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.
Equinox and the Iron Sun
Today, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south at 03:09 Universal Time . Known as an equinox, this astronomical event marks the first day of autumn in the northern…
Discovery Rollout Shadow
Who goes there ? Although the spotlighted figure in white might not be identifiable by itself, surely the huge shadow behind it makes its identity clear: the space shuttle .…
Starry Night Over the Rhone
How can the majesty of the night sky best be captured in a painting? This was a continual challenge for Vincent van Gogh , a famous painter in the late 1800s who pioneered…
Aurora Over Norway
Auroras can make spectacular sights. Photographed above last weekend, flowing multi-colored auroras helped illuminate a busy sky above Troms , Norway . Besides the spectacular…
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…
Opposite the Sun
Chances are the brightest star you've seen lately is actually planet Jupiter. Jupiter rules the sky in this labeled view of a starry September night from the Alborz mountains in…
Northern Lights over Prelude Lake
Curtains of shimmering green light sprawl across this gorgeous night skyscape. In the foreground lies the peaceful Prelude Lake, located about 30 kilometers east of Yellowknife,…
The Veil Nebula
Delicate in appearance, these filaments of shocked, glowing gas, draped in planet Earth's sky toward the constellation of Cygnus, make up the Veil Nebula . The nebula is a large…
Clouds, Birds, Moon, Venus
Sometimes the sky above can become quite a show. Last week, for example, the Moon and Venus converged , creating quite a sight by itself for sky enthusiasts around the globe .…
An Extraordinary Spiral from LL Pegasi
What created the strange spiral structure on the left? No one is sure, although it is likely related to a star in a binary star system entering the planetary nebula phase, when…
Zodiacal Light Over Namibia
An unusual triangle of light is visible this time of year just before dawn, in the northern hemisphere. Once considered a false dawn , this triangle of light is actually zodiacal…
Oklo: Ancient African Nuclear Reactors
The remnants of nuclear reactors nearly two billion years old were found in the 1970s in Africa. These reactors are thought to have occurred naturally. No natural reactors exist…
Star Streams and the Sunflower Galaxy
A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the loyal constellation Canes Venatici . Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic…
Vela Supernova Remnant
The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this complex and beautiful skyscape . At the northwestern edge of the constellation Vela (the Sails) the four frame mosaic is over…
Cepheus: Trunk to Bubble
Star clusters, glowing nebulae and dark dust clouds abound in Cepheus , royal constellation of the northern hemisphere. You can follow them in amazing detail across this broad…
NGC 4911: Spiral Diving into a Dense Cluster
Why are there faint rings around this spiral galaxy? Possibly because the galaxy, NGC 4911 , is being pulled at by its neighbors as it falls into the enormous Coma Cluster of…
Space Shuttle Tribute Poster: Endeavour
They are some of the most complex machines ever built. From a standing start they can launch a school - bus sized object up so high and moving so fast that it won't fall back…
A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy? Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a Galactic war . Rather, astronomers at the…
GRO J1655-40: Evidence for a Spinning Black Hole
In the center of a swirling whirlpool of hot gas is likely a beast that has never been seen directly: a black hole . Studies of the bright light emitted by the swirling gas…
Young Suns of NGC 7129
Young suns still lie within dusty NGC 7129 , some 3,000 light-years away toward the royal constellation Cepheus . While these stars are at a relatively tender age, only a few…
The Small Cloud of Magellan
Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two celestial…
The Bubble Nebula
Blown by the wind from a massive star, this interstellar apparition has a surprisingly familiar shape . Cataloged as NGC 7635, it is also known simply as The Bubble Nebula .…
Earth and Moon from MESSENGER
What does Earth look like from the planet Mercury? The robotic spacecraft MESSENGER found out as it looked toward the Earth during its closest approach to the Sun about three…
The Annotated Galactic Center
The sky toward the center of our Galaxy is filled with a wide variety of celestial wonders , many of which are visible from a dark location with common binoculars . Constellations…
Viewing discoveries from 23 September 2010 through 31 August 2010.