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.
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…
A Sky Portal in New Zealand
To some, it may look like a portal into the distant universe. To others, it may appear as the eye of a giant. Given poetic license , both are correct. Pictured above is a standard…
The Horsehead Nebula from Blue to Infrared
One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion , is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud . Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first…
Rho Ophiuchi Wide Field
The clouds surrounding the star system Rho Ophiuchi compose one of the closest star forming regions. Rho Ophiuchi itself is a binary star system visible in the light-colored…
NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
Shiny NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one of the dustiest. Some call it the Silver Dollar Galaxy for its appearance in small telescopes, or just…
Cosmic Crab Nebula
The Crab Pulsar, a city-sized, magnetized neutron star spinning 30 times a second, lies at the center of this tantalizing wide-field image of the Crab Nebula . A spectacular…
ALMA Milky Way
This alluring all-skyscape was taken 5,100 meters above sea level, from the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. Viewed through the site's rarefied atmosphere at about 50% sea…
IC 4603: Reflection Nebula in Ophiuchius
Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting ? The effect is created not by digital trickery but by large amounts of interstellar dust . Dust, minute…
Cave with Aurora Skylight
Yes, but have you ever seen aurora from a cave? To capture this fascinating juxtaposition between below and above, astrophotographer Bjargmundsson spent much of a night alone in…
Spacecraft Rosetta Shows Comet has Two Components
Why does this comet's nucleus have two components? The surprising discovery that Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko has a double nucleus came late last week as ESA 's robotic…
A Solar Filament Erupts
What's happened to our Sun? Nothing very unusual -- it just threw a filament . Toward the middle of 2012, a long standing solar filament suddenly erupted into space producing an…
Alicante Beach Moonrise
In this beach and skyscape from Alicante, Spain, July's Full Moon shines in the dark blue twilight, its reflection coloring the Mediterranean waters. Near the horizon, the…
Ou4: A Giant Squid Nebula
A mysterious, squid-like apparition, this nebula is very faint, but also very large in planet Earth's sky. In the mosaic image, composed with narrowband data from the 2.5 meter…
3D Homunculus Nebula
If you're looking for something to print with that new 3D printer, try out a copy of the Homunculus Nebula. The dusty, bipolar cosmic cloud is around 1 light-year across but is…
The Moon Eclipses Saturn
What happened to half of Saturn? Nothing other than Earth's Moon getting in the way. As pictured above on the far right, Saturn is partly eclipsed by a dark edge of a Moon itself…
A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies
Why is there a blue bridge of stars across the center of this galaxy cluster? First and foremost the cluster, designated SDSS J1531+3414 , contains many large yellow elliptical…
Auroras over Northern Canada
Gusting solar winds and blasts of charged particles from the Sun resulted in several rewarding nights last December for those anticipating auroras . The above image captured…
Planetary Nebula NGC 2818 from Hubble
NGC 2818 is a beautiful planetary nebula , the gaseous shroud of a dying sun-like star . It could well offer a glimpse of the future that awaits our own Sun after spending another…
SN 1006 Supernova Remnant
A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found…
Spotty Sunrise over Brisbane
In this composite cityscape, dawn's first colors backdrop the lights along Brisbane's skyline at the southeastern corner of Queensland, Australia, planet Earth. Using a solar…
Noctilucent Clouds over London
This scene from the early morning hours of July 3 looks out across the River Thames from the Westminster Bridge. Part of a luminous timelapse video (vimeo) , the frame captures a…
Gliese 832c: The Closest Potentially Habitable Exoplanet
This planet is only 16 light years away -- could it harbor life? Recently discovered exoplanet Gliese 832c has been found in a close orbit around a star that is less bright than…
Iridescent Clouds over Thamserku
Why would a cloud appear to be different colors? A relatively rare phenomenon known as iridescent clouds can show unusual colors vividly or a whole spectrum of colors…
J1502+1115: A Triple Black Hole Galaxy
Most galaxies contain one supermassive black hole -- why does this galaxy have three? The likely reason is that galaxy J1502+1115 is the product of the recent coalescence of three…
Viewing discoveries from 30 July 2014 through 7 July 2014.