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Terms of Use

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Last updated: 3 October 2026

These Terms of Use set out how you may use AstronomyLive and the rights and obligations that apply to you and to us. In short: AstronomyLive is currently free, your content stays yours, and we treat the community fairly.

1. Scope and provider

  1. These terms apply to the use of the AstronomyLive platform (the “Platform”) by viewers, streamers and organizations.
  2. The Platform is provided by Sander Klieverik, Kalckreuthstrasse 16, 10777 Berlin, Deutschland / Germany (“we”, “us”). Full details are in the Imprint.
  3. Conflicting terms of users do not apply, even if we do not expressly object to them.

2. What AstronomyLive offers

  1. AstronomyLive is a platform where members plan, announce and embed astronomy live streams, find celestial events and observing targets, and connect with each other.
  2. Streams are broadcast and stored on YouTube. AstronomyLive does not store videos itself; it embeds them and stores the link. By using YouTube through AstronomyLive, including connecting your YouTube channel, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. AstronomyLive uses the YouTube API Services; see section 6 of the Privacy Policy.
  3. Information on celestial events, visibility, times, positions and weather is calculated or taken from third-party sources (see section 11).

3. Registration, account, minimum age

  1. You must be at least 16 years old to register.
  2. Account types are viewer, streamer and organization. Anyone creating an organization account confirms that they are authorized to represent that organization.
  3. The information you give when registering must be true and kept up to date. Keep your password secret and tell us without delay if you suspect misuse of your account.
  4. Each person may hold only one personal account. Accounts are not transferable.
  5. There is no right to registration or to a particular account type.

4. Costs – currently free, not guaranteed forever

  1. Registering for and using AstronomyLive is currently free of charge.
  2. A free registration does not give you a right for the Platform or individual features to remain free permanently.
  3. We may in future introduce paid memberships or additional paid features, and may move features that were previously free into a paid offering. We will announce this at least six weeks in advance by email and on the Platform.
  4. You will only ever be charged if you expressly order a paid offering yourself. A free account will never become paid automatically.
  5. If you do not wish to pay, you can keep using your account with whatever features remain free at that time, or delete it at any time.
  6. Founder Members receive a permanent Founder badge on their profile and the benefits we expressly promise them in writing when the status is granted. No further entitlements, in particular to permanently free use, are attached to the status unless expressly promised.

5. Obligations of streamers and organizations

  1. You are responsible for your streams, your YouTube channel and the details of your stream (time, target, event, title, description, cover).
  2. Only stream content for which you hold the necessary rights. Music, third-party videos and third-party images only with the rights holder’s permission.
  3. Planned streams should take place or be cancelled in good time. Repeatedly missed streams may affect your streamer status.
  4. Advertising, product placement and sponsorship in streams are permitted if clearly labelled as such.
  5. Only actual live broadcasts may be announced as “live”. Replays and recordings must be labelled as such.

6. Your images and content – usage rights for AstronomyLive

  1. You keep the copyright in your content. Content includes in particular your profile picture, equipment photos, gallery photos, stream covers, stream thumbnails and descriptions.
  2. By uploading, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right, limited to the term of this agreement (see paragraph 7), to use this content for the following purposes:
    1. display on AstronomyLive, for example on your profile, on stream, event, members and gallery pages, on the homepage and on the globe;
    2. inclusion in AstronomyLive live streams, broadcasts and videos, for example as an announcement, background or preview;
    3. promotion of AstronomyLive: social media, newsletters, website banners, presentations, flyers, posters and billboards, in print and digital form, including at trade fairs and events;
    4. compilations with images by other members, for example collages or posters such as “A year of AstronomyLive”.
  3. For these purposes we may edit the content: crop, resize, remove backgrounds, adjust colours, combine it with other images, and add text or the AstronomyLive logo. We will not distort what the image shows. We may use print shops and technical service providers for this.
  4. We credit you as the author with your username where technically and visually possible; on posters and billboards in the image credits.
  5. If we want to sell products featuring your images, such as posters, calendars or prints, we will ask for your separate permission first and agree a fair share of the revenue with you.
  6. You may object at any time to use for promotion under paragraph 2 c and d for future promotional material, by email to info@astronomylive.com or, once available, in your account settings.
  7. If you delete content or your account, its display on the Platform ends; we remove technical backup copies within 30 days. Promotional material already printed and posts already published may continue to be used; we will not create new ones.
  8. You confirm that you hold the rights to your content and that recognisable people shown have consented. You may only upload manufacturers’ photos of telescopes, cameras and accessories with the manufacturer’s permission. If you culpably breach this, you will indemnify us against resulting third-party claims, including reasonable legal defence costs.

6a. Streams and videos

  1. You keep the rights to your streams. By connecting a stream to AstronomyLive you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right to embed the stream and to use excerpts from it for:
    1. display, previews and stills on AstronomyLive;
    2. AstronomyLive highlight videos, compilations, trailers and recaps, for example “The best views of the lunar eclipse”;
    3. promotion of AstronomyLive on social media, in the newsletter, in presentations, on posters and at events, including promotion together with AstronomyLive partners and sponsors.
  2. We credit you as the author with your username where possible.
  3. We obtain excerpts from you or through the features of the platform hosting the stream, and we follow that platform’s rules.
  4. If we want to license or sell excerpts to third parties, such as broadcasters, publishers or manufacturers, we will ask you separately first and agree a fair share of the revenue with you.
  5. You confirm that your stream does not infringe third-party rights, in particular that it contains no unlicensed music, and that recognisable people shown or heard have consented.
  6. You may object at any time to use under paragraph 1 c for future promotional material; section 6 paragraphs 6 and 7 apply accordingly.

6b. Anonymised statistics and market data

  1. We analyse information on AstronomyLive statistically, for example equipment used, interests, observed targets, countries of origin and use of the Platform.
  2. From this we create only aggregated, anonymised statistics that do not allow conclusions about individual people. Every group reported contains at least 20 people.
  3. We may publish these statistics, use them in market reports, and share or sell them to companies, for example manufacturers of telescopes and cameras.
  4. We do not sell or rent personal data. Individual profiles are only shared with companies with your separate consent. Details are in the Privacy Policy.

7. Community rules

The following are not allowed on AstronomyLive, in particular:

8. Reports and moderation

  1. Anyone can report illegal content or content that breaks these rules using the report function, once available, or by email to info@astronomylive.com. Please include the exact location of the content (link), your reasons and your contact details.
  2. We review reports promptly, carefully and objectively. We may remove content, hide streams, delete chat messages, temporarily mute users in chat, or suspend accounts temporarily or permanently, taking into account how serious and how frequent the breach is.
  3. Those affected receive a statement of reasons for our decision. They and the person who reported can object by email within six months; a human will then review the decision again.
  4. Manifestly unfounded reports, or repeatedly posting manifestly illegal content, may lead to a temporary suspension after a prior warning.

9. Streamer status and awards

We award the levels New, Rising, Super, Expert and Master Streamer, and awards such as Founder Member, according to criteria explained on the Platform. There is no right to a particular level. We may develop the criteria further and lower levels in case of rule breaches.

10. Availability and development

We aim for high availability but cannot guarantee it, for example during maintenance or outages at service providers or at YouTube. We may develop the Platform and change or discontinue features, as long as the core of the Platform (planning and watching streams, finding celestial events) remains or we inform you in good time.

11. Astronomical information and safety

  1. Visibility, times, positions and weather information are calculated or taken from third parties and are provided without warranty.
  2. Never observe the Sun without a certified solar filter in front of the optics. Even a brief look through an unprotected telescope, binoculars or finder can permanently damage your eyesight.
  3. Only observe from places where you are allowed to be, and take care of your safety during night-time observing.

12. Liability

  1. We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, and under the German Product Liability Act.
  2. For slight negligence we are only liable for breach of essential contractual obligations, meaning obligations whose fulfilment makes proper use of the Platform possible in the first place and on which you may regularly rely. In that case liability is limited to foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract.
  3. Members’ content and YouTube content are not AstronomyLive’s own content. Once we become aware of a legal violation, we act under section 8.

13. Term, termination, deletion

  1. The agreement runs for an indefinite period. You can delete your account at any time in your account settings or terminate by email to info@astronomylive.com.
  2. We may terminate with four weeks’ notice, or without notice for serious breaches of these terms.
  3. After deletion we remove your profile, images and saved stream links. Chat messages are anonymised and shown as “deleted member”. Promotional material already created (section 6 paragraph 7, section 6a paragraph 6) and anonymised statistics (section 6b) remain.

14. Changes to these terms

We will inform you by email at least six weeks before any change to these terms. Material changes, in particular regarding costs or the core of the service, only apply with your express consent. If you do not consent, you may close your account; in that case we may also terminate the agreement.

15. Final provisions

  1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies. For consumers habitually resident in another EU country, the mandatory consumer protection rules of that country remain unaffected.
  2. The place of jurisdiction for merchants, public-law entities and organizations is Berlin, Germany.
  3. We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
  4. If any provision of these terms is invalid, the remaining provisions remain valid.
  5. These terms are available in German and English. Translations into other languages are for information only; in case of discrepancies the German version prevails.