Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
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NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25 light-years across, a cosmic bubble blown by winds from its central, massive star. This deep telescopic image includes…
Portrait of NGC 1055
Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus .…
Globular Cluster M15 Deep Field
Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright globular cluster M15. The central ball of over 100,000 stars is a relic from the early years of our Galaxy , and continues to…
Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way
What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best? One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all at different distances. The closest spectacle is…
Apep: Unusual Dust Shells from Webb
What created this unusual space sculpture? Stars . This unusual system of swirls and shells, known as Apep , was observed in unprecedented detail by NASA ’s James Webb Space…
The Observable Universe
How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you -- is the…
Dione and Rhea Ring Transit
Seen to the left of Saturn's banded planetary disk, small icy moons Dione and Rhea are caught passing in front of the gas giant's extensive ring system in this sharp telescopic…
3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth
Now outbound after its perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on October 29, Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our fair Solar System.…
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
Alnitak , Alnilam , and Mintaka are the bright bluish stars from east to west (upper right to lower left) along the diagonal in this cosmic vista . Otherwise known as the Belt of…
Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation of Chamaeleon . Normally too faint to see , dark dust is…
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The Galactic Plane: Radio Versus Visible
What does the Milky Way look like in radio waves? To better find out, GLEAM surveyed the central band of our galaxy in high resolution radio light as imaged by the Murchison…
Comet Lemmon's Wandering Tail
What has happened to Comet Lemmon's tail? The answer is blowing in the wind — the wind from the Sun in this case. This continuous outflow of charged particles from the Sun has…
Crossing Saturn's Ring Plane
If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn's “appendages” disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not understand why. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn 's…
Andromeda and Friends
This magnificent extragalactic skyscape looks toward the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. It also accomplishes a Messier catalog trifecta by…
Florida Northern Lights
Northern lights have come to Florida skies . In fact, the brilliant streak of a Northern Taurid meteor flashes through the starry night sky above the beach in this sea and…
Orion and the Running Man
Few cosmic vistas can excite the imagination like The Great Nebula in Orion . Visible as a faint, bland celestial smudge to the naked-eye, the nearest large star-forming region…
A Super Lunar Corona
What are those colorful rings around the Moon? A corona . Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Moon is seen through thin clouds. The effect is created by the diffraction…
Jupiter in Ultraviolet from Hubble
Jupiter looks a bit different in ultraviolet light. To better interpret Jupiter 's cloud motions and to help NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft understand the planetary context of the…
Micro Moon vs. Super Moon
What was so super about Wednesday's supermoon? Last week, a full moon occurred that appeared slightly larger and brighter than usual. The reason is that the Moon 's fully…
Road to the Galactic Center
Does the road to our galaxy's center go through Monument Valley ? It doesn't have to, but if your road does -- take a picture. In this case, the road is US Route 163 and iconic…
A Full Moon at Perigee
What is big, bright, and beautiful , can wear a cape made of clouds, and is at the closest point in its elliptical orbit around planet Earth? A full moon at perigee of course,…
A Dark Seahorse in Cepheus
Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula floats in silhouette against a rich background of stars and glowing hydrogen gas. Seen toward the royal…
NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
Shiny NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one of the dustiest. Some call it the Silver Coin Galaxy for its appearance in small telescopes, or just…
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3370 from Hubble
Is this what our own Milky Way Galaxy looks like from far away? Similar in size and grand design to our home Galaxy (although without the central bar), spiral galaxy NGC 3370 lies…
Viewing discoveries from 28 November 2025 through 5 November 2025.