apod-dl.py: Download pictures from NASA's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) site

Description

By default, all images will be downloaded to a directory named apod-images. If directory does not exist, the script will create one.

Additionally, the image filename, image date and image text will be written to file: apod-images/album_list.txt

Press Ctrl + C while downloading to abort.

Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Requirements

• python3
• requests
• beautifulsoup4
• lxml

Help

python3 apod-dl.py -h

usage: apod-dl.py [-h] [-u URL] [-d DIR] [-o]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  -u URL, --url URL  start url. Start from this page.  If omitted, will start with today's page
  -d DIR, --dir DIR  name of directory to save files to. If omitted, will create and save files to ./apod-images/
  -o, --oneday       just get the one day's apod and nothing else

Sample Usage

Download everything from today's date and backward infinity:

python3 apod-dl.py 

Download from date's url and backward infinity:

python3 apod-dl.py -u "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201109.html"

Download today's picture only:

python3 apod-dl.py -o

Download date's picture only:

python3 apod-dl.py -o -u "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201109.html"