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.
The Rosette Nebula from DECam
Would the Rosette Nebula by any other name look as sweet? The bland New General Catalog designation of NGC 2237 doesn't appear to diminish the appearance of this flowery emission…
Collapse in Hebes Chasma on Mars
What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars? Hebes Chasma is a depression just north of the enormous Valles Marineris canyon. Since the depression is unconnected to other surface…
NGC 2685: The Helix Galaxy
What is going on with this galaxy? NGC 2685 is a confirmed polar ring galaxy - a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a…
Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create…
Clouds and the Golden Moon
As the Sun set, a bright Full Moon rose on July 10. Its golden light illuminates clouds drifting through southern hemisphere skies in this well-composed telephoto image from…
The Veins of Heaven
Transfusing sunlight as the sky grew darker, this exceptional display of noctilucent clouds was captured on July 10 , reflected in the calm waters of Vallentuna Lake near…
Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula ( LDN ) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as…
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…
The Pleiades in Red and Blue
If you have looked at the sky and seen a group of stars about the size of the full Moon, that's the Pleiades (M45) . Perhaps the most famous star cluster in the sky, its brightest…
Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
It came from outer space. An object from outside our Solar System is now passing through at high speed. Classified as a comet because of its gaseous coma, 3I/ATLAS is only the…
The Spiral North Pole of Mars
Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin…
Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula
Difficult to capture , this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas…
NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet…
Nova V462 Lupi Now Visible
If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are known as novas and the detonations are currently…
Milky Way Through Otago Spires
Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks? No. Capturing this stunning alignment took careful planning: being in the right place at the right time. In the featured…
Eye Sky a Dragon
What do you see when you look into this sky? In the center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see…
NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
It's raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy . The main galaxy, spiral galaxy…
Dark Sand Cascades on Mars
Are these trees growing on Mars? No. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost.…
Lunar Farside
Tidally locked in synchronous rotation , the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth . From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar,…
Messier 109
Big beautiful barred spiral galaxy Messier 109 is the 109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters . You can find it just below the Big…
The Seagull Nebula
An interstellar expanse of glowing gas and obscuring dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth, suggesting its popular moniker, the Seagull Nebula . This…
Rubin's First Look: A Sagittarius Skyscape
This interstellar skyscape spans over 4 degrees across crowded starfields toward the constellation Sagittarius and the central Milky Way. A First Look image captured at the new…
In the Center of Spiral Galaxy M61
Is there a spiral galaxy in the center of this spiral galaxy? Sort of. Image data from the Hubble Space Telescope , the European Southern Observatory , and smaller telescopes on…
W5: Pillars of Star Formation
How do stars form? Images of the star forming region W5 like those in the infrared by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE , later NEOWISE ) satellite provide clear…
Viewing discoveries from 16 July 2025 through 23 June 2025.