APOD

Name: APOD API
Brand: NASA APOD
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMediaImage ProcessingapiKey1 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Fetch NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day with title, explanation, image or video URL, and concept tags via a single GET endpoint.

Quickstart

Get started with APOD in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"todays astronomy picture of the day"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with APOD API.

Retrieve the Astronomy Picture of the Day with title, explanation, and media URL

Request APOD entries for a specific historical date or a date range

Return high-definition (HD) image URLs alongside standard-resolution media

Surface concept tags derived from the explanation for tagging or hashtag generation

GET STARTED

Start building with APOD API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for APOD, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. APOD is one of NASA's most popular feeds: every day a different astronomy image or video is featured with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. The API exposes a single GET endpoint that returns the structured payload (title, explanation, media URL, copyright, and concept tags) so apps and agents can repurpose APOD content for educational sites, daily-image widgets, or social media posts.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use APOD API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Daily Astronomy Widget

Education sites, museum kiosks, and personal homepages embed the Astronomy Picture of the Day to deliver a fresh image and short explanation every day. A single GET /apod call with the api_key query parameter returns title, explanation, url, hdurl, and date — everything needed to render the widget. Agents can refresh the call once per day rather than scraping the APOD website.

Call GET /apod with api_key=<key> at 06:00 UTC daily and cache the title, explanation, and hdurl for the homepage hero block.

Historical APOD Calendar

Apps that show astronomy on this day or build an APOD calendar pass the date or date_range query parameters to retrieve historical entries. The single endpoint handles both single-date and ranged queries, returning a list of APOD payloads for ranges, which simplifies building a backfill or year-in-review feature.

Call GET /apod with start_date=2025-12-01 and end_date=2025-12-31 to populate a December 2025 archive view.

Auto-Tagged Social Media Posts

Social-media managers running astronomy and education accounts use APOD with concept_tags=true to receive keyword tags derived from the explanation. These tags can be transformed into hashtags or categories, automating daily Instagram, Twitter, or Bluesky posts grounded in NASA-authored content rather than manually written copy.

Call GET /apod with concept_tags=true, then post the title, hdurl, and the top three returned tags to the social-media queue.

AI Agent Astronomy Assistant

An AI tutor invoked through Jentic answers natural-language astronomy questions like 'show me today's NASA picture and explain it'. Because APOD uses a query-string api_key, Jentic stores it in the vault and adds it transparently to outbound requests, so the agent can call the operation without ever seeing the key. The structured response is then summarised or paraphrased for the student.

Search Jentic for 'todays astronomy picture of the day', load GET /apod, and execute it; summarise the explanation for an 8-year-old reader.

Key Endpoints

1 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for nasa's astronomy picture of the day (apod) api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/apod

Retrieve the Astronomy Picture of the Day metadata for a date or date range

GET

/apod

Retrieve the Astronomy Picture of the Day metadata for a date or date range

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

The NASA api_key query parameter is stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive a scoped execution token, so the raw api_key never appears in URLs visible to the model or in agent logs.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic for intents like 'todays astronomy picture' or 'apod for date' and receive the GET /apod operation with input schema, so the agent does not need to know the api.nasa.gov URL structure.

Time to first call

Direct integration: under an hour to wire a single endpoint with the api_key query parameter. Through Jentic: a few minutes — search, load, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

TechPort

NASA TechPort technology project metadata API

Pair TechPort with APOD to combine NASA-authored visual content with searchable technology project descriptions.

Complementary

SpaceX API

Open SpaceX launches, capsules, and rocket data

Combine SpaceX API with APOD to produce a daily space-and-astronomy feed mixing launches and astronomy imagery.

Alternative

Giphy API

Animated GIF and image media catalogue

Choose Giphy when an agent needs general-purpose media imagery rather than NASA-curated astronomy content.

FAQs

Specific to using APOD API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for NASA APOD?

NASA does not publish an OpenAPI specification for the Astronomy Picture of the Day endpoint. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call APOD via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the NASA APOD API use?

APOD requires an api_key passed as a query string parameter on the GET /apod request. NASA also accepts the value 'DEMO_KEY' for low-volume testing. When called through Jentic the api_key is stored encrypted in the vault and added to outbound requests transparently.

Can I retrieve APOD entries for past dates?

Yes. Pass date=YYYY-MM-DD on GET /apod for a single historical entry, or start_date and end_date for a range up to about a month at a time. The response for a range is an array of APOD objects, one per date.

What are the rate limits for the NASA APOD API?

NASA's api.nasa.gov gateway enforces a default of 30 requests per hour and 50 per day on DEMO_KEY, and around 1000 requests per hour for a personal api_key. Cache APOD responses by date — the payload is stable once published — and refresh once per day for daily widgets.

How do I get today's APOD entry through Jentic?

Run jentic.search('todays astronomy picture of the day'), load the GET /apod operation, then jentic.execute with no parameters to receive today's entry. Jentic injects the api_key from the vault and the agent receives a structured response with title, explanation, url, and hdurl.

Does the APOD API return videos as well as images?

Yes. The 'media_type' field in the response is either 'image' or 'video'. For video entries the 'url' typically points to a YouTube or Vimeo embed. Branch on media_type before treating the URL as an image source in your UI.