Astrospheric Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Astrospheric LLC takes privacy seriously and makes a best effort to only collect information necessary for a particular feature to aid in service telemetry. Any private information collected by Astrospheric LLC will never be shared or sold to a third party. Third party services are used to improve features on the site and help Astrospheic LLC develope faster and find issues sooner. Note that this privacy policy may change at any time.

Note that while browsers have the ability to block cookies and opt out of services Astrospheric uses, mobile devices generally can not and therefore you agree to the privacy policy and terms of use when you decide to use Astrospheric on a mobile device.

Cookies & Local Storage

By default, Astrospheric uses a cookie and local storage to hold session information necessary for the user interface. If you choose to use Favorites, then you’ll also be sharing your email address with Astrospheric, this is considered private information and is never shared. It is possible to use Astrospheric with cookies and local storage turned off, however many customization and community features will not work.

External Services (3rd party)

Google Analytics

By default, Astrospheric LLC uses Google Analytics to track site telemetry (user counts, feature usage, page errors) and will store a cookie on your device. Private information collected on Astrospheric (location and email information) is never shared with Google Analytics. If you’d like to opt out of this telemetry, please use Google’s tools to do so (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/). You may also block 3rd party cookies. Mobile users and app users cannot opt out and therefore agree to allow Google Analytics to collect data.

Sponsorship

Astrospheric sponsors are not given any user personal information. Sponsors are given numerical information on total ad loads, ad views, and ad clicks. The ads on Astrospheric are delivered via the Google Ad Network.

If you do not agree to this policy, please discontinue use of the service. If you’ve used the Favorites features and would like the cookie removed, simply use the Logout functionality provided in the Profile tab. You can also just clear your cookies (or delete the mobile app) to remove this information.

Terms of Use

General terms and conditions

All Astrospheric users must agree with the following. If you don't agree, please discontinue use of the service.

• Weather forecasting is never 100% accurate. You, the user, are solely responsible for decisions made from forecast data and outcomes of those decisions. Astrospheric LLC can not be held responsible or liable for any outcome of decisions made off of data presented on Astrospheric.
• The data shown on the site comes from free sources (CMC, NOAA, etc) but Astrospheric LLC uses incredible resources to compute these sources into visual map tiles and forecasts for the community. These computed assets and private APIs are owned by Astrospheric LLC and made available to the public through the Astrospheric website and apps. Any use of these assets or APIs outside of Astrospheric's direct properties without Astrospheric LLC permission will lead to being blocked from accessing the service or further legal action.
• Astrospheric is a shared resource for the community. Please be considerate when making many forecast requests since this will slow down the service for everyone. Abusive amounts of forecast requests, usage of private APIs without permission, or detection of automated resource calls will lead to your IP address being blocked, which Astrospheric LLC may choose to do at any time.

Favorites and Community Favorites

The next set of Terms of Use only apply to those users who use Favorites and Community Favorites. If you don't agree, simply discontinue use of these specific features.

It is up to you, the user, to keep your account credentials safe and private. Astrospheric LLC is not responsible for lost or stolen account information regardless of how the information was obtained.

Users who view Community Favorites must agree to the following terms of use.

• Users are solely responsible for the decisions made off of Community Favorite data. Astrospheric LLC is not liable or responsible for any damages that may occur from information learned (and decisions made) through the community on Astrospheric. Some locations are inherently dangerous (desert, mountains, etc) and may require special consideration when visiting. It is completely up to you, the user, to take the necessary precautions and make arrangements to be safe.
• Content belongs to the community member who posted it. Astrospheric LLC is not responsible for validating any data (images or text) shown in Community Favorites beyond ensuring offensive material isn't present. If you identify across data that is wrong or offensive, please use the feedback form to let Astrospheric LLC know.
• Content belongs to the community member who posted it. Content is not to be taken or represented anywhere outside of Astrospheric without express permission of the owner.

Failing to follow or agree to the terms above may lead to being banned from the service.

Users who submit Community Favorites must agree to the following terms of use.

• You attest that your contribution is accurate and correct to the best of your knowledge and that you have the rights to distribute the details and media you've added to the community favorite. Your contribution must not contain any offensive material. General rule of thumb is that anything contributed to the community should be at most PG-13.
• You attest that your contribution represents a location that others would be welcome to visit given the appropriate permissions. If permissions are required for site access, you must include information on obtaining said permissions in the details of your post.
• You attest that your contribution does not represent an advertisement or any other commercial venture.
• You agree that Astrospheric LLC has the right to remove a community favorite for any reason, especially those which break any of the terms listed above.
• Astrospheric LLC agrees that you retain rights to the data (text and media) provided in a community favorite. But, Astrospheric LLC may
  1. Resize images to make them more presentable through the service
  2. Not be held responsible if others take your data from the service
  3. Use your data in marketing and promotional advertisements but only with attribution to you and any website you've made available to your profile

If you do not agree with the terms listed above, do not post content to Community Favorites. Those who abuse any terms above may be blocked from using the Astrospheric service.

Subscriptions

By purchasing a subscription either through the app store, or via a bulk coupon code purchase, you agree to the following terms.

• There are no refunds for subscriptions.
• If you chose to cancel your subscription or not renew, you’ll be given access to any features unlocked by said subscription for the remainder of the original subscription time period. Eg. If you cancel 7 days into a one month subscriptions, you’ll still be able to use features unlocked by the subscription for the next 23 (or so) days. Refunds will not be granted for canceled subscriptions. Please note: It is possible to request a refund from the app store you purchased the subscription from. If you are granted a refund from the app store, the subscription benefits will end immediately.
• Astrospheric makes every attempt to deliver timely Weather Alerts and forecasts, but technical issues (both on Astrospheric’s service and your device) and forecast delays can occur and should be expected from time to time. Refunds will not be granted in these situations.
• Weather Alerts and device settings must be set up correctly to allow push notifications to be sent. Astrospheric attempts to set this up correctly during app install, but it's up to the user to ensure settings are correct. Refunds will not be granted in cases where Weather Alerts or other settings are not set up correctly.
• It is possible to use Astrospheric without a subscription to verify the data is useful for your favorite locations without paying any money. If you cancel a subscription because the forecasts are not accurate enough, no refund will be granted. Please use the service for some time to ensure it meets your needs before purchasing a subscription.
• Subscriptions are managed by the Google Play or Apple App stores. A Subscription will auto-renew until you manually cancel it. Refunds will not be granted in situations where your have forgotten to cancel a subscription. It is up to you to manage your subscriptions.
• Subscriptions are made possible by the Google Play or Apple Apps store on your device and are made easy to purchase. Refunds will not be granted in the case of accidental purchase by you or someone with access to your device.
• Subscription feature information is fully documented on the Astrospheric help pages. Refunds will not be granted based on the features not doing anything different than what is documented.

Subspace

Subspace allows for social networking amongst astronomy clubs, societies, and other special interest groups. By using Subspace, you agree to the following terms of use. If you do not agree, simply discontinue use of the Subspace features.

• Astrospheric LLC is not responsible for group content or members
• Group admins are responsible for the members and content of their group.
• Group admins and members are responsible for keeping their group join code private
• Group admins have access to Group Members email address
• Public events must be astronomy related and welcoming to the community.
• Group Admins should consider their email address public if the group is publicly available on the map. This ensures if people ask who the current admin of a group is, Astrospheric staff can give them specific contacts.
• Astrospheric staff can change a group admin of a publicly facing group on the map if the current admin is failing to respond or for any reason that would negatively impact the group
• Astro Society Society Edition entitlement is for society or club members only. If a group with subscription entitlement is handing out their join code publicly or to non members, the entitlement will be removed.
• Astro Society Edition requires Astrospheric embed control to be shown on a society website.
• For the Astro Society Edition entitlement, embed control must be the only RDPS forecast on the page. This is to stop confusion when users compare forecasts against each other. To date, there is no other service besides Astrospheric which updates the RDPS astronomy forecast as frequently or using the appropriate binary data, so this shouldn't be an issue. If another RDPS forecast is created that matches Astrospheric's frequency or performance, please contact us.
• Astrospheric may remove posts, events, or groups, or change group entitlement at any time if the group is found to not be positively contributing to the community.

Public Subspace channels such as "Astrophotography" strictly follow Subspace terms. Moderators are free to remove any post and block any user they feel is not positively contributing to the channel.

Clear Skies,
Daniel Fiordalis Astrospheric LLC