Though better known for its high-profile manned missions, Nasa has been chronicling space through the use of high-powered telescopes and cameras for years.
Since launching on 16 June 1995, the agency's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) series has published a selection of these eye-catching images online.
The series' first picture was viewed by just 14 people, but today they reach hundreds of millions more.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The images are either visible spectrum photographs, images taken at non-visible wavelengths and colourised, artist’s conceptions or micrographs that relate to space or cosmology.
Thanks to the Hubble Telescope, this year has seen some of the most impressive astronomical events yet, captured in stunning quality.
In March, those in south-east Asia were able to catch a rare glimpse of a total solar eclipse.
Nasa's Juno spacecraft also successfully entered Jupiter's orbit this month and sent back astonishing pictures of the giant planet and its moons.
Above is a selection of the most extraordinary images from the series this year.
-
‘Restaurateurs have become millionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Earth is rapidly approaching a ‘hothouse’ trajectory of warmingThe explainer It may become impossible to fix
-
Health insurance: Premiums soar as ACA subsidies endFeature 1.4 million people have dropped coverage
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
