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.
Comet PanSTARRS, Moon, and Venus
It is the object to the left of the big tree that's generating much recent excitement. If you look closely, there you can see Comet PanSTARRS , complete with two tails . During…
Comet Tails and Star Trails
After grazing the western horizon on northern summer evenings Comet PanSTARRS (also known as C/2014 Q1) climbed higher in southern winter skies. A visitor to the inner Solar…
Comet PanSTARRS and a Crescent Moon
A comet has brightened quickly and unexpectedly. Discovered last year, Comet C/2014 Q1 (PanSTARRS) is expected to be visible now for a few days to the unaided eye, just after…
The First Rocket Launch from Cape Canaveral
A new chapter in space flight began this week in 1950 July with the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral , Florida : the Bumper V-2. Shown above , the Bumper V-2 was an…
Charon
Icy world Charon is 1,200 kilometers across. That makes Pluto's largest moon only about 1/10th the size of planet Earth but a whopping 1/2 the diameter of Pluto itself . Charon is…
50 Miles on Pluto
A 50 mile (80 kilometer) trip across Pluto would cover the distance indicated by the scale bar in this startling image. The close-up of the icy world's rugged equatorial terrain…
Pluto Resolved
New Horizons has survived its close encounter with Pluto and has resumed sending back images and data. The robotic spacecraft reported back on time, with all systems working , and…
New Horizons Passes Pluto and Charon
Will the New Horizons spacecraft survive its closest approach to Pluto and return useful images and data? Humanity will know in a few hours. Regardless of how well it functions,…
Last Look at Pluto's Charon Side
Pluto surface is strange. As the robotic New Horizons barrels toward its closest approach to Pluto and its moons tomorrow, images already coming back show Pluto's surface to be…
New Horizons Launch to Pluto
Destination: Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft roared off its launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida , USA in 2006 toward adventures in the distant Solar System . The craft is…
Geology on Pluto
Pluto is coming into focus. As the robotic New Horizons spacecraft bears down on this unexplored world of the distant Solar System , new features on its surface are becoming…
Messier 43
Often imaged but rarely mentioned, Messier 43 is a large star forming region in its own right. It's just part of the star forming complex of gas and dust that includes the larger,…
5 Million Miles from Pluto
An image snapped on July 7 by the New Horizons spacecraft while just under 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) from Pluto is combined with color data in this most detailed view…
In the Company of Dione
That is not our Moon. It's Dione , and its a moon of Saturn. The robotic Cassini spacecraft took the featured image during a flyby of Saturn's cratered Moon last month. Perhaps…
The Milky Way from a Malibu Sea Cave
Whats happening outside this cave? Nothing unexpected its just the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy passing by. As the Earth turns , the band of our Galaxy appears to rotate…
Colorful Clouds Near Rho Ophiuchi
Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust illuminated from the front by starlight produces…
Zeta Oph: Runaway Star
Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi produces the arcing interstellar bow wave or bow shock seen in this stunning infrared portrait . In the…
Aurora Australis
Not fireworks, these intense shimmering lights still danced across Earth's night skies late last month, seen here above the planet's geographic south pole. The stunning auroral…
Venus and Jupiter are Far
On June 30 Venus and Jupiter were actually far apart, but both appeared close in western skies at dusk. Near the culmination of this year's gorgeous conjunction , the two bright…
Venus and Jupiter are Close
On June 30, Venus and Jupiter were close in western skies at dusk. Near the culmination of this year's gorgeous conjunction , the two bright evening planets are captured in the…
Venus, Jupiter, and Noctilucent Clouds
Have you seen the passing planets yet? Today the planets Jupiter and Venus pass within half a degree of each other as seen from Earth . This conjunction , visible all over the…
An Unusual Mountain on Asteroid Ceres
What created this large mountain on asteroid Ceres? No one is yet sure. As if in anticipation of today being Asteroid Day on Earth, the robotic spacecraft Dawn in orbit around…
All the Colors of the Sun
It is still not known why the Sun's light is missing some colors. Here are all the visible colors of the Sun , produced by passing the Sun's light through a prism -like device.…
Stars of a Summer's Triangle
Rising at the start of a northern summer's night, these three bright stars form the familiar asterism known as the Summer Triangle . Altair, Deneb, and Vega are the alpha stars of…
Viewing discoveries from 23 July 2015 through 27 June 2015.