diff --git a/modules/skybrowser/include/wwtdatahandler.h b/modules/skybrowser/include/wwtdatahandler.h
index 922f19fa0a..175f5cb514 100644
--- a/modules/skybrowser/include/wwtdatahandler.h
+++ b/modules/skybrowser/include/wwtdatahandler.h
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ namespace openspace {
 namespace documentation { struct Documentation; }
 
 struct ImageData {
-    std::string name = "";
+    std::string name;
     std::string thumbnailUrl;
-    std::string imageUrl = "";
+    std::string imageUrl;
     std::string credits;
     std::string creditsUrl;
     std::string collection;
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class WwtDataHandler {
 public:
     void loadImages(const std::string& root, const std::filesystem::path& directory);
     int nLoadedImages() const;
-    const ImageData& image(const std::string& imageUrl) const;
+    std::optional<const ImageData> image(const std::string& imageUrl) const;
     const std::map<std::string, ImageData>& images() const;
 
 private:
diff --git a/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule.cpp b/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule.cpp
index 9e8175f97c..5a718950ee 100644
--- a/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule.cpp
+++ b/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule.cpp
@@ -319,8 +319,11 @@ void SkyBrowserModule::setHoverCircle(SceneGraphNode* circle) {
 }
 
 void SkyBrowserModule::moveHoverCircle(const std::string& imageUrl, bool useScript) {
-    const ImageData& image = _dataHandler.image(imageUrl);
-
+    std::optional<const ImageData> found = _dataHandler.image(imageUrl);
+    if (!found.has_value()) {
+        return;
+    }
+    const ImageData image = found.value();
     // Only move and show circle if the image has coordinates
     if (!(_hoverCircle && image.hasCelestialCoords && _isCameraInSolarSystem)) {
         return;
diff --git a/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule_lua.inl b/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule_lua.inl
index 4ffd73c4b7..e4d3f3836c 100644
--- a/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule_lua.inl
+++ b/modules/skybrowser/skybrowsermodule_lua.inl
@@ -83,14 +83,17 @@ namespace {
     if (module->isCameraInSolarSystem()) {
         TargetBrowserPair* selected = module->pair(module->selectedBrowserId());
         if (selected) {
-            const ImageData& image = module->wwtDataHandler().image(imageUrl);
-            if (image.name == "") {
+            std::optional<const ImageData> found = module->wwtDataHandler().image(
+                imageUrl
+            );
+            if (!found.has_value()) {
                 LINFO(fmt::format(
                     "No image with identifier {} was found in the collection.", imageUrl
                 ));
                 return;
             }
             // Load image into browser
+            const ImageData& image = found.value();
             std::string str = image.name;
             // Check if character is ASCII - if it isn't, remove
             str.erase(
@@ -303,8 +306,6 @@ namespace {
     // Create Lua table to send to the GUI
     ghoul::Dictionary list;
     for (auto const& [id, img] : module->wwtDataHandler().images()) {
-        const ImageData& img = module->wwtDataHandler().image(id);
-        
         // Push ("Key", value)
         ghoul::Dictionary image;
         image.setValue("name", img.name);
@@ -775,7 +776,7 @@ namespace {
         std::for_each(
             images.rbegin(), images.rend(),
             [&](std::string imageUrl) {
-                const ImageData& image = module->wwtDataHandler().image(imageUrl);
+                const ImageData& image = module->wwtDataHandler().image(imageUrl).value();
                 // Index of image is used as layer ID as it's unique in the image data set
                 pair->browser()->addImageLayerToWwt(image.imageUrl);
             }
diff --git a/modules/skybrowser/src/targetbrowserpair.cpp b/modules/skybrowser/src/targetbrowserpair.cpp
index ba1eeac821..8421964f1c 100644
--- a/modules/skybrowser/src/targetbrowserpair.cpp
+++ b/modules/skybrowser/src/targetbrowserpair.cpp
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ ghoul::Dictionary TargetBrowserPair::dataAsDictionary() const {
     
     for (const std::string& imageUrl : selectedImages()) {
         selectedImagesIndices.push_back(
-            module->wwtDataHandler().image(imageUrl).identifier
+            module->wwtDataHandler().image(imageUrl).value().identifier
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/skybrowser/src/wwtdatahandler.cpp b/modules/skybrowser/src/wwtdatahandler.cpp
index 4198530e51..eaba94a547 100644
--- a/modules/skybrowser/src/wwtdatahandler.cpp
+++ b/modules/skybrowser/src/wwtdatahandler.cpp
@@ -338,10 +338,10 @@ int WwtDataHandler::nLoadedImages() const {
     return static_cast<int>(_images.size());
 }
 
-const ImageData& WwtDataHandler::image(const std::string& imageUrl) const {
+std::optional<const ImageData> WwtDataHandler::image(const std::string& imageUrl) const {
      auto it = _images.find(imageUrl);
      if (it == _images.end()) {
-         return ImageData();
+        return std::nullopt;
      }
      return it->second;
 }