Random Astronomy Picture MCP

Fetches a random real astronomy picture from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) API, including its title and a brief explanation to inspire users with stunning images of the cosmos.

Installation

Using npx (recommended):

npx @dennisk2025/random-astronomy-picture-mcp

Or install globally:

npm install -g @dennisk2025/random-astronomy-picture-mcp
random-astronomy-picture-mcp

Adding to Claude Desktop

Add the following entry to your Claude Desktop config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astronomy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@dennisk2025/random-astronomy-picture-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Place this in your claude_desktop_config.json file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Usage & Tools

This MCP provides the following tool:

get_random_astronomy_picture

Fetches a random astronomy photo from NASA APOD, including the image URL, title, and a brief explanation.

Parameters

No parameters required.

Example call (Claude Desktop prompt or API):

Call tool: get_random_astronomy_picture
Arguments: {}

Example result:

{
  "title": "Capella and the Milky Way",
  "explanation": "A dazzling arc of the Milky Way...",
  "image_url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2403/capellabush_gianni_9832.jpg",
  "media_type": "image",
  "copyright": "Gianni Krattli",
  "date": "2024-03-01"
}

Tool List

| Tool Name | Description | Params | |-------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------| | get_random_astronomy_picture | Fetches a random astronomy picture from NASA's APOD API, including image URL, title, and a brief explanation | none |

Troubleshooting

• If you encounter rate limit errors, note that NASA's DEMO_KEY allows only limited usage per IP per hour.
• For more flexibility, use your own NASA APOD API key (see https://api.nasa.gov/), or try again later.