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.
Surveyor Hops
This panorama of the cratered lunar surface was constructed from images returned by the US Surveyor 6 lander. Surveyor 6 was not the first spacecraft to accomplish a soft landing…
Mountains of Creation
This fantastic skyscape lies at the eastern edge of giant stellar nursery W5, about 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia . An infrared view from the Spitzer…
Gravitational Tractor
How would you change the course of an Earth-threatening asteroid? One idea - a massive spacecraft that uses gravity as a towline - is illustrated in this dramatic artist's view of…
A Solar Prominence from SOHO
What happened to the Sun? Nothing very unusual: the strange-looking solar appendage on the lower left is actually just a spectacular looking version of a common solar prominence .…
The Drifts of Mars
What would it be like to walk across Mars? The robot Opportunity rover is currently experiencing what it is like to roll across part of the red planet. It's not always easy -- the…
NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula
It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula , is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522 . Next door, though, lives a giant…
A Sunspot Up Close
Why would a small part of the Sun appear slightly dark? Visible above is a close-up picture of a sunspot , a depression on the Sun's face that is slightly cooler and less luminous…
Aurora from Space
From the ground, spectacular auroras seem to dance high above. But the International Space Station ( ISS ) orbits at nearly the same height as many auroras , sometimes passing…
M78: Stardust and Starlight
Interstellar dust clouds and bright nebulae abound in the fertile constellation of Orion . One of the brightest, M78 , is just below center in this sharp widefield view , covering…
Possible Pluto Moons
In 1930 , tiny, icy world Pluto was discovered orbiting in the distant solar system. In 1978, its relatively large companion Charon was detected by ground-based observations. This…
Epimetheus and Janus: Interchangeable Moons of Saturn
These two moons change places. Epimetheus and Janus , two small moons of Saturn , actually switch positions as they orbit their home planet. The orbital radii of the moons are…
A Soyuz Spacecraft Approaches the Space Station
Last month, a Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station. The spacecraft was launched a few days earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan .…
A Martian Halloween
From sunset to sunrise, an unusually bright yellowish orb will hang in the sky this Halloween: Mars. Yesterday, Earth passed Mars as they orbited the Sun, bringing Mars closer…
A Dark and Stormy Night
It was a dark and stormy night . But on 2003 August 29th the red planet Mars, near its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years, shone brightly in the sky against a…
NGC 3242: The Ghost of Jupiter
After a star like the Sun completes fusion in its core, it throws off its outer layers in a brief, beautiful cosmic display called a planetary nebula . NGC 3242 is such a…
October Mars
This October, Mars has become a bright, yellowish star in planet Earth's sky as it approaches oppositon , the period when Mars and Earth pass close as they orbit the Sun. How…
The Last Titan
On October 19th , a rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base - the last Titan rocket. Carrying a payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office, the successful Titan…
4,500 Kilometers Above Dione
What does the surface of Saturn's moon Dione look like? To find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn flew right past the fourth largest moon of the giant…
Supernova Remnant N132D in Optical and X Rays
Thousands of years after a star exploded, its expanding remnant still glows brightly across the spectrum. Such is the case with N132D , a supernova remnant located in the…
Angular Sand on Martian Hills
Why isn't this sand round? The robotic Spirit rover currently rolling across Mars has found notably angular sand in the Columbia Hills on Mars. Previously, small bits of sand…
At the Center of the Milky Way
At the center of our Milky Way Galaxy lies a black hole with over 2 million times the mass of the Sun. Once a controversial claim, this astounding conclusion is now virtually…
Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741 from Hubble
How could a galaxy become shaped like a ring? The rim of the blue galaxy pictured on the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years in diameter composed of newly…
Ringside
Orbiting in the plane of Saturn's rings , Dione and the other icy saturnian moons have a perpetual ringside view of the gorgeous gas giant planet. Of course, while passing through…
The Andromeda Galaxy in Infrared
What is the Andromeda galaxy really like? To find out, astronomers looked at our largest galactic neighbor in a different light: infrared . Astronomers trained the orbiting…
Viewing discoveries from 12 November 2005 through 20 October 2005.