MEDIA

Get NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API

Fetch NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Today's by default, or any date from 1995-06-16 onwards. Returns title, explanation, media URL (+ HD variant), copyright. Uses DEMO_KEY by default; set NASA_API_KEY env for higher rate limits.

nasaspaceastronomypython

Try it free Get an API key

How to call it

Send one POST to api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get with your key in the X-Api-Key header and the parameters below as a JSON body. Each call spends 1 weighted unit of your monthly quota. The operation times out after 25 seconds. Identical requests are served from cache for 3600 seconds, unbilled.

endpoint

POST https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get

Get NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API reference

Request parameters

hd: boolean — Include high-resolution URL when available
date: string — YYYY-MM-DD; omit for today. Must be on or after 1995-06-16.

Response fields

url: stringrequired
date: stringrequired
hdurl: stringrequired
title: stringrequired
copyright: stringrequired
fetchedAt: stringrequired
mediaType: stringrequired
explanation: stringrequired

Example request and response

The example response is generated from this operation’s published output schema — it shows the shape and field names, not values from a recorded call.

json — example request body

{
  "hd": true,
  "date": "2024-07-04"
}

json — example response shape

{
  "url": "https://github.com",
  "date": "2024-07-04",
  "hdurl": "example",
  "title": "Alan Turing",
  "copyright": "example",
  "fetchedAt": "example",
  "mediaType": "example",
  "explanation": "example"
}

Code snippets

cURL

curl

curl -X POST https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -d '{ "hd": true, "date": "2024-07-04" }'

JavaScript

javascript

const response = await fetch('https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
  "hd": true,
  "date": "2024-07-04"
}),
});

const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

Python

python

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get',
    headers={
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    },
    json={
  "hd": True,
  "date": "2024-07-04"
},
)

print(response.json())

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

func main() {
	payload := []byte(`{ "hd": true, "date": "2024-07-04" }`)

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get", bytes.NewBuffer(payload))
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY")

	client := &http.Client{}
	resp, err := client.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	var result map[string]any
	json.Unmarshal(body, &result)
	fmt.Println(result)
}

PHP

php

<?php

$payload = json_encode([
    'hd' => true,
    'date' => '2024-07-04',
]);

$ch = curl_init('https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get');
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_POST           => true,
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => $payload,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => [
        'Content-Type: application/json',
        'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY',
    ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

$data = json_decode($response, true);
var_dump($data);

Ruby

ruby

require 'net/http'
require 'uri'
require 'json'

uri = URI('https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get')
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == 'https'

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri.path)
request['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
request['x-api-key'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY'
request.body = { "hd": true, "date": "2024-07-04" }.to_json

response = http.request(request)
puts JSON.parse(response.body)

Java

java

import okhttp3.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import java.util.Map;

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

String json = "{ \"hd\": true, \"date\": \"2024-07-04\" }";

RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(json, MediaType.get("application/json"));
Request request = new Request.Builder()
    .url("https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get")
    .post(body)
    .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .addHeader("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    .build();

try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
    Map<?, ?> result = mapper.readValue(response.body().string(), Map.class);
    System.out.println(result);
}

csharp

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text.Json;

using var client = new HttpClient();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY");

var payload = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<object>("{ \"hd\": true, \"date\": \"2024-07-04\" }");
var response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync("https://api.upapi.io/nasa-apod.get", payload);

var result = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<JsonElement>();
Console.WriteLine(result);

Frequently asked questions

How much does the Get NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API cost per call?

Each call spends 1 weighted unit of your plan's monthly quota. Full pricing is at https://upapi.io/pricing.

How do I authenticate to the Get NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API?

Send your key in the X-Api-Key header. A free guest key is available without creating an account.

Are Get NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API responses cached?

Yes — identical requests are served from cache for 3600 seconds, and a cache hit is not billed.

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