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.
NGC 7814: The Little Sombrero in Pegasus
Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies . Dominated by NGC 7814, the pretty field…
Symbiotic R Aquarii
A long recognized naked-eye variable star, R Aquarii is actually an interacting binary star system, two stars that seem to have a close, symbiotic relationship . About 710 light…
Composite Messier 20 and 21
The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, lies about 5,000 light-years away, a colorful study in cosmic contrasts . It shares this nearly 1 degree wide field with…
The M81 Galaxy Group through the Integrated Flux Nebula
Distant galaxies and nearby nebulas highlight this deep image of the M81 Group of galaxies. First and foremost in this 80-exposure mosaic is the grand design spiral galaxy M81 ,…
Artistic Impression: The Surface of TRAPPIST-1f
If you could stand on the surface of the newly discovered Earth-sized exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, what would you see? Presently, no Earthling knows for sure, but the featured…
The N44 Superbubble
What created this gigantic hole? The vast emission nebula N44 in our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud has a large, 250 light-year hole and astronomers are trying to…
Markarian's Chain to Messier 64
Top to bottom , this colorful and broad telescopic mosaic links Markarian's Chain of galaxies across the core of the Virgo Cluster to dusty spiral galaxy Messier 64. Galaxies are…
Solstice Conjunction over Budapest
Before a solstice Sun rose on June 21, brilliant Venus and an old crescent Moon posed together over Budapest, Hungary for this predawn skyscape . In the foreground the view looks…
Northern Summer on Titan
While yesterday's solstice brought summer to planet Earth's northern hemisphere, a northern summer solstice arrived for ringed planet Saturn nearly a month ago on May 24.…
A Sundial that Shows Solstice
What day is it? If the day -- and time -- are right, this sundial will tell you: SOLSTICE . Only then will our Sun be located just right for sunlight to stream through openings…
The Massive Stars in Westerlund 1
Star cluster Westerlund 1 is home to some of the largest and most massive stars known. It is headlined by the star Westerlund 1-26 , a red supergiant star so big that if placed in…
Eclipse Across America: Path Prediction Video
Where will you be during the Eclipse across America? On August 21, the shadow of the Moon will cross the continental USA for the first time since 1979. The predicted path -- a…
Views from Cassini at Saturn
What has the Cassini orbiter seen at Saturn? The featured music video shows some of the early highlights. In the first time-lapse sequence (00:07), a vertical line appears that is…
Saturn near Opposition
Saturn reached its 2017 opposition on June 16. Of course, opposition means opposite the Sun in Earth's sky and near opposition Saturn is up all night, at its closest and brightest…
Manhattan Moonrise
A Full Moon rose as the Sun set on June 9, known to some as a Strawberry Moon. Close to the horizon and taking on the warm color of reflected sunlight filtered through a dense and…
Red Sprites over the Channel
Mysterious and incredibly brief, red sprites are seen to occur high above large thunderstorms on planet Earth. While they have been recorded from low Earth orbit or high flying…
M89: Elliptical Galaxy with Outer Shells and Plumes
Can you see them? This famous Messier object M89 , a seemingly simple elliptical galaxy , is surrounded by faint shells and plumes. The cause of the shells is currently unknown,…
The Great Nebula in Carina
In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina , is home to massive stars and…
An Unusual Hole in Mars
What created this unusual hole in Mars? Actually, there are numerous holes pictured in this Swiss cheese-like landscape , with all-but-one of them showing a dusty, dark, Martian…
IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula
What is creating the strange texture of IC 418? Dubbed the Spirograph Nebula for its resemblance to drawings from a cyclical drawing tool , planetary nebula IC 418 shows patterns…
Saturn in the Milky Way
Saturn is near opposition in planet Earth's sky. Rising at sunset and shining brightly throughout the night, it also lies near a line-of-sight to crowded starfields, nebulae, and…
M27: Not a Comet
While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets.…
Firefall by Moonlight
On certain dates in February, an elusive firefall can be spotted at sunset in Yosemite National Park , when the weather cooperates and the direction to the setting Sun is just…
Orbiting Jupiter
What would it be like to orbit Jupiter? The dramatic featured video depicts just this and was made from images taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft currently orbiting the Jovian giant.…
Viewing discoveries from 30 June 2017 through 7 June 2017.