Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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NGC 2392 from Hubble and Chandra
In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered the NGC 2392 . From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope…
Saturn, Titan, Rings, and Haze
This is not a solar eclipse . Pictured above is a busy vista of moons and rings taken at Saturn. The large circular object in the center of the image is Titan , the largest moon…
Hoag's Object: A Strange Ring Galaxy
Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Art Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object . On the outside is a ring dominated by…
Atacama's Cloudy Night
Storm clouds do sometimes come to Chile's Atacama desert, known as the driest place on Earth . These washed through the night sky just last month during the winter season,…
The Elephant's Trunk in IC 1396
Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story , the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster complex IC 1396 , in the high and far off…
The Beautiful Trifid
The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star…
A Year of Sky on Earth
Each panel shows one day. With 360 movie panels, the sky over (almost) an entire year is shown in time lapse format as recorded by a video camera on the roof of the Exploratorium…
Two Views of Earth
In a cross-Solar System interplanetary first, our Earth was photographed during the same day from both Mercury and Saturn. Pictured on the left, Earth is the pale blue dot just…
Earth and Moon from Saturn
You are here. Everyone you've ever known is here. Every human who has ever lived -- is here. Pictured above is the Earth-Moon system as captured by the Cassini mission orbiting…
The Seasons of Saturn
Since Saturn's axis is tilted as it orbits the Sun , Saturn has seasons , like those of planet Earth ... but Saturn's seasons last for over seven years. So what season is it on…
Comet Lemmon and the Deep Sky
Now sweeping high above the ecliptic plane, Comet Lemmon has faded dramatically in planet Earth's night sky as it heads for the outer solar system. Some 16 light-minutes (2 AU)…
Take a Picture of Saturn
Take a picture of Saturn in the sky tonight. You could capture a view like this one. Recorded just last month looking toward the south, planet Earth and ruins of the ancient…
Hidden Galaxy IC 342
Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis . A…
A Waterspout in Florida
What's happening over the water? Pictured above is one of the better images yet recorded of a waterspout , a type of tornado that occurs over water. Waterspouts are spinning…
The Moon from Zond 8
Which moon is this? Earth's. Our Moon's unfamiliar appearance is due partly to an unfamiliar viewing angle as captured by a little-known spacecraft -- the Soviet Union's Zond 8…
The Sombrero Galaxy from Hale
What's going on in the center of this spiral galaxy? Named the Sombrero Galaxy for its hat-like resemblance, M104 features a prominent dust lane and a bright halo of stars and…
The Pillars of Eagle Castle
What lights up this castle of star formation? The familiar Eagle Nebula glows bright in many colors at once. The above image is a composite of three of these glowing gas colors.…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 30 July 2013 through 7 July 2013.