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.
Jones-Emberson 1
Planetary nebula Jones-Emberson 1 is the death shroud of a dying Sun-like star. It lies some 1,600 light-years from Earth toward the sharp-eyed constellation Lynx . About 4…
Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
Globular star cluster Omega Centauri packs about 10 million stars much older than the Sun into a volume some 150 light-years in diameter. Also known as NGC 5139, at a distance of…
A Sagittarius Triplet
These three bright nebulae are often featured on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way . In fact, 18th century…
Noctilucent Clouds over Florida
These clouds are doubly unusual. First, they are rare noctilucent clouds , meaning that they are visible at night -- but only just before sunrise or just after sunset. Second, the…
Exoplanet Zoo: Other Stars
Do other stars have planets like our Sun? Surely they do, and evidence includes slight star wobbles created by the gravity of orbiting exoplanets and slight star dimmings caused…
Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
Why are these clouds multi-colored? A relatively rare phenomenon in clouds known as iridescence can bring up unusual colors vividly -- or even a whole spectrum of colors…
NGC 7789: Caroline's Rose
Found among the rich starfields of the Milky Way, star cluster NGC 7789 lies about 8,000 light-years away toward the constellation Cassiopeia. A late 18th century deep sky…
Mount Etna Milky Way
A glow from the summit of Mount Etna, famous active stratovolcano of planet Earth, stands out along the horizon in this mountain and night skyscape. Bands of diffuse light from…
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…
M83: Star Streams and a Thousand Rubies
Big, bright, and beautiful, spiral galaxy M83 lies a mere twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very long constellation Hydra . About 40,000…
NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster
The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years…
Time Spiral
What's happened since the universe started? The time spiral shown here features a few notable highlights . At the spiral's center is the Big Bang , the place where time , as we…
Earthrise: A Video Reconstruction
About 12 seconds into this video, something unusual happens. The Earth begins to rise. Never seen by humans before, the rise of the Earth over the limb of the Moon occurred about…
A Solstice Moon
Rising opposite the setting Sun, June's Full Moon occurred within about 28 hours of the solstice. The Moon stays close to the Sun's path along the ecliptic plane and so while the…
Comet 13P/Olbers
Not a paradox, Comet 13P/Olbers is returning to the inner Solar System after 68 years. The periodic, Halley-type comet will reach its next perihelion or closest approach to the…
Protostellar Outflows in Serpens
Jets of material blasting from newborn stars, are captured in this James Webb Space Telescope close-up of the Serpens Nebula. The powerful protostellar outflows are bipolar, twin…
Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way
What's happening in the sky this unusual night? Most striking in the featured 4.5-hour 360-degree panoramic video, perhaps, is the pink and purple aurora. That's because this…
The Dark Doodad Nebula
What is that strange brown ribbon on the sky? When observing the star cluster NGC 4372 , observers frequently take note of an unusual dark streak nearby running about three…
JADES-GS-z14-0: A New Farthest Object
What if we could see back to the beginning of the universe? We could see galaxies forming. But what did galaxies look like back then? These questions took a step forward recently…
The Colors of Saturn from Cassini
What creates Saturn's colors? The featured picture of Saturn only slightly exaggerates what a human would see if hovering close to the giant ringed world. The image was taken in…
Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The…
Hubble's NGC 1546
Returning to science operations on June 14, the Hubble Space Telescope used its new pointing mode to capture this sharp image of spiral galaxy NGC 1546 . A member of the Dorado…
Sandy and the Moon Halo
Last April's Full Moon shines through high clouds near the horizon, casting shadows in this garden-at-night skyscape. Along with canine sentinel Sandy watching the garden gate,…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 12 July 2024 through 19 June 2024.