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.
The First Explorer
Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the US, the First Explorer , a thirty pound satellite, was launched into Earth orbit on January 31, 1958 by the Army Ballistic…
Perseid in the Light
Dark skies are favored for viewing meteor showers -- so many are pessimistic about this year's Perseids. While the Perseid meteor shower is scheduled to peak this weekend, bright…
Galactic Center Star Clusters
If you had x-ray vision , the central regions of our Galaxy would not be hidden from view by cosmic dust clouds. Instead , the Milky Way toward Sagittarius might look something…
Magellanic Morning
This early morning skyscape recorded near Winton, Queensland, Australia, looks toward the southeast. Low clouds are seen in silhouette against the first hints of sunlight, while…
Horse Head Shaped Reflection Nebula IC 4592
Do you see the horse's head? What you are seeing is not the famous Horsehead nebula toward Orion but rather a fainter nebula that only takes on a familiar form with deeper…
An Erupting Solar Prominence from SOHO
Our Sun is still very active. In the year 2000, our Sun went though Solar Maximum , the time in its 11-year cycle where the most sunspots and explosive activities occur. Sunspots…
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…
Still Life with NGC 2170
In this beautiful celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 shines at the upper left. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined…
Burns Cliff Anaglyph
Get out your red/blue glasses and gaze across Burns Cliff along the inner wall of Endurance crater on Mars! The view from the perspective of Mars rover Opportunity is a color…
M27: Not A Comet
While searching the skies above 18th century France for comets, astronomer Charles Messier diligently recorded this object as number 27 on his list of things which are definitely…
Methane Rain Possible on Titan
Might it rain cold methane on Saturn's Titan? Recent analyses of measurements taken by the Huygen's probe that landed on Titan in 2005 January indicate that the atmosphere is…
The Milky Way over Utah
If sometimes it appears that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is raining down on your head, do not despair. It happens twice a day. As the Sun rises in the East, wonders of the night…
Possible Methane Lakes on Titan
Have methane lakes been discovered on Saturn's Titan? That exciting possibility was uncovered from analyses of radar images returned last week by the robotic Cassini spacecraft…
Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars . Named Valles Marineris , the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as…
The Swarm
What do you call a group of black holes ... a flock, a brace, a swarm? Monitoring a region around the center of our Galaxy , astronomers have indeed found evidence for a…
Four Supernova Remnants
These four panels show x-ray images of expanding cosmic debris clouds, tens of light-years across, in nearby galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud . The supernova remnants (SNRs) are…
NGC 7331 and Beyond
Spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way . About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus , NGC 7331 was recognized…
Explosions from White Dwarf Star RS Oph
Spectacular explosions keep occurring in the binary star system named RS Ophiuchi . Every 20 years or so, the red giant star dumps enough hydrogen gas onto its companion white…
Jupiter's Two Largest Storms Nearly Collide
Two storms systems larger than Earth are nearly colliding right now on planet Jupiter . No one was sure what would happen, but so far both storms have survived. In the above…
The International Space Station on the Horizon
This was home. Last week, the STS-121 crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and returned to Earth. As the shuttle departed the…
The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon
Although you've surely seen it, you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless twilight , just before sunrise or after sunset , part of the atmosphere above the horizon appears…
Mira: The Wonderful Star
To seventeenth century astronomers, Omicron Ceti or Mira was known as a wonderful star - a star whose brightness could change dramatically in the course of about 11 months. Modern…
Strangers on Mars
This view from the winter station of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, looks across the rock strewn landscape of Gusev Crater . The dark boulders and distant hills are characteristic…
Constellation Construction
This lovely twilight scene , recorded last April, finds a young crescent Moon low in the west at sunset. Above it, stars shine in the darkening sky but they too are soon to drop…
Viewing discoveries from 12 August 2006 through 20 July 2006.