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.
The Cone Nebula from Hubble
Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula. Cones, pillars , and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust…
A Dark Winter Sky over Monfrage National Park in Spain
You, too, can see a night sky like this. That is because Monfrage National Park in Spain , where this composite image was created, has recently had its night sky officially…
Saturn's Moon Pan from Cassini
Why does Saturn's moon Pan look so odd? Images taken last week from the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn have resolved the moon in unprecedented detail. The surprising…
At the Heart of Orion
Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula , are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium . Tightly gathered within a region about 1.5…
Reflections on vdB 31
Riding high in the constellation of Auriga, beautiful, blue vdB 31 is the 31st object in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 catalog of reflection nebulae . It shares this well-composed…
Galaxy Cluster Abell 2666
The galaxies of Abell 2666 lie far beyond the Milky Way, some 340 million light-years distant toward the high flying constellation Pegasus. Framed in this sharp telescopic image ,…
Centaurus A
Only 11 million light-years away, Centaurus A is the closest active galaxy to planet Earth. Spanning over 60,000 light-years, the peculiar elliptical galaxy also known as NGC 5128…
Dust, Gas, and Stars in the Orion Nebula
The Great Nebula in Orion , an immense, nearby starbirth region , is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas . Here, filaments of dark dust and glowing gas surround…
UGC 12591: The Fastest Rotating Galaxy Known
Why does this galaxy spin so fast? To start, even identifying which type of galaxy UGC 12591 is difficult -- it has dark dust lanes like a spiral galaxy but a large diffuse bulge…
Colorful Aurora over Iceland
You don't always see a scene this beautiful when you hike to an ancient volcano -- you have to be lucky. When the astrophotographer realized that aurora s were visible two-weeks…
The Mysterious Rings of Supernova 1987A
What's causing those odd rings in supernova 1987A? Thirty years ago , in 1987, the brightest supernova in recent history was seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud . At the center of…
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…
Sivan 2 to M31
From within the boundaries of the constellation Cassiopeia (left) to Andromeda (right), this telescopic mosaic spans over 10 degrees in planet Earth's skies. The celestial scene…
Annular Eclipse After Sunrise
From northern Patagonia , morning skies were clear and blue on Sunday, February 26. This sweeping composite scene, overlooking Hermoso Valle, Facundo, Chubut, Argentina, follows…
A Solar Eclipse with a Beaded Ring of Fire
What kind of eclipse is this? On Sunday , visible in parts of Earth's southern hemisphere, the Moon blocked part of the Sun during a partial solar eclipse . In some locations,…
A White Oval Cloud on Jupiter from Juno
This storm cloud on Jupiter is almost as large as the Earth. Known as a white oval , the swirling cloud is a high pressure system equivalent to an Earthly anticyclone . The cloud…
Four Quasar Images Surround a Galaxy Lens
An odd thing about the group of lights near the center is that four of them are the same distant quasar . This is because the foreground galaxy -- in the center of the quasar…
A Supercell Thunderstorm Cloud Over Montana
Is that a spaceship or a cloud? Although it may seem like an alien mothership , it's actually a impressive thunderstorm cloud called a supercell . Such colossal storm systems…
All Planets Panorama
For 360 degrees , a view along the plane of the ecliptic is captured in this remarkable panorama, with seven planets in a starry sky. The mosaic was constructed using images taken…
NGC 3621: Far Beyond the Local Group
Far beyond the local group of galaxies lies NGC 3621 , some 22 million light-years away. Found in the multi-headed southern constellation Hydra , the winding spiral arms of this…
Seven Worlds for TRAPPIST-1
Seven worlds orbit the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, a mere 40 light-years away. In May 2016 astronomers using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope…
Daphnis and the Rings of Saturn
What's happening to the rings of Saturn? Nothing much, just a little moon making waves. The moon is 8-kilometer Daphnis and it is making waves in the Keeler Gap of Saturn 's rings…
An Active Night over the Magellan Telescopes
The night sky is always changing. Featured here are changes that occurred over a six hour period in late 2014 June behind the dual 6.5-meter Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas…
Almost Three Tails for Comet Encke
How can a comet have three tails? Normally, a comet has two tails : an ion tail of charged particles emitted by the comet and pushed out by the wind from the Sun, and a dust tail…
Viewing discoveries from 15 March 2017 through 20 February 2017.