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.
A Blue Moon in Exaggerated Colors
The Moon is normally seen in subtle shades of grey or gold . But small, measurable color differences have been greatly exaggerated to make this telescopic, multicolored, moonscape…
A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia
What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms . Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a…
Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
Are asteroids dangerous? Some are, but the likelihood of a dangerous asteroid striking the Earth during any given year is low. Because some past mass extinction event s have been…
Mars Rock Rochette
Taken on mission sol 180 (August 22) this sharp image from a Hazard Camera on the Perseverance rover looks out across a rock strewn floor of Jezero crater on Mars. At 52.5…
Elephant's Trunk and Caravan
Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story , the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission nebula and young star cluster complex IC 1396 , in the high and far off…
A Blue Hour Full Moon
Nature photographers and other fans of planet Earth always look forward to the blue hour . That's the transition in twilight , just before sunrise or after sunset, when the Sun is…
PDS 70: Disk, Planets, and Moons
It's not the big disk that's attracting the most attention. Although the big planet-forming disk around the star PDS 70 is clearly imaged and itself quite interesting. It's also…
Abell 3827: Cannibal Cluster Gravitational Lens
Is that one galaxy or three? Toward the right of the featured Hubble image of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 3827 is what appears to be a most unusual galaxy -- curved and with…
Explosions from White Dwarf Star RS Oph
Spectacular explosions keep occurring in the binary star system named RS Ophiuchi . Every 20 years or so, the red giant star dumps enough hydrogen gas onto its companion white…
Triple Transit and Mutual Events
These three panels feature the Solar System's ruling gas giant Jupiter on August 15 as seen from Cebu City, Philippines, planet Earth. On that date the well-timed telescopic views…
Three Perseid Nights
Frames from a camera that spent three moonless nights under the stars create this composite night skyscape. They were recorded during August 11-13 while planet Earth was sweeping…
Bright Meteor, Starry Sky
Plowing through Earth's atmosphere at 60 kilometers per second, this bright perseid meteor streaks along a starry Milky Way. Captured in dark Portugal skies on August 12, it moves…
Rings Around the Ring Nebula
The Ring Nebula (M57) , is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep…
M57: The Ring Nebula from Hubble
Except for the rings of Saturn , the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial circle. Its classic appearance is understood to be due to our own perspective, though.…
Perseid Meteor, Red Sprites, and Nova RS Ophiuchus
This was an unusual sky. It wasn't unusual because of the central band the Milky Way Galaxy , visible along the image left. Most dark skies show part of the Milky Way . It wasn't…
Perseid Rain
Comet dust rained down on planet Earth last week, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. The featured picture is a composite of many images taken from…
Island Universe, Cosmic Sand
Stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy are scattered through this eye-catching field of view. From the early hours after midnight on August 13, the 30 second exposure of the night sky…
A Perfect Spiral
If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation…
A Beautiful Trifid
The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts . Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star…
Mammatus Clouds over Saskatchewan
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles? Normally, cloud bottoms are flat . This is because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific…
Fire in Space
What does fire look like in space? In the gravity on Earth , heated air rises and expands, causing flames to be teardrop shaped . In the microgravity of the air-filled…
Perseus and the Lost Meteors
What's the best way to watch a meteor shower? This question might come up later this week when the annual Perseid Meteor Shower peaks. One thing that is helpful is a dark sky, as…
A Perseid Below
Earthlings typically watch meteor showers by looking up. But this remarkable view , captured on August 13, 2011 by astronaut Ron Garan , caught a Perseid meteor by looking down.…
Jezero Crater: Raised Ridges in 3D
Get out your red-blue glasses and hover over the surface of Mars . Taken on July 24, the 3D color view is from the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter's 10th flight above the Red Planet .…
Viewing discoveries from 31 August 2021 through 7 August 2021.