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.
Galaxies on a String
Galaxies NGC 5216 (top) and NGC 5218 really do look like they are connected by a string. Of course, that string is a cosmic trail of gas, dust, and stars about 22,000 light-years…
Above Aurora Australis
On May 29, looking southward from a vantage point about 350 kilometers above the southern Indian Ocean, astronauts onboard the International Space Station watched this enormous,…
Fast Gas Bullet from Cosmic Blast N49
What is that strange blue blob on the far right? No one is sure, but it might be a speeding remnant of a powerful supernova that was unexpectedly lopsided. Scattered debris from…
Trees, Sky, Galactic Eye
Is beauty in the eye of this beholder? Earlier this month, over Runion Island in the Indian Ocean , a playful photographer with an eye for the sky took eight images and composed…
A Partial Lunar Eclipse
What's happened to the Moon? This past weekend, once again, part of the Moon moved through the Earth's shadow. This happens about once or twice a year, on the average , but not…
All the Colors of the Sun
It is still not known why the Sun's light is missing some colors. Shown above are all the visible colors of the Sun , produced by passing the Sun's light through a prism -like…
Young Star Cluster Westerlund 2
Dusty stellar nursery RCW 49 surrounds young star cluster Westerlund 2 in this remarkable composite skyscape from beyond the visible spectrum of light. Infrared data from the…
The Starry Night of Alamut
A meteor's streak and the arc of the Milky Way hang over the imposing mountain fortress of Alamut in this starry scene. Found in the central Alborz Mountains of Iran, Alamut…
The Dark Tower in Scorpius
In silhouette against a crowded star field toward the constellation Scorpius , this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower . In fact, clumps of dust…
Sunset from the International Space Station
What are these strange color bands being seen from the International Space Station? The Sun setting through Earth's atmosphere. Pictured above , a sunset captured last month by…
Islands of Four Mountains from Above
Our Earth is covered by volcanoes. Volcanoes are breaks in the Earth's cool surface where hot liquid rock from the interior comes out -- sometimes suddenly . In the above image…
Sunrise Solstice at Stonehenge
Today the Sun reaches its northernmost point in planet Earth's sky. Called a solstice , the date traditionally marks a change of seasons -- from spring to summer in Earth 's…
Abell 2218: A Galaxy Cluster Lens
What are those strange filaments? Background galaxies. Gravity can bend light, allowing huge clusters of galaxies to act as telescopes, and distorting images of background…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 2 July 2010 through 9 June 2010.