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.
First Horizon-Scale Image of a Black Hole
What does a black hole look like? To find out, radio telescopes from around the Earth coordinated observations of black holes with the largest known event horizon s on the sky.…
M44: The Beehive Cluster
A mere 600 light-years away, M44 is one of the closest star clusters to our solar system. Also known as the Praesepe or the Beehive cluster its stars are young though, about 600…
Portrait of NGC 3628
Sharp telescopic views of NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this portrait of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some astronomers…
Lyrid of the Lake
In the early hours of April 24 this bright Lyrid meteor flashed along the central Milky Way. For a moment, it cast a bright reflection across Lake Nian, Yunnan province, China.…
Moon Shadow on Jupiter
What is that large dark spot on Jupiter? It's the shadow of Ganymede , Jupiter 's largest moon. When Jupiter's moons cross between the Jovian giant and the Sun, they created…
Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House
The world is waking up to a picturesque planet parade. Just before dawn, the eastern skies over much of planet Earth are decorated by a notable line of familiar planets. In much…
The Great Nebula in Carina
In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina , is home to massive stars and…
Split the Universe
Just now, before you hit the button, two future universes are possible. After pressing the button, though, you will live in only one. A real-web version of the famous…
Messier 104
A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central…
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…
Apollo 16 Moon Panorama
Fifty years ago , April 20, 1972, Apollo 16's lunar module Orion touched down on the Moon's near side in the south-central Descartes Highlands. While astronaut Ken Mattingly…
Planet Line over New York Bridge
There's an interesting sky to see if you wake up before the Sun. Lined up on toward the eastern horizon are four planets in a row. The planets are so bright they can even be seen…
Stars and Globules in the Running Chicken Nebula
The eggs from this gigantic chicken may form into stars. The featured emission nebula, shown in scientifically assigned colors, is cataloged as IC 2944 but known as the Running…
Stars and Planets over Portugal
The mission was to document night-flying birds -- but it ended up also documenting a beautiful sky. The featured wide-angle mosaic was taken over the steppe golden fields in…
Shuttle Over Earth
What's that approaching? Astronauts on board the International Space Station in 2010 first saw it far in the distance. Soon it enlarged to become a dark silhouette . As it came…
Orion Pines
Taken with a camera fixed to a tripod, many short exposures were aligned with the stars to unveil this beautiful, dark night sky. Captured near the rural village of Albanya at the…
The Gator-Back Rocks of Mars
Wind-sharpened rocks known as ventifacts cover this broad sloping plain in the foot hills of Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars. Dubbed gator-back rocks their rugged, scaly appearance…
Messier 96
Spiral arms seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful, detailed portrait of a beautiful island universe . Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy , and counting the…
Milky Way over Devils Tower
What created Devils Tower? The origin of this extraordinary rock monolith in Wyoming , USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume…
N11: Star Clouds of the LMC
Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust , and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies .…
A Space Station Crosses a Busy Sun
Typically, the International Space Station is visible only at night. Slowly drifting across the night sky as it orbits the Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) can be seen…
Shadows at the Moon's South Pole
Was this image of the Moon's surface taken with a microscope? No -- it's a multi-temporal illumination map made with a wide-angle camera. To create it, the Lunar Reconnaissance…
Mars-Saturn Conjunction
Fainter stars in the zodiacal constellation Capricornus are scattered near the plane of the ecliptic in this field of view. The two brightest ones at center aren't stars at all…
Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997
Only twenty-five years ago, Comet Hale-Bopp rounded the Sun and offered a dazzling spectacle in planet Earth's night skies. Digitized from the original astrophoto on 35mm color…
Viewing discoveries from 1 May 2022 through 8 April 2022.