Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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Solar System Family Portrait
Yes, but have you ever seen all of the planets at once? A rare roll-call of planets has been occurring in the morning sky for much of June . The featured fisheye all-sky image ,…
Mercury from Passing BepiColombo
Which part of the Moon is this? No part -- because this is the planet Mercury . Mercury's old surface is heavily cratered like that of Earth's Moon . Mercury, while only slightly…
The Gum Nebula over Snowy Mountains
The Gum Nebula is so large and close it is actually hard to see . This interstellar expanse of glowing hydrogen gas frequently evades notice because it spans 35 degrees -- over 70…
Light Echoes from V838 Mon
What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon 's outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became one of the brighter stars in…
Planets of the Solar System
Simultaneous images from four cameras were combined to construct this atmospheric predawn skyscape. The cooperative astro-panorama captures all the planets of the Solar System ,…
Filaprom on the Western Limb
A solar filament is an enormous stream of incandescent plasma suspended above the active surface of the Sun by looping magnetic fields. Seen against the solar disk it looks dark…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 6744
Beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 6744 is nearly 175,000 light-years across, larger than our own Milky Way . It lies some 30 million light-years distant in the southern constellation…
Supernova Remnant: The Veil Nebula
Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history , a new light would have suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks. Today we know this…
Analemma over Taipei
Does the Sun return to the same spot on the sky every day? No. A better and more visual answer to that question is an analemma , a composite of images taken at the same time and…
Rock Fingers on Mars
There, just right of center, what is that? The surface of Mars keeps revealing new surprises with the recent discovery of finger-like rock spires. The small nearly-vertical rock…
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Game: Super Planet Crash
Can you create a planetary system that lasts for 1000 years? Super Planet Crash, the featured game, allows you to try. To create up to ten planets, just click anywhere near the…
The Gamma Cygni Nebula
Supergiant star Gamma Cygni is at the center of the Northern Cross. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, that famous asterism flies high in northern summer night skies in the…
Good Morning Planets from Chile
On June 15, innermost planet Mercury had wandered about as far from the Sun as it ever gets in planet Earth's sky . Near the eastern horizon just before sunrise it stands over…
Strawberry Supermoon from China
There are four Full Supermoons in 2022. Using the definition of a supermoon as a Full Moon near perigee, that is within at least 90% of its closest approach to Earth in a given…
In the Heart of the Virgo Cluster
The Virgo Cluster of Galaxies is the closest cluster of galaxies to our Milky Way Galaxy . The Virgo Cluster is so close that it spans more than 5 degrees on the sky - about 10…
Satellites Behind Pinnacles
What are all those streaks across the background? Satellite trails. First, the foreground features picturesque rock mounds known as Pinnacles. Found in the Nambung National Park…
M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy from Hubble
The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy. At only 30 million light years distant and fully 60 thousand light years across, M51 , also known as NGC 5194, is one of the…
Find the Man in the Moon
Have you ever seen the Man in the Moon? This common question plays on the ability of humans to see pareidolia -- imagining familiar icons where they don't actually exist. The…
The Road and the Milky Way
At night you can follow this road as it passes through the Dark Sky Alqueva reserve not too far from Alentejo, Portugal. Or you could stop, look up , and follow the Milky Way…
Arp 286: Trio in Virgo
This colorful telescopic field of view features a trio of interacting galaxies almost 90 million light-years away, toward the constellation Virgo . On the right two spiky ,…
Cosmic Clouds in Cygnus
These cosmic clouds of gas and dust drift through rich star fields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the high flying constellation Cygnus. They're too faint to be…
Ship Tracks over the Pacific Ocean
What are those unusual streaks? Some images of planet Earth show clear bright streaks that follow the paths of ships. Known as ship tracks , these low and narrow bands are caused…
NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara
Do dragons fight on the altar of the sky? Although it might appear that way, these dragons are illusions made of thin gas and dust. The emission nebula NGC 6188, home to the…
Milky Way Galaxy Doomed: Collision with Andromeda Pending
Will our Milky Way Galaxy collide one day with its larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy? Most likely, yes. Careful plotting of slight displacements of M31's stars relative to…
Viewing discoveries from 29 June 2022 through 6 June 2022.