Astronomy Picture of the Day

What is the Astronomy Picture of the Day?

Since June 16, 1995, NASA has published a new astronomy or space-science image every day, each paired with a short explanation written by a professional astronomer. APOD is run by astrophysicists Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, originally out of Michigan Technological University and now hosted by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and it's one of the longest continuously running science education projects on the web over three decades of daily entries.

What kind of images show up

APOD draws from a huge range of sources: professional observatories, NASA and ESA space telescopes like Hubble and James Webb, amateur astrophotographers, and footage from active space missions. On a given day you might see a nebula thousands of light-years away, a close-up of a Martian rock from a rover, a meteor shower time-lapse, or a diagram explaining an eclipse. A small number of days feature a video instead of a still image this tool shows a direct link to watch it when that happens.

Browsing past pictures

Use the date picker above to jump to any day back to June 16, 1995, the archive's very first entry. It's a genuinely deep archive over 30 years of daily images make APOD one of the largest curated collections of space imagery anywhere, and searching by date is often the fastest way to find a specific image you remember seeing.

FAQ

Where does the image data come from?
This tool fetches directly from NASA's public APOD API. Occasionally NASA features a video instead of an image when that happens, you'll see a link to watch it directly.

Can I use these images?
Most APOD images are copyrighted by their photographers and credited on the page; NASA's own images are generally public domain. Check the credit line before reusing an image.

Why do some days show a video instead of a picture?
APOD occasionally features footage instead of a still image animations, mission highlight reels, or time-lapse video. When that happens, this tool shows a button linking directly to the video instead of trying to embed it.

Is a new picture posted every single day without exception?
Almost APOD has run daily since 1995 with only a small handful of gaps, making it one of the most consistent science content projects online. If a specific date shows no entry, NASA occasionally skipped that day rather than this tool failing to load it.

Can I download the images?
Image files link directly to NASA's servers, so you can save them the same way you'd save any image from a web page. Just check the copyright note first, since many APOD images belong to individual photographers who allow personal but not commercial use.