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.
21st Century Wet Collodion Moon
In the mid 19th century, one of the first photographic technologies used to record the lunar surface was the wet-plate collodion process, notably employed by British astronomer…
Galaxies and the South Celestial Pole
The South Celestial Pole is easy to spot in star trail images of the southern sky. The extension of Earth's axis of rotation to the south, it's at the center of all the southern…
Trail of the Returner
Familiar stars of a northern winter's night shine in this night skyview, taken near Zhangye, Gansu, China and the border with Inner Mongolia. During the early hours of December 17…
M16: Inside the Eagle Nebula
From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle . A closer look at the Eagle Nebula , however, shows the bright region is actually a window into the center of a larger dark shell…
Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe
What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what…
Fox Fur, Unicorn, and Christmas Tree
Clouds of glowing hydrogen gas fill this colorful skyscape in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros , the Unicorn. A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264 , the…
Northern Winter Night
Orion always seems to come up sideways on northern winter evenings . Those familiar stars of the constellation of the Hunter are caught above the trees in this colorful night…
Portrait of NGC 1055
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus .…
Jupiter Meets Saturn: A Red Spotted Great Conjunction
It was time for their close-up . Two days ago Jupiter and Saturn passed a tenth of a degree from each other in what is known a Great Conjunction . Although the two planets pass…
Trifid Pillars and Jets
Dust pillars are like interstellar mountains . They survive because they are more dense than their surroundings, but they are being slowly eroded away by a hostile environment.…
Solstice: Sunrises Around the Year
Does the Sun always rise in the same direction? No. As the months change, the direction toward the rising Sun changes, too. The featured image shows the direction of sunrise every…
A Volcanic Great Conjunction
Where can I see the Great Conjunction? Near where the Sun just set. Directionally, this close passing of Jupiter and Saturn will be toward the southwest. Since the planetary pair,…
Conjunction after Sunset
How close will Jupiter and Saturn be at their Great Conjunction ? Consider this beautiful triple conjunction of Moon, Jupiter and Saturn captured through clouds in the wintry…
Diamond in the Sky
When the shadow of the Moon raced across planet Earth's southern hemisphere on December 14, sky watchers along the shadow's dark central path were treated to the only total solar…
Gemini's Meteors
Taken over the course of an hour shortly after local midnight on December 13, 35 exposures were used to create this postcard from Earth. The composited night scene spans dark…
Great Conjunction: Saturn and Jupiter Converge
It's happening. Saturn and Jupiter are moving closer and will soon appear in almost exactly the same direction. Coincidentally, on the night of the December solstice -- the…
Geminid Meteors over Xinglong Observatory
Where do Geminid meteors come from? In terms of location on the sky, as the featured image composite beautifully demonstrates, the sand-sized bits of rock that create the streaks…
Saturn and Jupiter in Summer 2020
During this northern summer Saturn and Jupiter were both near opposition, opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Their paired retrograde motion, seen about every 20 years, is…
Messier Craters in Stereo
Many bright nebulae and star clusters in planet Earth's sky are associated with the name of astronomer Charles Messier from his famous 18th century catalog. His name is also given…
Simeis 147: Supernova Remnant
It's easy to get lost following the intricate looping filaments in this detailed image of supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sharpless 2-240 it goes by the popular…
Great Conjunction over Sicilian Lighthouse
Don't miss the coming great conjunction . In just under two weeks, the two largest planets in our Solar System will angularly pass so close together in Earth 's sky that the Moon…
Mammatus Clouds over Mount Rushmore
What's that below those strange clouds? Presidents. If you look closely, you may recognize the heads of four former US Presidents carved into famous Mount Rushmore in South Dakota…
M16: Pillars of Star Creation
These dark pillars may look destructive, but they are creating stars. This pillar-capturing image of the inside of the Eagle Nebula, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995,…
Mons Rumker in the Ocean of Storms
Mons Rumker , a 70 kilometer wide complex of volcanic domes , rises some 1100 meters above the vast, smooth lunar mare known as Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms. Daylight…
Viewing discoveries from 2 January 2021 through 5 December 2020.