I made event-horizon , a NASA-powered custom new-tab dashboard. It displays NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day with the image or video, title, date, explanation, and a link to the original media.
I designed it as a fixed Chrome-style browser window using a neo-brutalist and maximalist visual style. It has bold borders, bright colors, large typography, a live clock, a date picker, a Today button, a reload button, signal status, and an internal scroll area for reading the NASA explanation without scrolling the entire page.
The most challenging parts were connecting the NASA APOD API, supporting both image and video results, handling loading and error states, and keeping the browser-style layout fixed while allowing only the content panel to scroll. I also learned how to use Vite environment variables and deploy a production build.
To test the project, open the site and wait for the NASA picture to load. Use the date picker to explore another date, click “Jump to Today” to return to today’s picture, and click the original-image link to view the full-resolution media. Press the T key to return to today’s picture.