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.
Longmore 8: The Hamster Wheel Nebula
How did a hamster wheel get into space? The Hamster Wheel Nebula (Longmore 8) was discovered by Andrew Longmore in 1976 as a part of a larger survey of the southern sky. This…
Moons, Rings, Shadows, Clouds: Saturn (Cassini)
While cruising around Saturn, be on the lookout for picturesque arrangements of moons, rings, and shadows. One such striking sight occurred in 2005 and was captured by the then…
Triple Shockwave from Sun Crossing Rocket
What's happening to this Sun-crossing rocket? The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, visible on the upper left, launched only about one minute before this amazing image was captured. As it…
10 Days of Venus and Jupiter
Venus and Jupiter may have caught your attention lately. The recent close conjunction of the two brightest planets in recent evening skies has been hard to miss . With Jupiter at…
Interplanetary Earth
In an interplanetary first, on July 19, 2013 Earth was photographed on the same day from two other worlds of the Solar System, innermost planet Mercury and ringed gas giant…
Venus and Jupiter: Conjunction from Avebury
To see Venus and Jupiter together this month, you won't need binoculars or even a telescope. Just look up after sunset and you'll find them emerging as the sky grows dark near the…
The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
Could the Little Mermaid turn into stardust instead of seafoam? It would seem so in this beautiful nebula . The featured image shows the Mermaid Nebula , also known as the Betta…
The Eagle Nebula and Friends
What looks as if it is going to swallow the great Pillars of Creation ? The Eagle Nebula ( M16 ) is not a bird, a plane, or Superman . M16 is actually a combination of several…
Thor's Helmet
Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing -like appendages. Heroically…
Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time
What happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System? Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that…
Jupiter and Venus from Earth
It was visible around the world. The sunset conjunction of Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) in 2012 was visible almost no matter where you lived on Earth. Anyone on our planet…
Charon: Moon of Pluto
A darkened and mysterious north polar region known to some as Mordor Macula caps this premier view of Charon, Pluto's largest moon . The high-resolution image was captured by the…
The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies
Within our own Milky Way galaxy, two bright, spiky stars stand like sentinels in the foreground of this cosmic snapshot . Far beyond them are the galaxies of the Hydra Cluster .…
A Planetary Nebula with Cosmic Buckyballs
What is happening inside this unusual nebula? Planetary nebula Tc 1 , captured here in exquisite detail by the James Webb Space Telescope , is the celestial site where buckyballs…
Andromeda Through Gas and Dust
Over 1000 years ago, Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi published humanity’s oldest known record of the Andromeda Galaxy in “The Book of Fixed Stars” ( Bodleian Library MS.…
The Vela Supernova Remnant
The explosion is over, but the consequences continue. About twelve thousand years ago, a relatively normal star in the constellation Vela suddenly exploded , creating a strange…
Saturn at Night
Telescopic views of Saturn and its beautiful rings often make it the star of star parties . But this stunning view of the outer gas gaint planet's rings and night side just isn't…
Eagle Nebula Pillars in Infrared from Hubble
Newborn stars are forming in the Eagle Nebula. They are gravitationally contracting in pillars of dense gas and dust. The intense radiation of these newly-formed bright stars is…
Supermoon Versus Micromoon
What is so micro about tonight's blue micromoon? Just after sunset, a full moon will appear slightly smaller and dimmer than usual. The reason is that the Moon's fully illuminated…
Messier 104
A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central…
NGC 1514: The Crystal Ball Nebula
What do you see in this crystal ball? The featured image shows NGC 1514 , known as the Crystal Ball Nebula , observed by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea , in Hawai'i . NGC…
PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula
What is a pair of headphones doing in the sky? Today’s image features the Headphone Nebula, also known as PK 164 +31.1 or Jones-Emberson 1 . This planetary nebula , the remnant of…
NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
The upper galaxy might be more photogenic, but the lower galaxy is more unusual. The galaxy up top is NGC 3660 , a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way galaxy in that it has…
Thackeray's Globules
What are these strange space globs? Situated in rich star field s and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to…
Viewing discoveries from 17 June 2026 through 25 May 2026.