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.
Venus and the Chromosphere
Enjoying the 2004 Transit of Venus from Stuttgart, Germany, astronomer Stefan Seip recorded this fascinating, detailed image of the Sun. Revealing a network of cells and dark…
Venus at the Edge
With Venus in transit at the Sun's edge on June 8th, astronomers captured this tantalizing close-up view of the bright solar surface and partially silhouetted disk . Enhanced in…
Venus Transit at Sunrise
Did you see the transit? While some watched by webcast, sky gazers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia were able to witness the complete 6 hour journey of Venus'…
A Planet Transits the Sun
Today an astronomical event will occur that no living person has ever seen: Venus will cross directly in front of the Sun. A Venus crossing , called a transit, last occurred in…
Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normal cloud bottoms are flat because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a very specific…
Mercury Spotting
Can you spot the planet? The diminutive disk of Mercury, the solar system's innermost planet, spent about five hours crossing in front of the enormous solar disk on 2003 May 7, as…
Apollo 17's Lunar Rover
In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours exploring the Moon's Taurus-Littrow valley while colleague Ronald Evans orbited…
Sedna at Noon
Standing on Sedna - the solar system's most distant known planetoid - your view of the Sun at high noon might look something like this. An artist's dramatic vision, the picture…
Cosmic Construction Zone RCW 49
Stars and planets appear to be under construction in dusty nebula RCW 49. This Spitzer Space Telescope false-color infrared view of the nearby stellar nursery shows that known,…
The Colorful Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi
The many spectacular colors of the Rho Ophiuchi (oh'-fee-yu-kee) clouds highlight the many processes that occur there. The blue regions shine primarily by reflected light. Blue…
The Supergalactic Wind from Starburst Galaxy M82
Star formation occurs at a faster pace in M82 -- a galaxy with about ten times the rate of massive star birth (and death) compared to our Milky Way . Winds from massive stars and…
24 Million Kilometers to Saturn
Next stop: Saturn . The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is approaching Saturn and will fire its engines to break into orbit around the ringed giant on July 1. The robot spacecraft was…
Astronaut at Work
Did you ever have a day where everything got turned around and you just couldn't tell which way was up? Fortunately, this didn't happen to astronaut James S. Voss on 2000 May 21,…
Cone Nebula Close-Up
Cones, pillars , and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. A well-known…
A Manhattan Sunset
Today, if it is clear, Manhattan will flood dramatically with sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely on the centerline of every street. Usually, the tall buildings that line the…
Two Comets in Southern Skies
Wielding a very wide-angle lens, astronomer Gordon Garradd was able to capture two naked-eye comets in one picture looking toward the west from Loomberah, New South Wales,…
At the Summit of Olympus Mons
From martian orbit, the Mars Express cameras looked down on the largest volcano in the solar system. The result was this stunningly detailed overhead view of the caldera or summit…
Moon Between the Stones
Despite clouds and rain showers astronomer Phillip Perkins managed to spot a reddened, eclipsed Moon between the stones of this well known monument to the Sun during May's total…
Planets Over Easter Island
It isn't every day that planets line up behind a stone giant. For one thing, it helps to have a good planet line-up , such as occurred in the sky just last month. For another, it…
Working in Space
High above planet Earth, a human helps an ailing machine. The machine, in this potentially touching story, is the Hubble Space Telescope , which is not in the picture. The human…
X-Rays From Tycho's Supernova Remnant
In 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe recorded the sudden appearance of a bright new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. The new star faded from view over a period of months…
Phases of Venus
Venus is currently falling out of the western evening sky. Second planet from the Sun and third brightest celestial object after the Sun and Moon, Venus has been appreciated by…
Sharpless 140
Three young, massive stars will eventually emerge from this natal cloud of dust and gas, but their presence is already revealed in this false-color image from the Spitzer Space…
Brain Crater on Mars
What caused this unusual looking crater floor on Mars? Appearing at first glance to resemble the human brain , the natural phenomena that created the unusual texture on the floor…
Viewing discoveries from 11 June 2004 through 19 May 2004.