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.
A Quadruple Sky Over Great Salt Lake
This was a sky to show the kids. All in all, three children, three planets, the Moon, a star, an airplane and a mom were all captured in one image near Great Salt Lake in Utah ,…
Earth and Milky Way from Space
Since November 2000 , people have been living continuously on the International Space Station. To celebrate humanity's 15th anniversary off planet Earth , consider this snapshot…
Unraveling NGC 3169
Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 appears to be unraveling in this cosmic scene , played out some 70 million light-years away just below bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation…
NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus
NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula , dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant…
The Great Orion Nebula M42
The Great Nebula in Orion , also known as M42, is one of the most famous nebulae in the sky. The star forming region's glowing gas clouds and hot young stars are on the right in…
Seeking Venus under the Spitzkoppe Arch
What's that in the sky? Although there was much to see in this spectacular panorama taken during the early morning hours of a day in late September, the brightest object in the…
Comet ISON Being Destroyed by the Sun
Most comets don't survive a close encounter with the Sun. Two years ago this month, though, Comet ISON was thought by some to be big enough to withstand its perilous sungrazing…
The Milky Way Over Monument Valley
You don't have to be at Monument Valley to see the Milky Way arch across the sky like this -- but it helps. Only at Monument Valley USA would you see a picturesque foreground that…
Ghosts and Star Trails
Don't be scared . Stars won't fall from the sky and ghosts won't really haunt your neighborhood tonight. But it looks like they might be doing just that in this eerie picture of…
The Witch Head Nebula
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble .... maybe Macbeth should have consulted the Witch Head Nebula. A frighteningly shaped reflection nebula , this…
IC 1871: Inside the Soul Nebula
This cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula. The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright ridges of glowing gas are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years…
Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star
What happens when a star gets too close to a black hole? Recent observations from Earth-orbiting observatories of an event dubbed ASASSN-14li, in a distant galactic center,…
Bright from the Heart Nebula
What's that inside the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart . The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its…
Charon and the Small Moons of Pluto
What do the moons of Pluto look like? Before a decade ago, only the largest moon Charon was known, but never imaged. As the robotic New Horizons spacecraft was prepared and…
Jupiter and Venus from Earth
It was visible around the world. The sunset conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in 2012 was visible almost no matter where you lived on Earth. Anyone on the planet with a clear…
Jupiter in 2015
Two remarkable global maps of Jupiter's banded cloud tops can be compared by just sliding your cursor over this sharp projection (or follow this link) of image data from the…
Starburst Galaxy Messier 94
Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15 million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici . A popular target for…
Star Factory Messier 17
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius . At that distance,…
The Fractured North Pole of Saturn's Enceladus
The north pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus is unexpectedly fascinating and complex. Previous to the latest flyby of the robotic Cassini spacecraft , the northern region was known…
When Black Holes Collide
What happens when two black holes collide? This extreme scenario likely occurs in the centers of some merging galaxies and multiple star systems. The featured video shows a…
The Southern Cross in a Southern Sky
Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous constellation is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Captured from Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , the four bright stars that…
Mammatus Clouds Over Saskatchewan
Why is this cloud so bubbly? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat . The flatness is caused by moist warm air that rises and cools and so condenses into water droplets at a specific…
Bright Spiral Galaxy M81
One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful M81 . The grand spiral galaxy can be found toward the northern…
Night Hides the World
Stars come out as evening twilight fades in this serene skyscape following the Persian proverb “Night hides the world, but reveals a universe.” The scene finds the Sun setting…
Viewing discoveries from 8 November 2015 through 16 October 2015.