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.
NGC 1316: After Galaxies Collide
Astronomers turn detectives when trying to figure out the cause of startling sights like NGC 1316 . Investigations indicate that NGC 1316 is an enormous elliptical galaxy that…
Milky Way over French Alp Hoodoos
Real castles aren't this old. And the background galaxy is even older. Looking a bit like an alien castle, the pictured rock spires are called hoodoos and are likely millions of…
Colors of the Moon
What color is the Moon? It depends on the night. Outside of the Earth's atmosphere, the dark Moon , which shines by reflected sunlight, appears a magnificent ly brown-tinged gray.…
Ice Halos by Moonlight
An almost full moon on April 15 brought these luminous apparitions to a northern spring night over Alberta Canada. On that night, bright moonlight refracted and reflected by…
The Milky Way's Black Hole
There's a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Stars are observed to orbit a very massive and compact object there known as Sgr A (say “sadge-ay-star” ). But this just…
Young Stars of NGC 346
The massive stars of NGC 346 are short lived, but very energetic . The star cluster is embedded in the largest star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud , some 210,000…
Gravity's Grin
Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, published over 100 years ago, predicted the phenomenon of gravitational lensing. And that's what gives these distant galaxies such…
NGC 6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula
Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble . Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: The Inner Rings
Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy have two? To begin, the bright band near NGC 1512 's center is a nuclear ring , a ring that surrounds the galaxy center…
Firefall by Moonlight
On certain dates in February, an elusive firefall can be spotted at sunset in Yosemite National Park , when water flows, the weather cooperates and the direction to the setting…
NGC 3572 and the Southern Tadpoles
This cosmic skyscape features glowing gas and dark dust clouds along side the young stars of NGC 3572 . A beautiful emission nebula and star cluster it sails far southern skies…
NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo . Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is…
Planets Over Egyptian Pyramid
The early morning planet parade continues. Visible the world over, the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn have been lining up in the pre-dawn sky since mid-April. In the…
Mercury's Sodium Tail
That's no comet. Below the Pleiades star cluster is actually a planet: Mercury. Long exposures of our Solar System's innermost planet may reveal something unexpected: a tail.…
Partial Solar Eclipse over Argentina
What's happened to the Sun? Two days ago, parts of South America were treated to a partial solar eclipse -- where the Moon blocked out part of the Sun. The featured image shows an…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 17 May 2022 through 23 April 2022.