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.
Carina Nebula Close Up
A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula , also known as NGC 3372, spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. Like the smaller, more…
The Pale Blue Dot
On Valentine's Day in 1990, cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back one last time to make the first ever Solar System family portrait . The…
Spitzer's Trifid
The Trifid Nebula , also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope. About 30 light-years across and 5,500 light-years distant it's a popular stop for cosmic…
Star Trails of the North and South
What divides the north from the south? It all has to do with the spin of the Earth . On Earth's surface, the equator is the dividing line, but on Earth's sky, the dividing line is…
Launch of the Solar Orbiter
How does weather on the Sun affect humanity? To help find out, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have just launched the Solar Orbiter . This Sun-circling robotic spaceship…
Solar Eclipse over the UAE
What's happening behind that camel? A partial eclipse of the Sun. About six and a half weeks ago, the Moon passed completely in front of the Sun as seen from a narrow band on the…
To Fly Free in Space
What would it be like to fly free in space? At about 100 meters from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Challenger , Bruce McCandless II was living the dream -- floating farther…
Cosmic Clouds in the Unicorn
Interstellar clouds of hydrogen gas and dust abound in this gorgeous skyscape . The 3 degree wide field of view stretches through the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros ,…
NGC 7331 Close Up
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way . About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus , NGC 7331 was…
Southern Moonscape
The Moon's south pole is near the top of this detailed telescopic view . Looking across the rugged southern lunar highlands it was captured from southern California, planet Earth.…
Lunar Eclipse Perspectives
Do we all see the same Moon ? Yes, but we all see it differently. One difference is the apparent location of the Moon against background stars -- an effect known as parallax . We…
A Sunset Night Sky over the Grand Canyon
Seeing mountain peaks glow red from inside the Grand Canyon was one of the most incredible sunset experiences of this amateur photographer's life. They appeared even more…
Solar Granules at Record High Resolution
Why does the Sun's surface keep changing? The help find out, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has built the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, USA. The Inouye…
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…
Apollo 14 Heads for Home
When leaving lunar orbit in February 1971, the crew of Apollo 14 watched this Earthrise from their command module Kitty Hawk. With Earth's sunlit crescent just peeking over the…
Goldilocks Zones and Stars
The Goldilocks zone is the habitable zone around a star where it's not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of orbiting planets. This intriguing…
Two Clusters and a Comet
This lovely starfield spans some four full moons (about 2 degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus . In telescopic exposures made during the nights of January…
Milky Way over Yellowstone
The Milky Way was not created by an evaporating lake. The pool of vivid blue water, about 10 meters across, is known as Silex Spring and is located in Yellowstone National Park in…
Star Formation in the Tadpole Nebula
What's all of the commotion in the Tadpole Nebula? Star formation. Dusty emission in the Tadpole Nebula, IC 410, lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation…
Comet CG Evaporates
Where do comet tails come from? There are no obvious places on the nuclei of comets from which the jets that create comet tails emanate. One of the best images of emerging jets is…
Hills, Ridges, and Tracks on Mars
Sometimes, even rovers on Mars stop to admire the scenery. Just late last November the Curiosity rover on Mars paused to photograph its impressive surroundings . One thing to…
Rubin's Galaxy
In this Hubble Space Telescope image the bright, spiky stars lie in the foreground toward the heroic northern constellation Perseus and well within our own Milky Way galaxy. In…
Into the Shadow
On January 21, 2019 moonwatchers on planet Earth saw a total lunar eclipse . In 35 frames this composite image follows the Moon that night as it crossed into Earth's dark umbral…
Globular Star Cluster NGC 6752
Some 13,000 light-years away toward the southern constellation Pavo, the globular star cluster NGC 6752 roams the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Over 10 billion years old, NGC 6752…
Viewing discoveries from 15 February 2020 through 23 January 2020.