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.
Central Lagoon in Infrared
Stars fill this infrared view, spanning 4 light-years across the center of the Lagoon Nebula. Visible light images show the glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds that dominate the…
Stardust in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape, across the Perseus molecular cloud some 850 light-years away. Dusty nebulae reflecting light from embedded young stars stand…
The Surface of Venus from Venera 14
If you could stand on Venus -- what would you see? Pictured is the view from Venera 14, a robotic Soviet lander which parachuted and air-brake d down through the thick Venusian…
IC 1318: The Butterfly Nebula in Gas and Dust
In the constellation of the swan near the nebula of the pelican lies the gas cloud of the butterfly next to a star known as the hen. That star, given the proper name Sadr , is…
Meteor Fireballs in Light and Sound
Yes, but have you ever heard a meteor? Usually, meteors are too far away to make any audible sound. However, a meteor will briefly create an ionization trail that can reflect a…
A Flag Shaped Aurora over Sweden
It appeared, momentarily, like a 50-km tall banded flag. In mid-March of 2015, an energetic Coronal Mass Ejection directed toward a clear magnetic channel to Earth led to one of…
SuperCam Target on Ma'az
What's the sound of one laser zapping? There's no need to consult a Zen master to find out, just listen to the first acoustic recording of laser shots on Mars . On Perseverance…
Messier 81
One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81 . Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th…
Zodiacal Light and Mars
Just after sunset on March 7, a faint band of light still reaches above the western horizon in this serene, rural Illinois, night skyscape . Taken from an old farmstead, the…
NGC 1499: The California Nebula
Could Queen Calafia 's mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of California , USA.…
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Perseverance 360: Unusual Rocks and the Search for Life on Mars
Is that a fossil? Looking through recent images of Mars taken by the new Perseverance rover may seem a bit like treasure hunting, with the possibility of fame coming to the first…
Three Tails of Comet NEOWISE
What created the unusual red tail in Comet NEOWISE? Sodium . A spectacular sight back in the summer of 2020, Comet NEOWISE, at times, displayed something more than just a…
Pillars of the Eagle Nebula in Infrared
Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula. Gravitationally contracting in pillars of dense gas and dust, the intense radiation of these newly-formed bright stars is causing…
Perseverance Takes a Spin
After arriving at Jezero Crater on Mars, Perseverance went for a spin on March 4. This sharp image from the car-sized rover's Navcam shows tracks left by its six wheels in the…
A Little Like Mars
The surface of this planet looks a little like Mars . It's really planet Earth though . In a digitally stitched little planet projection, the 360 degree mosaic was captured near…
Mars in Taurus
You can spot Mars in the evening sky tonight. Now home to the Perseverance rover , the Red Planet is presently wandering through the constellation Taurus, close on the sky to the…
Stars over an Erupting Volcano
Mt. Etna has been erupting for hundreds of thousands of years. Located in Sicily , Italy , the volcano produces lava fountains over one kilometer high. Mt. Etna is not only one of…
Ingenuity: A Mini-Helicopter Now on Mars
What if you could fly around Mars? NASA may have achieved that capability last month with the landing of Perseverance , a rover which included a small flight-worthy companion…
The Pelican Nebula in Red and Blue
The Pelican Nebula is changing. The entire nebula, officially designated IC 5070, is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust . The…
The Aurora Tree
Yes, but can your tree do this? Pictured is a visual coincidence between the dark branches of a nearby tree and bright glow of a distant aurora. The beauty of the aurora --…
Perseverance Landing Site from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Seen from orbit a day after a dramatic arrival on the martian surface, the Perseverance landing site is identified in this high-resolution view from the Mars Reconnaissance…
Mars Perseverance Sol 3
Stitched together on planet Earth , 142 separate images make up this 360 degree panorama from the floor of Jezero Crater on Mars. The high-resolution color images were taken by…
A Venus Flyby
On a mission to explore the inner heliosphere and solar corona, on July 11, 2020 the Wide-field Imager on board NASA's Parker Solar Probe captured this stunning view of the…
Spiral Galaxy M66 from Hubble
It's always nice to get a new view of an old friend. This stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of nearby spiral galaxy M66 is just that. A spiral galaxy with a small central bar,…
Viewing discoveries from 19 March 2021 through 24 February 2021.