Is the picture really today's?

Yes. The pipeline fetches NASA's official Astronomy Picture of the Day, so it matches what's published on NASA's site that day.

What if today's APOD is a video?

On video days the saver shows the title and date with a note to visit apod.nasa.gov, since it displays still images.

The pipeline uses NASA's public demo access, so there's nothing for you to obtain. The saver just reads the saved picture.

Why does it use a pipeline?

It keeps the saver simple and avoids any rate limits — the picture changes only once a day, so a daily fetch is plenty.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Who chooses the picture each day?

APOD is originated, written, coordinated and edited by astronomers Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, who have run it since 1995.

Can I reuse the images?

Not automatically. NASA images are in the public domain, but other images belong to their owners, and NASA and APOD cannot grant permission for them. Check the credit line and contact the owner.

NASA Picture of the Day Screensaver

The Picture of the Day screensaver shows NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day full-bleed, with a slow Ken Burns drift and its title, refreshed daily through the pipeline — a new window onto the cosmos every day. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Picture of the Day screensaver works

A background pipeline fetches NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day once a day and saves the image and its caption.

The saver loads that image and fills the screen with it, cropping gently so there are no bars.

A slow Ken Burns zoom and pan keeps the still image feeling alive.

The title and date are laid over a soft gradient at the bottom, and a new picture arrives each day.

The story behind Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day, usually shortened to APOD, is a NASA-hosted web page that has been originated, written, coordinated and edited since 1995 by Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. Nemiroff is a professor at Michigan Technological University and Bonnell is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Each entry pairs a featured image with a brief explanation.

The pictures are not all NASA’s. Each image is credited to its owner or originating institution, and the credit line links to the owner. NASA images are in the public domain, but APOD states that neither NASA nor APOD can grant permission to use copyrighted images, so anyone wanting to reuse one needs to contact the owner directly.

For a screensaver, the title and date are the most useful hooks: they let you search for the full APOD page, where the explanation describes what the image shows and who made it. Because the saver fetches the picture once a day, what you see is a snapshot of that day’s entry.

A worked example

One day it's a glittering nebula, the next a comet or a galaxy — like today's AR 4478: Giant Sunspot Group — each filling the screen with a slow cinematic drift and captioned with NASA's title for the day.

Settings & tips

Ken Burns drift toggles the slow zoom and pan.
Show title toggles the caption bar.
Run automation/run.py apod on your pipeline machine to fetch the latest picture.

Frequently asked questions

Is the picture really today's?: Yes. The pipeline fetches NASA's official Astronomy Picture of the Day, so it matches what's published on NASA's site that day.
What if today's APOD is a video?: On video days the saver shows the title and date with a note to visit apod.nasa.gov, since it displays still images.
Does it need a key?: The pipeline uses NASA's public demo access, so there's nothing for you to obtain. The saver just reads the saved picture.
Why does it use a pipeline?: It keeps the saver simple and avoids any rate limits — the picture changes only once a day, so a daily fetch is plenty.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Who chooses the picture each day?: APOD is originated, written, coordinated and edited by astronomers Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, who have run it since 1995.
Can I reuse the images?: Not automatically. NASA images are in the public domain, but other images belong to their owners, and NASA and APOD cannot grant permission for them. Check the credit line and contact the owner.

← All Space & Astronomy screensavers