Privacy Policy

Effective date: 15 June 2026

At ThatAstroChap, I am committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what little data is involved in visiting my website, and how it is handled. By using my website, you consent to the practices described here.

Information I Collect

Usage Analytics

This site uses Vercel Web Analytics to understand which pages and images people are viewing. It is a privacy-friendly, cookieless service: it does not use cookies or any other persistent identifiers, does not track you across other websites, and does not collect or store personal information. Visits are counted using an anonymous hash that cannot be traced back to you and is discarded within 24 hours.

Performance Monitoring

This site uses Vercel Speed Insights to monitor page performance. It collects Core Web Vitals (technical metrics such as page load time, visual stability and responsiveness) so I can identify and fix performance issues. No personal information, cookies or persistent identifiers are involved: only anonymous timing measurements tied to the page URL and a general device category (mobile or desktop).

What I Don't Collect

This site sets no cookies and has no accounts, no comment system and no contact forms. I do not collect names, email addresses or any other personal details through the website.

Embedded Content

YouTube Videos

Some blog posts embed videos from my YouTube channel. To protect your privacy, videos are not loaded from YouTube until you press play. When you do choose to play a video, it is served through YouTube's privacy-enhanced (youtube-nocookie.com) player, and your interaction with it is then governed by Google's privacy policy.

Third-Party Links

My website links to external services such as Instagram and YouTube. I am not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites, and I encourage you to review their privacy policies.

Location Data (Clear Night Tool)

When you use the Clear Night weather tool, you may provide a place name or UK postcode, or optionally allow the tool to detect your location automatically using your browser's built-in geolocation.

If you choose to use geolocation, your browser requests your device's GPS or network-based coordinates and passes them to Nominatim (operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation) to determine a readable place name. This request is made directly from your browser; I do not receive or log the raw coordinates. Nominatim's use is governed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation's privacy policy. You can decline the location permission prompt at any time, and the manual search will continue to work normally.

For manual searches, your query is sent directly from your browser to postcodes.io (for postcode lookups) or Open-Meteo's geocoding service (for place-name searches). I do not receive, log or store this on any server I operate.

Your last-used location (whether entered manually or detected automatically) is stored only in your browser's local storage so you do not have to re-enter it each visit. You can clear it at any time by clearing your browser's site data. Weather data is then fetched from Open-Meteo and (for atmospheric seeing and transparency data) 7Timer!, each of which receives your location coordinates but no other identifying information. Their privacy policies govern that use.

Third-Party Weather Services

The Clear Night tool uses Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com), 7Timer! (7timer.info) and the World Atlas light pollution dataset via lightpollutionmap.info. These services receive only the latitude and longitude of your searched location, not your IP address or any personal details. No account or authentication is required.

Data Security

I implement appropriate security measures to protect the website and its visitors. As no personal information is collected by this site, there is no personal data to be lost in the first place, which is the best kind of data security.

Data Sharing

I do not sell, trade or otherwise transfer any information about your visit to third parties. Aggregated, anonymous usage statistics (such as page view counts) are processed by Vercel, the platform that hosts this website.

Children's Privacy

ThatAstroChap is not intended for use by children under the age of 13. I do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Policy Updates

I reserve the right to update or modify this policy from time to time without prior notice, to reflect changes in my practices or for operational, legal or regulatory reasons. The updated version will be posted on this page with a revised effective date. Please check this page from time to time.

Contact Me

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, you can reach me at thatastrochap@jonw.simplelogin.com.

By using ThatAstroChap, you agree to the terms outlined in this privacy policy. Thank you for visiting!