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.
Spitzer's Milky Way
The Spitzer Space Telescope's encompasing infrared view of the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy is hard to appreciate in just one picture. In fact, more than 800,000 frames of data…
Chasing the ISS
Bathed in sunlight, the International Space Station (ISS) arced through the evening sky above the town of Lauffen in southern Germany on May 31st. The timing of the bright passage…
The Dark River to Antares
Connecting the Pipe Nebula to the bright star Antares is a flowing dark cloud nicknamed the Dark River . The murkiness of the Dark River is caused by absorption of background…
Unusual Light Patch Under Phoenix Lander on Mars
Is that ice under the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars? Quite possibly . Phoenix, which landed a week ago, was expected to dig under the Martian soil to search for ice, but the lander's…
A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence
Ten Earth s could easily fit in the “claw” of this seemingly solar monster. The monster, though, visible on the lower left, is a huge eruptive prominence seen moving out from our…
A View to the Sunset
Each day on planet Earth can have a dramatic ending as the Sun sets below the colorful western horizon. Often inspiring, or offering a moment for contemplation, a sunset is…
Descent of the Phoenix
In this sweeping view , the 10 kilometer-wide crater Heimdall lies on the north polar plains of Mars . But the bright spot highlighted in the inset is the Phoenix lander…
A Fog Bow Over Ocean Beach
What is that white arch over the water? What is being seen is a fogbow , a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. The fog itself is not…
Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula
What dark forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? These ominous figures are actually molecular clouds , knots of molecular gas and dust so thick they have become opaque . In…
Phoenix at Mars
The Phoenix lander's footpads are about the size of a dinner plate. One of three is shown at the right , covered with Martian soil after a successful soft landing on the Red…
A New Horizon for Phoenix
This flat horizon stretches across the red planet as seen by the Phoenix spacecraft after yesterday's landing on Mars. Touching down shortly after 7:30pm Eastern Time, Phoenix…
Phoenix Lander Arrives at Mars
Will Phoenix survive its landing today on Mars? Phoenix's landing sequence will ramp up starting at about 7:30 pm EDT (23:30 UTC) today and last just over an hour. If all goes…
Space Station in the Sun
Still bathed in sunlight, the International Space Station tracked through night skies above Hombressen, Germany on May 12. From a range of at least 360 kilometers, astronomer Dirk…
Jupiter's Three Red Spots
For about 300 years Jupiter's banded atmosphere has shown a remarkable feature to telescopic viewers , a large swirling storm system known as The Great Red Spot . In 2006, another…
Windblown NGC 3199
NGC 3199 lies about 12,000 light-years away, a glowing cosmic cloud in the southern constellation of Carina . The nebula is about 75 light-years across in this haunting,…
A Dangerous Sunrise on Gliese 876d
On planet Gliese 876d, sunrises might be dangerous. Although nobody really knows what conditions are like on this close-in planet orbiting variable red dwarf star Gliese 876 , the…
The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies
Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky. Each of these fuzzy blobs is a galaxy, together making up the Perseus Cluster , one of the closest…
Flying Over the Columbia Hills of Mars
What it would be like to fly over Mars? Combining terrain data from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft (now dormant) with information about the robotic Spirit rover…
On the Origin of Gold
Where did the gold in your jewelry originate? No one is completely sure . The relative average abundance in our Solar System appears higher than can be made in the early universe…
Logarithmic Spirals
Uncomfortably close Typhoon Rammasun (right) and 25 million light-year distant galaxy M101 don't seem to have much in common. For starters, Rammasun was only a thousand kilometers…
Circles in the Sky
Gazing skyward on a sunny day in May, photographer Jean-Marc Lecleire captured this engaging display of ice halos forming complete circles in the sky. Recorded with a fish-eye…
Sideways Galaxy NGC 3628
Dark dust lanes cut across the middle of this gorgeous island universe , a strong hint that NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy seen sideways . About 35 million light-years away in the…
A Supply Ship Docks with the International Space Station
Looking out a window of the International Space Station brings breathtaking views. Visible vistas include a vast and colorful Earth , a deep dark sky , and an occasional spaceship…
Ancient Craters of Southern Rhea
Saturn's ragged moon Rhea has one of the oldest surfaces known. Estimated as changing little in the past billion years, Rhea shows craters so old they no longer appear round their…
Viewing discoveries from 5 June 2008 through 13 May 2008.