Space Picture of the Day (MCP Server)

space-picture-of-day is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides daily space and astronomy images along with detailed explanations fetched from NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) API.

Features

• Fetch the current or specific day's Astronomy Picture of the Day
• Get image URL, title, explanation, and media type
• Simple MCP-compatible API for chatbots and automation

Installation

You can install and run this MCP server globally with npm, or use it via npx:

npm install @dennisk2025/space-picture-of-day

Or run directly with npx:

npx @dennisk2025/space-picture-of-day

Adding to Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop, use the following command:

claude --mcp add space-picture-of-day "npx @dennisk2025/space-picture-of-day"

Usage Example (MCP Tool Call)

Call the tool get_picture_of_day with or without a date:

Example: Today's Astronomy Picture

{
  "tool": "get_picture_of_day",
  "input": {}
}

Example: Picture for a Specific Date

{
  "tool": "get_picture_of_day",
  "input": { "date": "2022-03-14" }
}

Example Output

{
  "date": "2022-03-14",
  "title": "NGC 2419: Intergalactic Wanderer",
  "image_url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/NGC2419_Hubble_960.jpg",
  "explanation": "Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way...",
  "media_type": "image",
  "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2203/NGC2419_Hubble_1920.jpg",
  "copyright": "NASA, ESA"
}

Available Tools

get_picture_of_day

Fetches the Astronomy Picture of the Day, including image URL and explanation.

Input Parameters:

| Name | Type | Description | Required | |-------|--------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|----------| | date | string | Optional. Date in YYYY-MM-DD format for a specific day's image. | No |

Returns:

• date (string): The date of the image
• title (string): Title of the APOD
• image_url (string): URL of the image or media
• explanation (string): Description and explanation of the picture
• media_type (string): Type of media (usually image or video)
• hdurl (string|null): URL to high-definition image (if available)
• copyright (string|null): Copyright holder (may not always be present)

Notes

• The default NASA API key is used. For higher rate limits, set your own API key in the code.
• The server uses stdio transport and should be compatible with any MCP-enabled client.