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.
Asteroid 2004 FH Whizzes By
Last week, a small asteroid approached unusually close to the Earth. Asteroid 2004 FH posed no danger, but became bright enough to see with binoculars. Passing only 7 Earth radii…
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…
Equinox + 1
Twice a year, at the Spring and Fall equinox , the Sun rises due east. In an emphatic demonstration of this celestial alignment , photographer Joe Orman recorded this inspiring…
Going Wild
Dynamic jets of gas and dust surround one of the most active planetary surfaces in the solar system in this wild-looking picture of a comet nucleus . The comet's designation is…
Spirit Pan from Bonneville Crater's Edge
Scroll right and follow this breathtaking view of the martian surface from the southern edge of a small crater dubbed Bonneville. NASA's Spirit rover recorded the sharp 180-degree…
Redshift 10: Evidence for a New Farthest Galaxy
What's the farthest galaxy known? The answer keeps changing as astronomers compete to find galaxies that top the list. The new claimed record holder is now the faint smudge…
Sedna of the Outer Solar System
What is the most distant known object in our Solar System ? A new answer to this centuries-old question was announced yesterday by NASA with the discovery of a dark red object…
The Orion Nebula from CFHT
Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula . The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an…
Comet Hale-Bopp Over Val Parola Pass
Comet Hale-Bopp became much brighter than any surrounding stars. It was seen even over bright city lights . Out away from city lights, however, it put on quite a spectacular show…
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…
X-Ray Saturn
Above, the ringed planet Saturn shines in x-rays . Otherwise beyond the range of human vision, the eerie x-ray view was created by overlaying a computer generated outline of the…
Henize 206: Cosmic Generations
Peering into a dusty nebula in nearby galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, infrared cameras on board the Spitzer Space Telescope recorded this detailed view of stellar nursery…
Humphrey Rock Indicates Ancient Martian Water
How prevalent was water on Mars? Results from the Spirit rover now indicate that Gusev crater likely had a wet past, a result that comes shortly after Spirit's twin rover…
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
What did the first galaxies look like? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope has just finished taking the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the deepest image of…
Moon and Venus over Corona Del Mar Beach
The crescent Moon passed nearly in front of Venus two weeks ago. The close conjunction of the night sky 's two brightest objects created a striking pose for many viewing the…
An Anomalous SETI Signal
No one knows for sure what caused this signal . There is a slight possibility that it just might originate from an extraterrestrial intelligence . The bright colors on the blue…
N49's Cosmic Blast
Scattered debris from a cosmic supernova explosion lights up the sky in this gorgeous composited image based on data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Cataloged as N49, these…
V838 Mon: Echoes from the Edge
Variable star V838 Monocerotis lies near the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy , about 20,000 light-years from the Sun. Still, ever since a sudden outburst was detected in January…
Cold Mountain Sky
This lovely celestial view is surely a familiar one to winter skygazers in the northern hemisphere. Lights silhouetting the trees are from nearby towns Morganton and Rutherford…
Opportunity Rover Indicates Ancient Mars Was Wet
Was Mars ever wet enough to support life? To help answer this question, NASA launched two rover missions to the red planet and landed them in regions that satellite images…
NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history , a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light…
Cassini Closes in on Saturn
Are they gone? They were not originally predicted to even be there. The mystery revolves around strange shadow-like spokes that appeared on Saturn's large B-ring , the large…
Julius Caesar and Leap Days
Today, February 29th, is a leap day - a relatively rare occurrence. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar , pictured above in a self-decreed minted coin, created a calendar system that added…
POX 186: Not So Long Ago
Not so long ago and not so far, far away, a galaxy was born . Seen in this Hubble Space Telescope image, the island universe of stars, gas, and dust cataloged as POX 186 is a mere…
Viewing discoveries from 22 March 2004 through 28 February 2004.