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.
A Messier Moment for Tempel 2
Which of these is not a comet? You guessed it - the one on the right is a globular star cluster. The diffuse greenish coma of periodic comet 10P/Tempel 2 is at left in the frame.…
Rubin's COSMOS Field
There are more than half a million galaxies in the central panel of this image from the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. This is the COSMOS field, a patch of sky…
New Sharpest Image of the Sun Uncovers Instability
What does the new sharpest image of our Sun show? Instability. To be clear, a certain kind of interactive process called the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). This instability…
Spokes on Saturn's B Ring
Don’t get spooked by Saturn’s ghostly spokes! Today we feature a nearly two-hour timelapse of Saturn and its rings looping forwards and backwards. If you look closely, a ghoulish…
Curious Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula
What causes unusual knots of gas and dust in planetary nebulas? Seen also in the Ring Nebula, the Dumbbell Nebula and NGC 2392, the knots' existence was not initially predicted,…
Vaporizing Meteor Photobombs the Lacerta Nebula
What's happening to this meteor? This bright meteor streak appeared and disappeared quickly during a long exposure of the Great Lacerta Nebula, seen faintly in red toward the…
A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia
What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a…
Buck Moon and Belt of Venus
The Buck Moon is a traditional name for the full moon of July. In this colorful Adriatic sea and skyscape captured on July 28 from Krk Island along the coast of Croatia, a full…
NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
The Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small constellation Musca, The Fly. A dusty interstellar cloud, it's seen…
Red Sun through Wildfire Smoke
This could be the view from an exoplanet orbiting around a red dwarf star, but it is our own Sun. This image of was taken on July 22, 2026, in the Okanagan region in the Canadian…
Psyche Receives Gravity Assist from Mars
Solar System bodies make deep space exploration more fuel efficient! Today’s video shows the Psyche spacecraft gaining speed and changing its trajectory with minimal fuel spent…
Barnards Loop over Twin Volcanoes
What's connecting these two volcanoes? In ancient folklore, the two volcanoes, Parinacota (left) and Pomerape (right), are connected by representing a mythical prince and princess…
NGC 7635: The Bubble Nebula
What created this huge space bubble? Blown by the wind from a star, this tantalizing, head-like apparition is cataloged as NGC 7635, but known simply as the Bubble Nebula. Taken…
Preview unavailable
Open the archive entry to view the source media.
Simulation TNG50: A Galaxy Cluster Forms
How do clusters of galaxies form? Since our universe moves too slowly to watch, faster-moving computer simulations are created to help find out. One famous effort is TNG50 from…
Tranquility and Serenity
The Seas of Tranquility and Serenity are calm today. They're calm most every day though, since they are actually lunar maria, ancient lava flows filling in large impact basins on…
RCW 86: Historical Supernova Remnant
In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of a new star in the Nanmen asterism. That part of the sky is identified with part of the southern constellation Centaurus…
The Large Magellanic Cloud
Have you ever seen another galaxy with your own eyes? The featured image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the closest neighbors of our Milky Way. If you are anywhere…
The Corona Australis Molecular Cloud and the Chandelier Cluster
Explanation: The Southern Crown (Corona Australis) dazzles with young and ancient celestial jewels. The Corona Australis Cloud is a collage of reflection and emission nebulae on…
Turtle Rock on Mars
Is this a fossilized turtle on Mars? No. Although resembling a large Earth tortoise , this is a layered rock outcrop on Mars that is estimated to span about 15 meters, making it…
NGC 3576: The Statue of Liberty Nebula
What's happening in the Statue of Liberty nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming and being liberated . The complex nebula resides in the star forming region…
Flying Saucer Crash Lands in Utah Desert
A flying saucer from outer space crash-landed in the Utah desert after being tracked by radar and chased by helicopters. The year was 2004, and no space aliens were involved. The…
Shadow and Rainbow
At sunset, an alignment of rainbow and mountain shadow was captured in this remarkable snapshot. The stunning view was recorded from a fire lookout on Smith Peak in the Plumas…
The Dust Trail of Comet Tempel 2
Comet 10P/Tempel 2 orbits the Sun once every 5.4 years. Currently visible in binoculars or small telescopes toward the constellation Capricornus, the periodic comet is captured in…
NGC 300: A Cosmic Gemstone with Stars and Gas Clouds
This sparkling, colorful gemstone is a spiral galaxy, NGC 300 . It is one of the closest spiral galaxies to Earth, only about 6 million light-years away. But does it really look…
Viewing discoveries from 8 August 2026 through 16 July 2026.