, or Mars? Three different types of surfaces visible in the North Polar Cap of Mars morph into each other in a way perhaps reminiscent of the works of M. C. Escher…
Galaxy NGC 4388 Expels Huge Gas Cloud
Why are huge clouds of gas billowing from spiral galaxy NGC 4388? The extent of the gas clouds, over 100,000 light-years , was unexpected before the Subaru Telescope took the…
Cracks and Ridges on Europa
Which way to the interstate ? What appears to be a caricature of a complex highway system on Earth is actually a system of ridges and cracks on the icy surface of Jupiter's moon…
NGC 2266: Old Cluster in the New General Catalog
The New General Catalog of star clusters and nebulae really isn't so new. In fact, it was published in 1888 - an attempt by J. L. E. Dreyer to consolidate the work of astronomers…
In Chandor Chasma on Mars
Scroll right and dive into a spectacular canyon on Mars . This daytime infrared view , recently recorded by the THEMIS camera on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft, covers…
Orion Nebulosities
Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations , the glowing Orion Nebula and the dark Horsehead Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas.…
Cosmic Ripples Implicate Dark Universe
What may appear fuzzy to some makes things crystal clear to others. The cosmic microwave background radiation emanating from the universe could only have the above fuzzy pattern…
The Very Large Array of Radio Telescopes
The most photogenic array of radio telescopes in the world has also been one of the most productive. Each of the 27 radio telescopes in the Very Large Array (VLA) is the size of a…
Antarctic Ice Shelf Vista
It's all gone but the mountains. Most of the sprawling landscape of ice that lies between the mountains visible above has now disintegrated. The above picture was taken in…
The Pipe Dark Nebula
The dark nebula predominant at the lower left of the above photograph is known as the Pipe Nebula . The dark clouds, suggestively shaped like smoke rising from a pipe, are caused…
A String Of Pearls
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 , named after its co-discoverers , was often referred to as the “string of pearls” comet. It is famous for its suggestive appearance as well as its…
Love and War by Moonlight
Venus , named for the Roman goddess of love, and Mars , the war god's namesake, approach each other by moonlight in this lovely sky view recorded on May 14th from Dunkirk,…
N132D and the Color of X-Rays
Supernova remnant N132D shows off complex structures in this sharp, color x-ray image . Still, overall this cosmic debris from a massive star's explosive death has a strikingly…
Moon and Planets by the Eiffel Tower
The great evening grouping of planets is coming to an end. Before all the planets went their own separate directions , however, the Moon was kind enough to pose with some of them.…
The Galactic Center Radio Arc
What causes this unusual structure near the center of our Galaxy? The long parallel rays slanting across the top of the above radio image are known collectively as the Galactic…
Viewing discoveries from 13 June 2002 through 21 May 2002.