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.
A Sharp View of the Sun
Here is one of the sharper views of the Sun ever taken. This stunning image shows remarkable details of a dark sunspot across the image bottom and numerous boiling granules which…
Spitzer's Orion
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula , an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. This stunning false-color view spans about 40 light-years…
September's Harvest Moon
A Full Moon rising can be a dramatic celestial sight , and Full Moons can have many names. For example, Monday's Full Moon was the one nearest this year's autumnal equinox for the…
NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo . Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small…
The Bubble and M52
To the eye, this cosmic composition nicely balances the Bubble Nebula at the lower right with open star cluster M52. The pair would be lopsided on other scales, though. Embedded…
Great Orion Nebulae
The Great Nebula in Orion , also known as M42, is one of the most famous nebulas in the sky. The star forming region's glowing gas clouds and hot young stars are on the right in…
Tisdale 2 Rock Formation on Mars
Why does this Martian rock have so much zinc? Roughly the size and shape of a tilted coffee-table, this oddly flat, light-topped rock outcropping was chanced upon a few weeks ago…
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…
Rollback from GRAIL's Rocket
This dramatic time-lapse photo traces a 20 minute long, late evening rollback of the lighted Mobile Service Tower at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17. Twin…
Comet Garradd and the Coat Hanger
Sweeping through planet Earth's night sky, last weekend Comet Garradd ( C/2009 P1) visited this lovely star field along the Milky Way in the constellation Vulpecula. Suggestively…
Apollo 17 Site: A Sharper View
This view of the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow valley was captured last month by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the sharpest ever recorded from space . The…
SDSS J102915+172927: A Star That Should Not Exist
Why does this star have so few heavy elements? Stars born in the generation of our Sun have an expected abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium mixed into their…
M6: The Butterfly Cluster
To some, the outline of the open cluster of stars M6 resembles a butterfly. M6 , also known as NGC 6405, spans about 20 light-years and lies about 2,000 light years distant. M6…
HH 47: A Young Star Jet Expands
Stars remain where they are. Nebulas appear the same. Day after day. Year after year. Given the vast distances in astronomy, even fast moving objects will not appear to change…
In the Shadow of Saturn
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back…
Comet Garradd Passes Ten Thousand Stars
Comet Garradd continues to brighten as it drifts across the northern sky. Last week the comet, visible with binoculars and discernible by its green coma , passed nearly in front…
Herschel Views the Milky Way
With a 3.5 meter diameter mirror, larger than the Hubble Space Telescope, ESA's Herschel Space Observatory explores the Universe at infrared wavelengths. Herschel is named for…
M27: Not a Comet
While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets.…
Roll Cloud Over Wisconsin
What kind of cloud is this? A type of arcus cloud called a roll cloud . These rare long clouds may form near advancing cold fronts. In particular, a downdraft from an advancing…
The Coldest Brown Dwarf
This cosmic snapshot composed with image data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) satellite captures a multitude of faint stars and distant galaxies toward…
Hickson 44 in Leo
Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies , now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups .…
A Jet from Galaxy M87
What's causing a huge jet to emanate from the center of galaxy M87 ? Although the unusual jet was first noticed early in the twentieth century , the exact cause is still debated.…
Hurricane Irene Forms
How does a hurricane form? Although a complete picture is still being researched, insight into this process might be gleaned by watching the above time lapse movie of the…
A Young Supernova in the Nearby Pinwheel Galaxy
A nearby star has exploded and telescopes all over the world are turning to monitor it. The supernova, dubbed PTF 11kly, was discovered by computer only two days ago as part of…
Viewing discoveries from 18 September 2011 through 26 August 2011.