NASA Open APIs

NASA EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera)

The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) instrument aboard the DSCOVR satellite provides full-disc imagery of the Earth. Returns natural and enhanced color image metadata with centroid coordinates, spacecraft position, sun position, and lunar position. Both /natural and /enhanced collections supported.

NASA EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) is one of 17 APIs that NASA Open APIs publishes on the APIs.io network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification.

This API exposes 1 machine-runnable capability that can be deployed as REST, MCP, or Agent Skill surfaces via Naftiko.

Tagged areas include Earth, Imagery, DSCOVR, and NASA. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes API documentation, an OpenAPI specification, and 1 Naftiko capability spec.

GitHub OpenAPI

Documentation

📖
Documentation
https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/api

Specifications

⚙
OpenAPI
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/nasa-gov/refs/heads/main/openapi/epic-openapi.yml

Other Resources

🔗
NaftikoCapability
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/nasa-gov/refs/heads/main/capabilities/epic.yaml

OpenAPI Specification

epic-openapi.yml Raw ↑ 
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: NASA EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) API
  description: |
    The DSCOVR EPIC instrument provides full-disc imagery of Earth and captures unique perspectives of certain
    astronomical events such as lunar transits. The API returns natural and enhanced color image metadata with
    centroid coordinates, spacecraft, sun, and lunar positions.
  version: '1.0'
  contact:
    name: NASA EPIC
    url: https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/api
  license:
    name: US Government Work (Public Domain)
servers:
- url: https://api.nasa.gov/EPIC
security:
- ApiKeyAuth: []
paths:
  /api/natural:
    get:
      summary: Get Most Recent Natural Color Images
      operationId: getNaturalRecent
      tags:
      - Natural
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Metadata for the most recent natural color EPIC images.
  /api/natural/date/{date}:
    get:
      summary: Get Natural Color Images by Date
      operationId: getNaturalByDate
      tags:
      - Natural
      parameters:
      - name: date
        in: path
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
          format: date
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Metadata for natural color EPIC images taken on the given date.
  /api/natural/available:
    get:
      summary: Get Available Natural Color Dates
      operationId: getNaturalAvailable
      tags:
      - Natural
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: List of dates for which natural color images are available.
  /api/natural/all:
    get:
      summary: Get All Natural Color Image Dates
      operationId: getNaturalAll
      tags:
      - Natural
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: All dates with natural color image counts.
  /api/enhanced:
    get:
      summary: Get Most Recent Enhanced Color Images
      operationId: getEnhancedRecent
      tags:
      - Enhanced
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Metadata for the most recent enhanced color EPIC images.
  /api/enhanced/date/{date}:
    get:
      summary: Get Enhanced Color Images by Date
      operationId: getEnhancedByDate
      tags:
      - Enhanced
      parameters:
      - name: date
        in: path
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
          format: date
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Metadata for enhanced color EPIC images taken on the given date.
  /api/enhanced/available:
    get:
      summary: Get Available Enhanced Color Dates
      operationId: getEnhancedAvailable
      tags:
      - Enhanced
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: List of dates for which enhanced color images are available.
components:
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: query
      name: api_key
  parameters:
    ApiKey:
      name: api_key
      in: query
      required: true
      schema:
        type: string
        default: DEMO_KEY