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 Center of Centaurus A
A fantastic jumble of young blue star clusters, gigantic glowing gas clouds, and imposing dark dust lanes surrounds the central region of the active galaxy Centaurus A. This…
Full Moondark
The brilliant full Moon might not look quite like this to skygazers next Monday, but the image is a mosaic of 18 digital frames recorded when the Moon was only about seven hours…
The Tidal Tail of NGC 3628
A mere 30 million light-years away, large spiral galaxy NGC 3628 (center) shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals, in a magnificent grouping…
Hot Stars in the Rosette Nebula
Winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the Rosette Nebula have cleared the natal gas and dust from the center of the nearby star-forming region. They also pose a danger to…
Global Dust Storms Threaten Mars Rovers
Will global dust storms terminate the robotic Martian rovers? Over the past month, windy dust storms have blocked much needed sunlight from reaching the solar panels of both the…
Spiral Galaxy M83: The Southern Pinwheel
M83 is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies on the sky. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hydra , majestic spiral arms have prompted its nickname as the…
Verona Rupes: Tallest Known Cliff in the Solar System
Could you survive a jump off the tallest cliff in the Solar System? Quite possibly. Verona Rupes on Uranus ' moon Miranda is estimated to be 20 kilometers deep -- ten times the…
The Flight of Helios
An example of solar-powered flight, NASA's Helios aircraft flew almost one hundred years after the Wright brothers' historic flight on December 17, 1903. Pictured here at 10,000…
Infrared Andromeda
This wide, detailed Spitzer Space Telescope view features infrared light from dust (red) and old stars (blue) in Andromeda, a massive spiral galaxy a mere 2.5 million light-years…
Apollo 11: East Crater Panorama
On July 20, 1969 , Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first to walk on the Moon . This panorama of their landing site sweeps across the…
The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies
These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster , an archipelago of island universes a mere 500 million light-years away . Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and…
Planets over Pony Express Lake
Beautiful sunset sky colors are reflected in Pony Express Lake in this twilight skyview from northern Missouri, USA, planet Earth. Recorded on Monday, a two day old crescent Moon…
The Same Color Illusion
Are square A and B the same color? They are. Are too. To verify this, click on the above image to see them connected. The above illusion , called the same color illusion ,…
The Lagoon Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars
Stars are battling gas and dust in the Lagoon Nebula but the photographers are winning. Also known as M8, this photogenic nebula is visible even without binoculars towards the…
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…
RCW 79: Stars in a Bubble
A cosmic bubble of gas and dust, RCW 79 has grown to about 70 light-years in diameter, blown by the winds and radiation from hot young stars. Infrared light from the dust embedded…
Manhattanhenge: A New York Sunset
Today, if it is clear, well placed New Yorkers can go outside at sunset and watch their city act like a modern version of Stonehenge. Manhattan will flood dramatically with…
NGC 6384: Beyond the Stars
The universe is filled with galaxies . But to see them astronomers must look out beyond the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way . For example, consider this colorful telescopic…
Constellations and Cloudy Skies
Recorded earlier in July, the clouds of planet Earth reflect moonlight and a faint, reddish glow in this serene sea and skyscape. Beyond them lie the cosmic dust and star clouds…
NGC 4449: Close-Up of a Small Galaxy
Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory. Their newly formed, bright, blue star clusters along beautiful, symmetric spiral arms are guaranteed to attract attention.…
The Most Distant Sun
When is the Sun most distant from Earth? It happened again just this past weekend. A common misconception is that the Sun is most distant during the winter, when it's the coldest.…
Shuttle Ferry
How does a space shuttle that landed in California get back to Florida for its next launch ? The answer is by ferry. NASA operates two commercial Boeing 747 airplanes modified to…
Infrared Trifid
The Trifid Nebula, aka Messier 20 , is easy to find with a small telescope, a well known stop in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius . But where visible light pictures show…
Bright Galaxy NGC 2903
Spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant in the constellation Leo . One of the brighter galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere, it is surprisingly…
Viewing discoveries from 29 July 2007 through 6 July 2007.