Cosmic Explorer 🌌

A modern, interactive web application that showcases NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) with a beautiful space-themed interface.

Features ✨

• 🚀 Fetches NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
• 🌠 Beautiful space-themed UI with animated star field
• 📅 Browse images by date
• ⌨️ Keyboard navigation support
• 📱 Fully responsive design
• 🎨 Modern glass-morphism effects
• 🔄 Smooth animations and transitions
• 🌙 Dark mode optimized

Getting Started 🚀

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/QuickHarsh/cosmic-explorer.git
cd cosmic-explorer

2. Get your NASA API key:

   • Visit NASA API Portal
   • Click "Get an API Key"
   • Fill out the form (it's free and instant)
   • Copy your API key

3. Update the API key:

   • Open script.js
   • Replace 'DEMO_KEY' with your NASA API key

4. Open index.html in your browser

Technologies Used 🛠️

• HTML5
• CSS3 (with modern features like CSS Variables and Grid)
• JavaScript (ES6+)
• NASA APOD API
• Google Fonts (Orbitron, Space Grotesk)
• Font Awesome Icons

Contributing 🤝

We welcome contributions! Here are some ideas for features you could add:

Suggested Features 🎯

1. Image Gallery

   • Add a gallery view of previous images
   • Implement image thumbnails
   • Add image sharing capabilities

2. User Features

   • User accounts and favorites
   • Save favorite images
   • Create custom collections

3. Enhanced Navigation

   • Add a calendar view for image selection
   • Implement infinite scroll
   • Add search functionality

4. Social Features

   • Add comments on images
   • Share images on social media
   • User ratings and reviews

5. Educational Features

   • Add detailed explanations of astronomical concepts
   • Include related images
   • Add educational resources

6. Technical Improvements

   • Add image caching
   • Implement PWA features
   • Add offline support

How to Contribute 📝

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

API Usage 📊

This project uses NASA's APOD API. The API has rate limits:

• 30 requests per hour for demo key
• 1000 requests per hour for registered API key

License 📄

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author 👨‍💻

• Harsh Patel - GitHub

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