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.
Lunar Nearside
About 1,300 images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft's wide angle camera were used to compose this spectacular view of a familiar face - the lunar nearside . But…
Messier 6
The sixth object in Charles Messier's famous catalog of things which are not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic or open star cluster . A gathering of 100 stars or so, all around 100…
ISS Meets Saturn
This month , bright planet Saturn rises in evening skies, its rings oriented nearly edge-on when viewed from planet Earth. And in the early morning hours on July 6, it posed very…
3I/ATLAS
Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third…
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…
Viewing discoveries from 20 July 2025 through 27 June 2025.