# NASA API: Get astronomy picture of the day

> Returns NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for a date: title, explanation, featured media link, optional high-resolution link, and credit.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.

- Page: https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/get-astronomy-picture-of-the-day
- Method: `nasa.gov/get_astronomy_picture_of_the_day`, version 1
- Website: nasa.gov
- Returns: date, title, explanation, media type and link, high-resolution link, credit, copyright, APOD page link
- Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing)
- Sign-in: none needed
- Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free
- Verified: Nov 2, 2026

## Inputs

| Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `date` | string | no | `"2026-09-28"` | Picture date in YYYY-MM-DD, such as 2025-09-14. Defaults to today (UTC). Dates run from 1995-06-16 to today. |

## Output

From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input:

```json
{
  "date": "2026-09-28"
}
```

Its output:

```json
{
  "date": "2026-09-28",
  "title": "Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe",
  "credit": "Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry ( JHU )",
  "copyright": null,
  "page_link": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260928.html",
  "media_link": "https://assets.science.nasa.gov/dynamicimage/assets/science/cds/apod/apod/2026/september/CosmicLatte_jhu_960_annotated.jpg?w=960&h=640&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint",
  "media_type": "image",
  "explanation": "What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted here, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige . In compu…",
  "high_resolution_image_link": null
}
```

## Run it

From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output:

```bash
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"method":"nasa.gov/get_astronomy_picture_of_the_day","input":{"date":"2026-09-28"}}'
```

From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`.

## Ask your agent

- Show me the astronomy picture from March 3, 2019, with its explanation and credit
- What's the featured space image for 2023-07-21? I want the title and high-res link if available
- Pull up today's astronomy picture of the day from NASA and tell me who took the photo
- I need the APOD entry for 1998-11-09, including the copyright line and the page link
- Could you fetch the NASA picture of the day for 2010-04-15 and give me the media link and explanation?

## Input schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "date": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Picture date in YYYY-MM-DD, such as 2025-09-14. Defaults to today (UTC). Dates run from 1995-06-16 to today."
    }
  }
}
```

## Output schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "date",
    "title",
    "explanation",
    "media_type",
    "media_link",
    "high_resolution_image_link",
    "credit",
    "copyright",
    "page_link"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "date": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date",
      "description": "Date of this APOD entry."
    },
    "title": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Title of the picture."
    },
    "credit": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Image or video credit as plain text, if listed."
    },
    "copyright": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Copyright information as plain text, if listed."
    },
    "page_link": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "APOD page for this date."
    },
    "media_link": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Link to the featured image or video."
    },
    "media_type": {
      "enum": [
        "image",
        "video"
      ],
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Type of featured media."
    },
    "explanation": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Explanation in plain text."
    },
    "high_resolution_image_link": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ],
      "description": "Higher-resolution image link, if one is provided."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}
```

## See more

- [NASA API: Search media](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/search-images.md): Searches NASA public photos, videos or audio by words and creation year, returning matches in relevance order with thumbnails and full-size file links.
- [NASA API: List near-Earth asteroids](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/list-near-earth-asteroids.md): Lists near-Earth asteroids that pass Earth between two UTC dates within a chosen distance, with approach times, size ranges, speed and hazard status.
- [NASA API: Get ISS sightings](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/get-iss-sightings.md): Finds upcoming International Space Station sightings for a city in NASA's city list, with local start times, visibility and sky directions. Cities without scheduled passes return an empty list.
- [NASA API: List natural events](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov/list-natural-events.md): List EONET natural events with latest observations in the past number of days, most recent first. A country or region filter matches reported event locations against mapped boundaries; locations and ongoing status are approximate, and not all events have a reported size or strength.
- [Internet Archive API: Get archived page](https://fous.com/methods/web.archive.org/get-archived-page.md): Finds the closest Wayback Machine capture of a web page to a past date and returns its title and readable text.
- [Time and Date API: Get sunrise and sunset](https://fous.com/methods/timeanddate.com/get-sunrise-and-sunset.md): Gets daily sunrise, sunset, solar noon, day length and civil twilight for a place from Time and Date, for one or more consecutive days. Times are local with UTC offset; days without sunrise or sunset are marked.
- [BrainyQuote API: Get quote of the day](https://fous.com/methods/brainyquote.com/get-quote-of-the-day.md): Gets the quote BrainyQuote shows today in a chosen daily category (general, love, nature, funny or art), with its author and quote link. The date follows the day shown on BrainyQuote.
- [Bible Gateway API: Get Verse of the Day](https://fous.com/methods/biblegateway.com/get-verse-of-the-day.md): Gets Bible Gateway's Verse of the Day in the requested translation (NIV by default). The date is the one Bible Gateway assigns, which may differ from the local date.
- [All NASA methods](https://fous.com/methods/nasa.gov.md)