Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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Sunspot at Sunset
Reddened rays of the setting Sun flooded the skies over Cedar Creek Lake, southeast of Dallas, Texas, planet Earth on July 6th. And while sunsets may be the most watched celestial…
Messier's Eleven
This fifteen degree wide field of view stretches across the crowded starfields of Sagittarius toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the center of the galaxy lies…
Dusty Nebulae in Taurus
This complex of dusty nebulae linger along the edge of the Taurus molecular cloud , a mere 450 light-years distant. Stars are forming on the cosmic scene, including extremely…
Large Sunspots Now Crossing the Sun
One of the largest sunspot regions in recent years is now crossing the Sun. This region of convoluted magnetic fields may well produce a solar flare that releases a cloud of…
Supergiant Star Gamma Cygni
Supergiant star Gamma Cygni lies at the center of the Northern Cross, a famous asterism in the constellation of the Swan ( Cygnus ). Known by the proper name Sadr, the bright star…
Pluto's Newly Discovered Moons Receive Names
Pluto's newly discovered moons now have names. Known previously as P4 and P5 , the International Astronomical Union has now given the fourth and fifth discovered moons of Pluto…
NGC 2170: Still Life with Reflecting Dust
In this beautiful celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 shines at the upper left. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined…
NGC 6384: Spiral Beyond the Stars
The universe is filled with galaxies . But to see them astronomers must look out beyond the stars of our own galaxy, the Milky Way . This colorful Hubble Space Telescopic portrait…
Globular Star Cluster NGC 6752
Some 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo, the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752…
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…
Stars and Lightning Over Greece
It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the lightning, but really it's the Earth. In the foreground of the above picturesque nighttime landscape is the Greek Island…
Saturn's Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
What lies at the bottom of Hyperion 's strange craters? Nobody's sure . To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn swooped past the sponge-textured moon in…
PanSTARRS: The Anti Tail Comet
Once known as Earth's sunset comet , PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is up all night now, but only for northern hemisphere skygazers. Telescopes are required to track its progress as it…
A Super Moon's Halo
A Full Perigee Moon rose as the Sun set last Sunday. At its closest to Earth it was, by just a bit, the year's brightest and largest Full Moon also known as a Super Moon . Seen…
Noctilucent Clouds over Moscow
This panoramic night scene from June 8 looks out across a Moscow skyline from atop the main building of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Shining in the darkened sky above are…
M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda is the nearest major galaxy to our own Milky Way Galaxy . Our Galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda . Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of…
Rock Nest Panorama from Curiosity on Mars
This is Mars -- have a look around. More specifically, this is one area picked for its promise of holding clues to the habitability of Mars to ancient life. To better search for…
The Porpoise Galaxy from Hubble
What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown , was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning,…
Venus' Once Molten Surface
If you could look across Venus with radar eyes, what might you see? This computer reconstruction of the surface of Venus was created from data from the Magellan spacecraft.…
Perigee's Full Moon
A big, bright, beautiful Full Moon will rise at sunset on Sunday. Its exact full phase (June 23, 11:32 UT) will occur shortly before it reaches perigee , the closest point to…
A Solstice Sunset Self Portrait
Today, the solstice is at 05:04 Universal Time , the Sun reaching the northernmost declination in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky . A June solstice marks the…
Edge-on NGC 3628
Sharp telescopic views of magnificent edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this deep galactic portrait puts some…
Milky Way Over Crater Lake with Airglow
How many different astronomical phenomena have come together to create the above vista? Several. First, in the foreground, is Crater Lake -- a caldera created by volcanism on…
Dry Ice Sled Streaks on Mars
What creates these long and nearly straight grooves on Mars? Dubbed linear gullies , they appear on the sides of some sandy slopes during Martian spring, have nearly constant…
Viewing discoveries from 13 July 2013 through 17 June 2013.