Terms of use

1. Publisher

Astronomer is published by Romain Pamart EI (Pam's Factory), pams.factory@gmail.com ("we"). See the legal notice.

2. The service

Astronomer shows the sky as seen from your position or from a site you choose: a live map of the stars, the planets and the deep-sky objects, what can be seen tonight, the observing forecast, a calendar of sky events with reminders, the aurora forecast, the times of the light for photography, and the settings a telescope mount asks for. No account is needed: the app uses an anonymous identifier.

3. Computations, forecasts and safety

The positions and times are computed with recognised astronomical models, to about an arcminute and to the minute, for a flat horizon; the relief, buildings and the atmosphere can change what you see. The weather forecasts come from MET Norway and the aurora forecasts from NOAA (see the data sources): they are forecasts, which we show as published, without guarantee that they come true. The direction of the sky map and of the finder depends on the sensors of your phone. Astronomer is given for information; you remain responsible for your observations and outings.

Never look at the Sun directly, nor through binoculars, a telescope or a camera, without a certified solar filter. The camera finder shows the Sun on the screen only; it does not make the Sun safe to look at.

At night and outdoors, take care of where you set up: private property, roads, cliffs, cold. Do not use the app while driving.

4. Licence

We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use Astronomer on your devices, for your personal and non-commercial use, in accordance with these terms and with the rules of the store you downloaded it from. You may not copy, modify, decompile or redistribute the app, except where the law expressly allows it. The catalogues under a share-alike licence remain usable under their own licence (see the data sources).

5. Free version and Astronomer Plus

• Free version: the live sky map, tonight’s sky and its forecast for the night, the calendar of events and its notifications, today’s light, the telescope’s settings, the aurora chance now, one observing site, Observation mode between sunset and sunrise, with ads.
• Astronomer Plus: no ads, aurora alerts (up to 5) with the oval map and the 3-day forecast, the camera finder, the planners, any date, the whole forecast, the extended catalogue, your equipment on the map, up to 10 observing sites and Observation mode at any time, unlocked by a single purchase.

The content of each version may change over time; we will not remove the essential features of Astronomer Plus that you have paid for.

6. Buying Astronomer Plus

Astronomer Plus is a one-time in-app purchase, not a subscription: nothing renews. Its price is €5.99 taxes included in the euro area; in other countries the store displays the price in local currency. Payment is processed by Google Play or by Apple under their own terms; we never receive your payment details.

The purchase follows the store account (Google Play or Apple) that made it: on a new phone, or after reinstalling the app, tap Restore my purchase in Settings with the same store account. It unlocks one install at a time: restoring it on a new install moves it there.

Astronomer Plus remains available for as long as Astronomer is offered (see section 13).

7. Right of withdrawal

Astronomer Plus is digital content supplied immediately after the purchase. By completing the purchase, you ask for it to be supplied immediately and you acknowledge that you thereby lose your 14-day right of withdrawal (French Consumer Code, art. L221-28, 13°). The free version lets you discover Astronomer beforehand.

8. Refunds

Refunds follow the policy of the store you bought from: on Google Play, from your order history (within 48 hours of the purchase) or by writing to us afterwards; on the App Store, from Settings › Request a refund in the app or from reportaproblem.apple.com. A refunded or charged-back purchase no longer unlocks Astronomer Plus. This does not limit your statutory rights described in section 14.

9. Acceptable use

• Do not try to bypass the purchase or to access the data of other users, nor disrupt the service (excessive automated requests, attacks, reverse engineering of our servers).
• Do not collect the data served by our server automatically, nor resell it.
• Do not send us abusive messages.

10. Your messages

What you send us (bug reports, ideas) helps us improve Astronomer; we may use your suggestions freely, without any obligation towards you. Do not include in them personal information that is not needed.

11. Intellectual property

The app, its texts, illustrations, graphics and the Astronomer brand belong to Pam's Factory or its licensors. The data Astronomer reads and carries belongs to its publishers and is used under their licences, listed on the data sources page.

12. Availability and updates

The forecasts depend on the services of NOAA and MET Norway: if one of them stops or changes, its data may be missing for a while; the sky map, tonight’s objects and the times of the light keep working on the phone. We update Astronomer to fix bugs and improve it; some updates may be required to keep using it.

13. End of the service

Astronomer works with our servers: if we ever stop offering it, we will tell you at least 3 months in advance in the app.

14. Liability and statutory rights

You benefit from the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content (French Consumer Code, art. L224-25-12 and following): if Astronomer Plus does not work as described, contact us and we will fix it or, failing that, refund you. Astronomer is provided with reasonable care but without a guarantee of uninterrupted availability or of the accuracy of the forecasts published by third parties (section 3). Within the limits allowed by law, we are not liable for indirect damage, such as a missed observation or a cloudy outing. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

15. Suspension

You can stop using Astronomer and delete your data at any time. We may suspend the access of an install that disrupts the service or breaches these terms seriously (for example fraud or abuse). A purchase is not refunded in case of fraud.

16. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms; we will tell you in the app at least 30 days before an important change takes effect. If you disagree, you can stop using Astronomer and delete your data.

17. Applicable law and disputes

These terms are governed by French law. If you live in another country of the European Union, you also keep the protection of the mandatory rules of that country.

In case of a dispute, write to us first at pams.factory@gmail.com. If we cannot find a solution, you will be able to refer the matter free of charge to a consumer mediator: their name and details will be given here as soon as we have joined one. Otherwise, the courts designated by law have jurisdiction.

18. Contact

Pam's Factory, pams.factory@gmail.com.