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.
Clouds of Perseus
Cosmic clouds of gas and dust drift across this magnificent panorama, spanning some 17 degrees near the southern boundary of the heroic constellation Perseus . The collaborative…
Tails of Comet Garradd
A good target for binoculars and small telescopes, Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) now shines in planet Earth's evening skies, a steady performer but just below naked-eye visibility.…
Draconid Meteors Over Spain
What are those streaks in the sky? They're meteors from the Draconids meteor shower that peaked earlier this month. The above composite image captured numerous meteor streaks over…
Movie: Approaching Light Speed
What would it look like to travel near the speed of light? Strange visual effects would appear as documented in the above relativistically-accurate animation. First of all,…
MACS 1206: A Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens
It is difficult to hide a galaxy behind a cluster of galaxies. The closer cluster's gravity will act like a huge lens , pulling images of the distant galaxy around the sides and…
A Picturesque Venus Transit
The rare transit of Venus across the face of the Sun in 2004 was one of the better-photographed events in sky history. Both scientific and artistic images flooded in from the…
NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours…
MAGIC Star Trails
Colorful star trails arc across the night in this surreal timelapse skyscape from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. A reflection of the…
The Color of IC 1795
This sharp cosmic portrait features glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds in IC 1795, a star forming region in the northern constellation Cassiopeia . Also cataloged as NGC 896,…
Saturn: Shadows of a Seasonal Sundial
Saturn's rings form one of the larger sundials known. This sundial , however, determines only the season of Saturn, not the time of day. In 2009, during Saturn's last equinox ,…
NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula
It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula , is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522 . Next door, though, lives a giant…
A Strange Sunrise Over Argentina
Why would a rising Sun look so strange? No one is yet sure. What is clear is that the above unusual sunrise was captured last month from Buenos Aires , Argentina . The body of…
Nobels for a Strange Universe
Thirteen years ago results were first presented indicating that most of the energy in our universe is not in stars or galaxies but is tied to space itself. In the language of…
MESSENGER's First Day
One solar day on a planet is the length of time from noon to noon. A solar day lasts 24 hours on planet Earth. On Mercury a solar day is about 176 Earth days long. And during its…
The Comet Hartley 2 Cruise
Early last November, small but active Comet Hartley 2 (103/P Hartley) became the fifth comet imaged close-up by a spacecraft from planet Earth . Still cruising through the solar…
M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind
Also known as the Cigar Galaxy for its elongated visual appearance, M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact , through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds…
Comet and CME on the Sun
Did a sun-diving comet just cause a solar explosion? Probably not. This past weekend a comet dove toward the Sun and was followed very quickly by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CMEs)…
QR Codes: Not for Human Eyes
This communication was not meant for human eyes. It was not even meant for aliens eyes . It's an attempt to communicate directly with your smartphone . Cameras on many smartphones…
Dark Matter Movie from the Bolshoi Simulation
What if you could fly through the universe and see dark matter? While the technology for taking such a flight remains under development, the technology for visualizing such a…
Tunguska: The Largest Recent Impact Event
Yes, but can your meteor do this? The most powerful natural explosion in recent Earth history occurred on 1908 June 30 when a meteor exploded above the Tunguska River in Siberia ,…
Asteroids Near Earth
Though the sizes are not to scale, the Sun and planets of the inner solar system are shown in this illustration, where each red dot represents an asteroid. New results from…
Cloudy Night of the Northern Lights
On September 26 , a large solar coronal mass ejection smacked into planet Earth's magnetosphere producing a severe geomagnetic storm and wide spread auroras. Captured here near…
Cocoon Nebula Wide Field
In this crowded starfield spanning some 3 degrees within the high flying constellation Cygnus , the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic…
Violent Sunspot Group AR 1302 Unleashes a Flare
One of the most active sunspot groups in years is currently crossing the Sun. AR 1302 first came around the Sun's edge last week and is so large it can be seen without a…
Viewing discoveries from 21 October 2011 through 28 September 2011.