Added a Readme and License file

LICENSE

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+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2025 Jarian Cottingham
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO
+EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
+DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+OTHERWISE ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
+USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

README.md

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+# NASA Image Downloader
+
+Download images from the NASA Image & Video Library API into a local folder structure,
+store each image’s metadata in a JSON file, and automatically resume where the
+last run stopped.  The script is idempotent and runs safely as a nightly job or
+as a manual command.
+
+## Description
+
+- Queries NASA’s public “Image and Video Library” API for all images between a
+  start and an end date.
+- Downloads each image to an `images/` directory.
+- Saves the raw API response for each item to a companion
+  `index‑<nasa_id>.json` file in `metadata/`.
+- Keeps a `last_run.txt` file with the date of the most recent successful run;
+  subsequent executions automatically pick up from that date.
+- Skips files that already exist locally, so the script can be called multiple
+  times without re‑downloading anything.
+- Optional time‑budget: stops after a configurable maximum run time (2 h by
+  default).
+- Graceful error handling – printing failures to STDERR but continuing the
+  entire run.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Python 3.7 or later (the shebang is `/usr/bin/env python3`).
+- Python packages:
+  - `requests`
+  - `tqdm` (optional; if missing the script falls back to a plain list)
+
+    ```bash
+    pip install requests tqdm
+    ```
+
+## Usage
+
+```bash
+python downloader.py [--start YYYY-MM-DD] [--end YYYY-MM-DD] [--output BASE_DIR]
+```
+
+| Argument | Description |
+|----------|-------------|
+| `--start` | Start date (inclusive). If omitted, the script reads the date from
+  `last_run.txt`; if that file does not exist it defaults to **three days ago**. |
+| `--end`   | End date (inclusive). Defaults to **today**. |
+| `--output` | Base directory where `images/` and `metadata/` folders will be
+  created. Default is the current working directory. |
+
+The script prints progress to the console and records the last successful
+end date in `last_run.txt` (or in the chosen output directory).
+
+## Examples
+
+Below are valid calls that demonstrate typical use‑cases.
+
+```bash
+# 1. Default run – uses last_run.txt for the start date (or defaults to
+#    3 days ago) and downloads everything up to today.
+python downloader.py
+
+# 2. Override date range – gather images created in the first week of July 2023.
+python downloader.py --start 2023-07-01 --end 2023-07-07
+
+# 3. Recent images only – start is yesterday, end is today.
+python downloader.py --start $(date -u +%Y-%m-%d --date='-1 day') \
+                     --end $(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)
+
+# 4. Output everything under a specific directory tree.
+python downloader.py --output /Users/me/Nasa
+
+# 5. Custom state directory: images and metadata will live inside `/tmp/nasa_imgs/`.
+python downloader.py --start 2023-06-20 --output /tmp/nasa_imgs
+
+# 6. Combine date range and custom output base.
+python downloader.py --start 2023-01-01 \
+                     --end 2023-01-05 \
+                     --output /Projects/nasa_imgs
+```
+
+## Output Structure
+
+After a successful run:
+
+```
+images/
+├── <high‑res‑image‑1>.jpg
+├── <high‑res‑image‑2>.png
+└── ...
+
+metadata/
+├── index-XYZ123.json
+├── index-ABC456.json
+└── ...
+
+last_run.txt
+```
+
+- Each `index‑<nasa_id>.json` contains the full API response for the image.
+- The `images` folder holds the highest‑resolution image that NASA offers
+  for each item.
+
+## Author
+
+*Created by the NASA Open‑Source Initiative / community contributors.*
+
+## License
+
+This project is released under the MIT License. See `LICENSE` for details.
+```