Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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Asteroid Annefrank
NASA 's interplanetary probe STARDUST , on its way to Comet Wild 2 in January 2004, passed asteroid 5535 Annefrank earlier this month. Annefrank , named for a holocaust victim who…
Terkezi Oasis in the Sahara Desert
Dominating the top third of Africa is the largest band of dry land on Earth: the Sahara Desert . Stretching across the Sahara are vast plains of sand and gravel, seas of sand…
The Outer Shells of Centaurus A
What causes the surrounding shells in peculiar galaxy Cen A? Last month a fascinating image of peculiar galaxy Centaurus A was released , processed to highlight a faint blue arc…
A Green Flash from the Sun
Many think it is just a myth. Others think it is true but its cause isn't known. Adventurers pride themselves on having seen it. It's a green flash from the Sun . The truth is the…
A Cerro Tololo Sky
High atop a Chilean mountain lies one of the premier observatories of the southern sky: the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Pictured above is the dome surrounding…
NGC 6369: The Little Ghost Nebula
This pretty planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 6369 , was discovered by 18th century astronomer William Herschel as he used a telescope to explore the constellation Ophiucus .…
2001 Leonids: Meteors in Perspective
The 2001 Leonid storm was so intense that the meteor shower's radiant, the point on the sky from which the fleeting trails seemed to diverge , was easy to spot. But the bits of…
The Winter Hexagon
Some of the brightest stars form a large and easily found pattern in the winter sky of Earth 's northern hemisphere . Dubbed the Winter Hexagon , the stars involved can usually be…
Leonids Over Joshua Tree National Park
This year's Leonid Meteor Shower is predicted to have two peaks, like last year's. The first peak should come at about 04:00 hours Universal Time (UT) on November 19 and be…
Cassini Approaches Saturn
Cassini, a robot spacecraft launched in 1997 by NASA , is close enough now to resolve many rings and moons of its destination planet: Saturn . The spacecraft has closed to about…
The International Space Station Expands Again
The developing International Space Station (ISS) has changed its appearance yet again. Last month the Space Shuttle Atlantis visited the ISS and installed the third of eleven…
NGC 604: Giant Stellar Nursery
Scattered within this cavernous nebula , cataloged as NGC 604 , are over 200 newly formed hot, massive, stars. At 1,500 light-years across, this expansive cloud of interstellar…
Europa's Freckles
Europa , one of Jupiter's large Galilean moons , may well possess an ocean of liquid water hidden beneath its icy surface -- and so holds the tantalizing possibility of life. In…
Aurora in the Night
For much of the month of October, traveling shock waves from the Sun and solar wind gusts have buffeted planet Earth's magnetosphere . As a result, skywatchers at high latitudes…
Leonids Over Uluru
Will this year's Leonid meteor shower be as good as last year 's? No one knows for sure. Possibly, however, in the waning nighttime hours of November 18 and lasting throughout…
A Lunar Rille
What could cause a long indentation on the Moon ? First discovered over 200 years ago with a small telescope, rilles (rhymes with pills) appear all over the Moon . Three types of…
Earth's Richat Structure
What on Earth is that? The Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once thought to be an impact…
Asteroid Gaspra's Best Face
Asteroid 951 Gaspra is a huge rock tumbling in space. Gaspra became one of the best-studied asteroids in 1991 when the spacecraft Galileo flew by. In the above photograph , subtle…
Dark Matter, X-rays, and NGC 720
Elliptical galaxy NGC 720 is enveloped in a cosmic cloud of x-ray emitting gas. Seen in this false color image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory , the extreme temperature of the…
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…
Gullies on Mars
The Gullies of Mars would probably not have been sensational enough for the title of a vintage Edgar Rice Burroughs story about the Red Planet. But it would get the attention of…
Liftoff With the Space Shuttle
What would it look like to see a Space Shuttle liftoff from just above the shuttle? Because the answer has value in assessing spacecraft performance, NASA attached a small…
A Small Double Ozone Hole in 2002
As expected, the ozone hole near Earth's South Pole is back again this year. This time, however, it's smaller than the past two years, and has an unusual double lobe structure.…
M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy . Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda . Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of…
Viewing discoveries from 13 November 2002 through 21 October 2002.