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.
Reflections on the 1970s
The 1970s are sometimes ignored by astronomers. In particular, this beautiful grouping of reflection nebulae in Orion - NGC 1977, NGC 1975, and NGC 1973 - are usually overlooked…
Stars and Dust through Baade's Window
Billions of stars light up the direction toward the center of our Galaxy . The vast majority of these stars are themselves billions of years old, rivaling their home Milky Way…
Unusual Silica Rich Soil Discovered on Mars
You're rolling across Mars when you unexpectedly uncover some unusually light soil. You stop. You turn. You return to inspect the soil and find out it is almost purely silica --…
Saturn's Ancient Rings
How old are Saturn's rings? No one is quite sure. One possibility is that the rings formed relatively recently in our Solar System's history, perhaps only about 100 million years…
The Holographic Principle
Is this picture worth a thousand words? According to the Holographic Principle , the most information you can get from this image is about 3 x 1065 bits for a normal sized…
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…
Apollo 17: Shorty Crater Panorama
In December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon in the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited…
T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula
The orange star centered in this remarkable telescopic skyview is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Nearby it is a dusty yellow cosmic cloud historically…
Mars Rover Races to Survive
The Martian rover Spirit is now in the race of its life. The rolling robot is trying to reach an outpost to spend the winter, but it keeps getting bogged down in soft sand on Mars…
The Universe Nearby
What does the universe nearby look like? This plot shows over one and a half million of the brightest stars and galaxies in the nearby universe detected by the Two Micron All Sky…
A Jet from the Sun
What powers the solar wind? Our Sun is known to emit a powerful wind of particles with gusts that can even affect astronauts and satellites orbiting Earth. The cause of the solar…
The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains , the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as…
Star Trails at Dawn
Just fix your camera to a tripod and you too can make an image of graceful trails traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis. Made on September 14 from Montlaux,…
Double Cluster in Perseus
Skygazers recently following Comet Holmes have probably also chanced across this lovely starfield , not far from the comet on the sky in the constellation Perseus . Some 7,000…
Mars in View
Very good telescopic views of Mars can be expected in the coming weeks as the Red Planet nears opposition on December 24th. Of course , opposition means opposite the Sun in planet…
Comet Holmes Over Hungary
Comet Holmes refuses to fade. The unusual comet that surprisingly brightened nearly a million-fold in late October continues to remain visible to the unaided eye from dark…
Movie: Analemma Over New Jersey
An analemma is that figure-8 curve that you get when you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day throughout planet Earth's year. Above, 26 separate exposures were…
A Complete Solar Cycle from SOHO
Every eleven years, our Sun goes through a solar cycle. A complete solar cycle has now been imaged by the sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft , celebrating the 12th anniversary of its…
Gibbous Europa
Although the phase of this moon might appear familiar, the moon itself might not. In fact, this gibbous phase shows part of Jupiter 's moon Europa . The robot spacecraft Galileo…
M74: The Perfect Spiral
If not perfect, then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation…
Aristarchus Plateau
Anchored in the vast lava flows of the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum lies the Aristarchus Plateau . The bright impact crater at the corner of the plateau is Aristarchus, a young…
Stardust in Perseus
This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 4 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus . Centered in the gorgeous skyscape is the dusty blue reflection…
Comet Holmes from the Hubble Space Telescope
Why did Comet Holmes brighten? The unexpectedly bright Comet 17P/Holmes continues to grace northern skies as a naked-eye addition to the constellation Perseus. Any northern sky…
Space Station Over the Ionian Sea
Last August, the Space Shuttle Endeavour crew captured this shot of the International Space Station (ISS) against the backdrop of Planet Earth. During that trip to the ISS , the…
Viewing discoveries from 20 December 2007 through 27 November 2007.