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.
Stereo Itokawa
Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to asteroid Itokawa , a diminutive world of the solar system only half a kilometer across. Boulders strewn across its rough surface…
Star Trails and Tajinastes
What bizarre planet do these alien creatures inhabit? It's only planet Earth , of course. In this well-composed scene, the sky is filled with star trails around the north…
Comet McNaught Passes NGC 1245
Of the many comets named for discoverer Robert McNaught , the one cataloged as C/2009 R1 is gracing dawn skies for northern hemisphere observers this month. Seen here on June 13th…
APOD is 15 Years Old Today
Welcome to the quindecennial year of the Astronomy Picture of the Day! Perhaps a source of web consistency for some, APOD is still here. As during each of the 15 years of…
Starry Night Scavenger Hunt
Did you know that Van Gogh 's painting Starry Night includes Comet Hale-Bopp? Hopefully not, because it doesn't. But the above image does. Although today's featured picture may…
The Red Rectangle Nebula from Hubble
How was the unusual Red Rectangle nebula created? At the nebula's center is an aging binary star system that surely powers the nebula but does not, as yet, explain its colors. The…
Retrograde Mars
Why would Mars appear to move backwards? Most of the time, the apparent motion of Mars in Earth's sky is in one direction, slow but steady in front of the far distant stars. About…
The Medusa Nebula
Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500…
Hydrogen in M51
Perhaps the original spiral nebula, M51 is a large galaxy, over 60,000 light-years across, with a readily apparent spiral structure . Also cataloged as NGC 5194, M51 is a part of…
Regulus and the Red Planet
Leo's royal star Regulus and red planet Mars appear in a colorful pairing just above the horizon in this starry skyscape. The photo was taken on June 4th from Oraman, a…
Orange Sun Simmering
Even a quiet Sun can be a busy place. And over the deep Solar Minimum of the past few years, our Sun has been unusually quiet . The above image , taken last week in a single color…
Falcon 9 Launches to Orbit
A new rocket, the Falcon 9, was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, last week. The Falcon 9, standing about as high as a 15-floor building, was developed by…
Comet McNaught Becoming Visible to the Unaided Eye
A new comet is brightening and is now expected to become visible to the unaided eye later this month. C/2009 R1 (McNaught) is already showing an impressive tail and is currently…
Lunokhod: Reflections on a Moon Robot
It may look like some sort of cute alien robot, but it was created here on Earth, launched to the Moon in 1970, and now reflects laser light in a scientifically useful way. On…
Thor's Helmet
This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet . Heroically sized even for a Norse god , Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across.…
Hubble Remix: Active Galaxy NGC 1275
Active galaxy NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and relatively nearby Perseus Cluster of Galaxies . Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is…
Jupiter from the Stratosphere
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy , captured its “first light” images on May 26, from an altitude of 35,000 feet. While flying above most of planet…
A Twisted Meteor Trail Over Tenerife
Did this meteor take a twisting path? No one is sure. Considered opinions are solicited. Meteors, usually sand sized grains that originate in comets, will typically disintegrate…
WISE: Heart and Soul Nebulas in Infrared
Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia ? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula ,…
Moons and Rings Before Saturn
While cruising around Saturn, be on the lookout for picturesque juxtapositions of moons and rings. Another striking alignment occurred last March in the view of humanity's…
The Galactic Center in Infrared from 2MASS
The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light , much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust . In infrared light , however, dust glows more and obscures…
Black Holes in Merging Galaxies
Violent galaxy mergers can feed supermassive black holes. Theoretically, the result is intense emission from regions near the supermassive black holes, creating the some of the…
Atlantis over Rhodes
A moonlit chapel stands in the foreground of this night-scape from the historic Greek island of Rhodes . The tantalizing sky above features a colorful lunar corona , where bright…
M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
In 1716 , English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, “This is but a little Patch, but it shews itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, M13 is…
Viewing discoveries from 19 June 2010 through 27 May 2010.