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.
On the Possibility of Ascending to Mars
On another October 19, in 1899, a 17 year-old Robert Goddard climbed a cherry tree on a beautiful autumn afternoon in Worcester, Massachusetts. Inspired by H.G. Wells' War of the…
AE Aurigae: The Flaming Star
Is star AE Aurigae on fire? No. Even though AE Aurigae is named the flaming star, the surrounding nebula IC 405 is named the Flaming Star Nebula , and the region appears to harbor…
Short Gamma-Ray Bursts Localized
What causes gamma-ray bursts? The most energetic type of explosions known in the cosmos has been an enigma since discovered over 30 years ago . It now appears that there may not…
Astronomy Quilt of the Week
Demonstrating her mastery of a traditional astronomical imaging technique quilter and astronomy enthusiast Judy Ross has produced this spectacular composition of “Astronomy Quilt…
Dusty Environs of Eta Carinae
Eta Car is a massive star, but it's not as bright as it used to be. Now only easily visible in binoculars or a small telescope, Eta Carinae has a history of spectacular flaring…
Eclipse Shirt
Of course , everyone is concerned about what to wear to a solar eclipse . No need to worry though, nature often conspires to project images of the eclipse so that stylish and…
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
Alnitak , Alnilam , and Mintaka , are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of…
Cratered Cliffs of Ice on Saturn's Tethys
The surface of Saturn 's moon Tethys is riddled with icy cliffs and craters. The most detailed images ever taken of Tethys were captured late last month as the robot Cassini…
NGC 869 & NGC 884: A Double Open Cluster
Most star clusters are singularly impressive. Open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884, however, are doubly impressive. Also known as “h and chi Persei”, this unusual double cluster ,…
The Swirling Storms of Saturn
Storms larger than hurricanes continually dot the upper atmosphere of the planet Saturn. A view of many storms occurring simultaneously was captured in July by the robot Cassini…
Rollout of Soyuz TMA-2 Aboard an R7 Rocket
It takes a big rocket to go into space. In 2003 April, this huge Russian rocket was launched toward Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS), carrying two astronauts who…
Peculiar Arp 295
A spectacular bridge of stars and gas stretches for nearly 250,000 light-years and joins this famous peculiar pair of galaxies cataloged as Arp 295 . The cosmic bridge between the…
Eclipse Madrid
A walk in the park seemed like a perfect idea to many enjoying a sunny October morning in Madrid, Spain. Of course, on October 3rd an added attraction was the Moon - seen in…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1350
This gorgeous island universe lies about 85 million light-years distant in the southern constellation Fornax . Inhabited by young blue star clusters , the spiral arms of NGC 1350…
Annular Solar Eclipse at High Resolution
On Monday, part of the Sun went missing. The missing piece was no cause for concern -- the Moon was only momentarily in the way. The event was not a total eclipse of the Sun for…
The Milky Way in Stars and Dust
The disk of our Milky Way Galaxy is home to hot nebulae, cold dust, and billions of stars. This disk can be seen from a dark location on Earth as a band of diffuse light across…
Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
What lies at the bottom of Hyperion 's strange craters? Nobody knows. To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn swooped past the sponge-textured moon…
Magma Bubbles from Mt. Etna
Mt. Etna erupted spectacularly in 2001 June. Pictured above , the volcano was photographed expelling bubbles of hot magma, some of which measured over one meter across. One reason…
NGC 613: Spiral of Dust and Stars
When morning twilight came to the Paranal Observatory in Chile, astronomers Mark Neeser and Peter Barthel interrupted their search for faint quasars , billions of light-years…
IC 1396 H-Alpha Close-Up
Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas mingle ominously with dark dust lanes in this close-up of IC 1396 , an active star forming region some 2,000 light years away in the constellation…
An Unexplored Nebula
The combined light of the stars of the Milky Way are reflected by this cosmic dust cloud that soars some 300 light-years above the plane of our Galaxy. Dubbed the Angel Nebula by…
A Rocket Launch at Sunset
What kind of cloud is that? Last week, a sunset rocket launch lit up the sky and was photographed by sky enthusiasts as far as hundreds of miles away. The lingering result was a…
The Star Pillars of Sharpless 171
Towering pillars of cold gas and dark dust adorn the center star forming region of Sharpless 171. An open cluster of stars is forming there from the gas in cold molecular clouds .…
Streams of Stars in the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies
How do huge clusters of galaxies evolve? To help find out, astronomers pointed the wide-angle Burrell-Schmidt telescope on Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona , USA at the…
Viewing discoveries from 19 October 2005 through 26 September 2005.