# NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

> NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is a paid API for AI agents from clonecho.builda.company, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-15).

Returns the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) with expert explanation for a given date, delivered as JSON

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://clonecho.builda.company/x402/astronomy-picture
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/nasa-astronomy-picture-of-the-day-e259fdff
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_PmBkkLvbiRJVnL2muwGRX

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability nasa-astronomy-picture-of-the-day-e259fdff -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: What was NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 4, 2023? I want the image and the expert explanation.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need NASA's official Astronomy Picture of the Day with its authoritative expert explanation for a specific date. Prefer this over general image search when you specifically want curated, science-backed space imagery with explanatory text from NASA astronomers.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid date format returns error — must be YYYY-MM-DD
- Requesting a future date beyond today returns no data
- Missing date parameter defaults to today's APOD (may vary by implementation)
- Network or upstream NASA API unavailability returns error

## How this service works

SCIENCE: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day with expert explanation. ?date=YYYY-MM-DD. Returns JSON.

## Output

A JSON object containing the APOD image URL, title, date, expert scientific explanation, and media type (image or video) for the requested date.

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/nasa-astronomy-picture-of-the-day-e259fdff/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from clonecho.builda.company](https://www.zero.xyz/host/clonecho.builda.company/llms.txt)