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.
Moon Over Shiraz
Early morning risers around the world have enjoyed the sight of bright planets in this week's predawn skies - further enhanced by the celestial spectacle of the waning crescent…
Missouri's Green Ribbon Sky
The critics rave - “Amazing!”, “Unbelievable!”, “The best I've ever seen!” They aren't talking about a movie, though . Instead, even casual sky critics are remarking on November's…
Pastel Planet, Triple Eclipse
This false-color image of banded gas giant Jupiter shows a triple eclipse in progress on March 28 - a relatively rare event, even for a large planet with many moons. Captured by…
Leo A: Nearby Dwarf Irregular Galaxy
Why isn't this small galaxy simple? The above image and contemporary observations of small nearby galaxy Leo A were supposed to show it has a simple structure. Now Leo A is known…
A Full Sky Multicolored Auroral Corona
On some nights the sky is the most interesting show in town. This fisheye picture captures a particularly active and colorful auroral corona that occurred two days ago over…
Jupiter and Venus at Sunrise
What are those bright objects in the morning sky ? Early morning dog walkers, among many others across our world's Northern Hemisphere, have likely noticed tremendously bright…
The Galactic Center in Infrared
The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light , much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust . In infrared light , however, dust glows more and obscures…
X-Rays from the Galactic Core
Using the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have taken this long look at the core of our Milky Way galaxy, some 26,000 light-years away. The spectacular false-color…
Supernova Remnant Imaged in Gamma Rays
Gamma rays are the most energetic form of light . With up to a billion times the energy of ordinary “medical” x-rays , they easily penetrate telescope lenses and mirrors, making…
NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus . Sometimes…
A Time-Lapse Lunar Eclipse
During last week's lunar eclipse , our Moon appeared to disappear. As the Earth moved between the Moon and the Sun, the Earth's shadow fell on the moon, making it quite dark . In…
Storm Alley on Saturn
What causes storms on Saturn? To help find out, scientists commanded the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn to inspect a circulating band of clouds nicknamed “Storm…
Spooky Star Forming Region DR 6
How could stars form such a spooky and familiar shape as a human skull? First, the complex process of star formation creates nebulas of many shapes and sizes -- it is human…
Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day , a day halfway between an equinox (equal day /…
Pumpkin Moon
Does this look familiar? Red and orange hues haunting the face of the Moon should remind you of the October 27th total lunar eclipse. Created from exposures taken at intervals of…
Red Moon Triple
Some thought of baseball and some thought of Halloween during October 27th's widely viewed total lunar eclipse. Sliding through Earth's shadow, the Moon turned haunting shades of…
Tantalizing Titan
Normally hidden by a thick, hazy atmosphere, tantalizing features on Titan's surface appear in this false-color view . The image was recorded as the Cassini spacecraft approached…
Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight
Go outside tonight and see the total lunar eclipse. Tonight's eclipse is easy and convenient for much of the world to see. Anyone who can spot a full Moon can see it fade out as…
Titan Through the Haze
What are these surface features on Titan ? This planet-sized moon of Saturn had much of its south polar surface imaged during an initial flyby by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini…
The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies
Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky. Each of the fuzzy blobs in the above picture is a galaxy, together making up the Perseus Cluster , one of…
Inside the Eagle Nebula
From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle . A closer look at the Eagle Nebula , however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell…
Surveyor Slides
“Safe!” In September 1967 , during regular season play , the Surveyor 5 lander actually slid several feet while making a successful soft landing on the Moon's Mare…
SOFIA's Mirror
The candy-dish appearance of this high-tech astronomical mirror is striking. Made of a special glass ceramic material called Zerodur , it actually measures 2.7 meters across. The…
Apogee Moon, Perigee Moon
Why don't these pieces fit? This third quarter Moon (left) and first quarter Moon were both photographed during the last lunar cycle or lunation with the same telescope and…
Viewing discoveries from 13 November 2004 through 21 October 2004.