Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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A Live View from the International Space Station
If you were floating above the Earth right now, this is what you might see. Two weeks ago, the robotic SpaceX Dragon capsule that delivered supplies to the Earth-orbiting…
CG4: A Ruptured Cometary Globule
Can a gas cloud grab a galaxy? It's not even close. The “claw” of this odd looking “creature” in the above photo is a gas cloud known as a cometary globule . This globule,…
Illustris Simulation of the Universe
How did we get here? Click play, sit back, and watch. A new computer simulation of the evolution of the universe -- the largest and most sophisticated yet produced -- provides new…
Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars . Named Valles Marineris , the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as…
Inside the Flame Nebula
The Flame Nebula stands out in this optical image of the dusty, crowded star forming regions toward Orion's belt , a mere 1,400 light-years away. X-ray data from the Chandra…
Halley Dust and Milky Way
The early morning hours of May 6 were moonless when grains of cosmic dust streaked through dark skies. Swept up as planet Earth plows through dusty debris streams left behind…
The Tail of the Hamburger Galaxy
Sharp telescopic views of NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this deep portrait of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some…
Curiosity Inspects Mt. Remarkable on Mars
What has the Curiosity rover come across on Mars? Dubbed Mount Remarkable, the rolling robot has chanced upon this notable 5-meter tall mound during its continuing journey around…
Orange Sun Sparking
Our Sun has become quite a busy place. Taken only two weeks ago, the Sun was captured sporting numerous tumultuous regions including active sunspot regions AR 2036 near the image…
Galaxy Cluster Magnifies Distant Supernova
How do you calibrate a huge gravitational lens? In this case the lens is the galaxy cluster Abell 383 , a massive conglomeration of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter that lies…
A Scorpius Sky Spectacular
If Scorpius looked this good to the unaided eye, humans might remember it better. Scorpius more typically appears as a few bright stars in a well-known but rarely pointed out…
T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula
The yellowish star near center in this dusty telescopic skyview is T Tauri, prototype of the class of T Tauri variable stars. Just next door is the yellow cosmic cloud…
That Night over Half Dome
Captured one night last May this eight frame mosaic starts on the left, down Northside Drive through Yosemite National Park. It ends thousands of light-years away though, as the…
Brisbane Sunset Moonset
In skies over Brisbane at the southeastern corner of Queensland, Australia, Planet Earth , the Sun and New Moon set together on April 29 . There the celestial line-up, the first…
A Partially Eclipsed Setting Sun
If you look closely, you will see something quite unusual about this setting Sun. There are birds flying to the Sun's left, but that's not so unusual . A dark sea covers the Sun's…
Aurora Dog over Alaska
Sometimes it is hard to believe what you see in the sky. While leading his annual aurora tour last month near Fairbanks in central Alaska , astrophotographer John Chumack and his…
Time Lapse of a Total Lunar Eclipse
Why would a bright full Moon suddenly become dark? Because it entered the shadow of the Earth. Almost two weeks ago this exact event happened as the Moon underwent a total lunar…
SuitSat-1: A Spacesuit Floats Free
A spacesuit floated away from the International Space Station eight years ago, but no investigation was conducted. Everyone knew that it was pushed by the space station crew.…
Southern Annular Eclipse
It's eclipse season , and on April 29 around 06:00 UT the shadow of the new Moon will reach out and touch planet Earth, though only just . Still, if you're standing on the…
Hubble's Messier 5
“Beautiful Nebula discovered between the Balance [Libra] & the Serpent [Serpens] ...” begins the description of the 5th entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous…
Lyrids in Southern Skies
Earth's annual Lyrid meteor shower peaked before dawn on April 22nd, as our fair planet plowed through dust from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher . Even in the dry and dark…
Arp 81: 100 Million Years Later
From planet Earth , we see this strongly distorted pair of galaxies , cataloged as Arp 81, as they were only about 100 million years after their close encounter. The havoc wreaked…
The El Gordo Massive Galaxy Cluster
It is bigger than a bread box. In fact, it is much bigger than all bread box es put together. Galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102-4915 is one of the largest and most massive objects…
Massive Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841
It is one of the more massive galaxies known. A mere 46 million light-years distant, spiral galaxy NGC 2841 can be found in the northern constellation of Ursa Major . This sharp…
Viewing discoveries from 14 May 2014 through 21 April 2014.