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.
M27: Not a Comet
While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things encountered during his telescopic expeditions that…
Comet at Moonrise
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is growing brighter in planet Earth's sky. Fondly known as comet A3, this new visitor to the inner Solar System is traveling from the distant…
Eclipse at Sunrise
The second solar eclipse of 2024 began in the Pacific. On October 2nd the Moon's shadow swept from west to east, with an annular eclipse visible along a narrow antumbral shadow…
The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way Galaxy. If you live in the south, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is quite noticeable , spanning about 10 degrees across…
Porphyrion: The Longest Known Black Hole Jets
How far can black hole jets extend? A new record was found just recently with the discovery of a 23-million light-year long jet pair from a black hole active billions of years…
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over Mexico
The new comet has passed its closest to the Sun and is now moving closer to the Earth. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is currently moving out from inside the orbit of Venus and on…
Seven Dusty Sisters
Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster? Known for its iconic blue stars , the Pleiades is shown here in infrared light where the surrounding dust outshines the stars.…
Rocket Eclipse at Sunset
Shockwaves ripple across the glare as a launch eclipses the setting Sun in this exciting close-up . Captured on September 17, the roaring Falcon 9 rocket carried European Galileo…
Stellar Streams in the Local Universe
The twenty galaxies arrayed in these panels are part of an ambitious astronomical survey of tidal stellar streams. Each panel presents a composite view; a deep, inverted image…
The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
In 1716 , English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, “This is but a little Patch, but it shows itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, M13 is…
Comet A3 Through an Australian Sunrise
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible in the early morning sky. Diving into the inner Solar System at an odd angle , this large dirty iceberg will pass its closest to the Sun --…
NGC 6727: The Rampaging Baboon Nebula
This dusty region is forming stars. Part of a sprawling molecular cloud complex that resembles , to some, a rampaging baboon , the region is a relatively close by 500 light-years…
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Approaches
What will happen as this already bright comet approaches? Optimistic predictions have Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) briefly becoming easily visible to the unaided eye --…
Chicagohenge: Equinox in an Aligned City
Chicago, in a way, is like a modern Stonehenge . The way is east to west, and the time is today. Today, and every equinox , the Sun will set exactly to the west, everywhere on…
Sunrise Shadows in the Sky
The defining astronomical moment of this September's equinox is at 12:44 UTC on September 22, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south in its yearly journey through…
A Hazy Harvest Moon
For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon was the Harvest Moon . On September 17/18 the sunlit lunar nearside passed into shadow, just grazing Earth's umbra, the…
The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus
Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula floats in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern…
The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
New stars are born from the remnants of dead star s. The gaseous remnant of the gravitational collapse and subsequent death of a very massive star in our Milky Way created the…
Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula
Cosmic clouds form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the…
Mercury's Vivaldi Crater from BepiColombo
Why does this large crater on Mercury have two rings and a smooth floor? No one is sure. The unusual feature called Vivaldi Crater spans 215 kilometers and was imaged again in…
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 Moona Lisa
Only natural colors of the Moon in planet Earth's sky appear in this creative visual presentation. Arranged as pixels in a framed image, the lunar disks were photographed at…
Aurora Australis and the International Space Station
This snapshot from the International Space Station was taken on August 11 while orbiting about 430 kilometers above the Indian Ocean, Southern Hemisphere, planet Earth . The…
Young Star Cluster NGC 1333
This spectacular mosaic of images from the James Webb Space Telescope peers into the heart of young star cluster NGC 1333. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic…
Viewing discoveries from 5 October 2024 through 12 September 2024.