Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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The Porpoise Galaxy from Hubble
What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown , was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning,…
Full Flower Moonrise
Rising as the Sun set, the Moon was bright and full in planet Earth skies on May 7 and known to some as a Flower Moon . Near the horizon it does seem to take on rose pink hues of…
Long Tailed Comet SWAN
Blowing in the solar wind the spectacular ion tail of Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8) extends far across this 10 degree wide telephoto field of view. Captured on May 2 its greenish coma…
Analemma of the Moon
An analemma is that figure-8 curve you get when you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day for one year. But the trick to imaging an analemma of the Moon is to…
LDN 1471: A Windblown Star Cavity
What is the cause of this unusual parabolic structure? This illuminated cavity, known as LDN 1471 , was created by a newly forming star , seen as the bright source at the peak of…
Carina in Perspective
You need to be in the south, looking south, to see such a sky. And only then if you're lucky. Just above the picturesque tree is the impressive Carina Nebula , one of the few…
Earth Flyby of BepiColombo
What it would look like to approach planet Earth? Such an event was recorded visually in great detail by ESA's and JAXA's robotic BepiColombo spacecraft last month as it swung…
A Message from Earth
What are these Earthlings trying to tell us? The featured message was broadcast from Earth towards the globular star cluster M13 in 1974. During the dedication of the Arecibo…
Radio, The Big Ear, and the Wow! Signal
Since the early days of radio and television we have been freely broadcasting signals into space. For some time now, we have been listening too. A large radio telescope at Ohio…
A View Toward M106
Big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106 dominates this cosmic vista. The nearly two degree wide telescopic field of view looks toward the well-trained constellation Canes…
Andromeda Island Universe
The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31 , the great Andromeda Galaxy some two and a half million light-years away. But without a telescope, even this…
The Ion Tail of New Comet SWAN
Newly discovered Comet SWAN has already developed an impressive tail. The comet came in from the outer Solar System and has just passed inside the orbit of the Earth. Officially…
The Kepler-90 Planetary System
Do other stars have planetary systems like our own ? Yes -- one such system is Kepler-90 . Cataloged by the Kepler satellite that operated from Earth orbit between 2009 and 2018,…
Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus
How will humanity first learn of extraterrestrial life ? One possibility is to find it under the icy surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus . A reason to think that life may exist…
Edwin Hubble Discovers the Universe
How big is our universe? This very question, among others , was debated by two leading astronomers 100 years ago today in what has become known as astronomy's Great Debate . Many…
Hubble's Cosmic Reef
These bright ridges of interstellar gas and dust are bathed in energetic starlight. With its sea of young stars, the massive star-forming region NGC 2014 has been dubbed the…
Around the World at Night
Watch this video. In only a minute or so you can explore the night skies around planet Earth through a compilation of stunning timelapse sequences. The presentation will take you…
Lyrid Meteor Streak
Earth's annual Lyrid Meteor Shower peaked before dawn yesterday, as our fair planet plowed through debris from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher. In crisp, clear and moonless…
Planet Earth at Twilight
No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth . Instead, the shadow line or terminator is…
Eye on the Milky Way
Have you ever had stars in your eyes ? It appears that the eye on the left does, and moreover it appears to be gazing at even more stars. The featured 27-frame mosaic was taken…
IC 2944: The Running Chicken Nebula
To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944 , the Running…
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Cassini Approaches Saturn
What would it look like to approach Saturn in a spaceship? One doesn't have to just imagine -- the Cassini spacecraft did just this in 2004, recording thousands of images along…
Just Another Day on Aerosol Earth
It was just another day on aerosol Earth. For August 23, 2018, the identification and distribution of aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere is shown in this dramatic, planet-wide…
The Windmill and the Star Trails
Stars can't turn these old wooden arms, but it does look like they might in this scene from a rotating planet . The well-composed night skyscape was recorded from Garafia, a…
Viewing discoveries from 10 May 2020 through 17 April 2020.