Frequently asked questions

AstroBin's philosophy

 

# Is my data safe on AstroBin?

Absolutely. There are multiple ways in which AstroBin can store your data very safely. First of all, the images you upload are stored on a highly durable, highly available provided by Amazon Web Services (S3), redundant backend. The durability of the storage backend is 99.999999999% over a given year. This means that if you upload 10,000 images, you can expect to lose one image to data corruption once in 10,000,000 years.

The storage backend supports versioning, so anything that is accidentally deleted can be undeleted.

Additionally, almost in real-time, images uploaded to AstroBin are mirrored to a secondary data center. The secondary copy is there for disaster recovery.

The actual website, instead, is hosted on a Virtual Machine provided again by Amazon Web Services (EC2), so, in case of severe hardware failure, it can be redeployed to a different server in a matter of 15 minutes.

Finally, the database that powers AstroBin, also powered by Amazon Web Services (RDS) is backed up daily. In case of severe data loss, the website will be quickly restored to a snapshot that's never older than 24 hours.

That said, you should be aware that AstroBin is not technically a backup service, and although your data is very safe in our hands, we cannot legally take responsibility in the event of loss, however unlikely it is.

Always keep a copy of your image on your computer.

# Is my privacy protected on AstroBin?

Yes. We take privacy very seriously. AstroBin’s data resides on an encrypted database and all passwords are encrypted too. Additionally, AstroBin does not share any data with advertisers or any third party.

In addition to respecting your privacy, we respect your intellectual property too: all images that you upload to AstroBin remain your property.

# Is my security protected on AstroBin?

We take security very seriously. Unlike the popular general-purpose social networks, which prioritize user growth and ad space sales above everything else, AstroBin has a zero-tolerance policy against spam, and that's why you see none on AstroBin.

Spammers try very hard, and spam content is deleted from AstroBin every day. The reason you are shielded from it lies in the following security measures:

  • AstroBin enforces strong passwords upon signing up:

    • Your password can't be too similar to your other personal information (e.g. username, first/last name, email).

    • Your password must contain at least 8 characters.

    • Your password can't be a commonly used password (e.g. “password1234”).

    • Your password can't be entirely numeric.

    • Your password must contain at least one number.

    • Your password must contain a punctuation character.

    • Your password can't have appeared in an online data breach from other websites.

  • AstroBin offers optional 2FA (two-factor authentication) via token generator or email-based one-time password.

  • If your account attempts to log in from a country different than where we detected you last time, an additional email confirmation is needed to complete the login process.

  • All passwords are stored with a strong encryption and all communication between your browser and AstroBin's servers happens via SSL (Secure Socket Layer), so it's impossible to steal your password with a man-in-the-middle attack.

  • AstroBin does not store your credit card details when you make a payment.

  • Content from users with a free account goes thru a moderation queue.

You might think that this is as strong as your online banking and that it's an overkill for a site that doesn't hold any sensitive data. The reason why AstroBin has such high security standards is that if your account is compromised because of a weak password, then it can be used to post spam, pornography, or phishing content that can be harmful to other users.

We want AstroBin to be clean and safe at all times.

# Who is behind AstroBin?

Although many people think that AstroBin is run by a company of people working in an office, the truth would have it that this is the result of the efforts of a single person (me, Salvatore Iovene).

Over the years, I received lots of help in making this website what it is: most notably by the localization team, made up of volunteers who offered their time to translate AstroBin to 13 languages, and of course by the IOTD team, volunteers who help with the Image of the Day selection every day.

In hopes of getting more help on the engineering aspects of AstroBin, I open-sourced the project. But that only got me a few contributions, which I'm thankful for, but nothing major.

Starting from 2021, AstroBin is a full-time job, so I can devote all my work time to this project, and improve it every day.

On this website you will often read that I use the term “we”, but in all honesty, it's only to offer a semblance of professionalism. I hope you don't mind!

# I've seen beautiful images on AstroBin. I'm not worthy of posting mine!

Nonsense. AstroBin has not been made to showcase beautiful images, but to give everybody an opportunity to contribute to a vast and ever-growing effort of centralization and indexing of important data. That 30-minute picture of M31 you took last night between the clouds belongs here! Don't be shy and post it!

# Why was AstroBin created?

AstroBin was born out of the desire to end something that had been going on for too long: the waste of incredible material to the sea of chaos that the Internet can be.

For years, fantastic astrophotographs have been uploaded to Internet Forums, often with little or no data, or to general-purpose image hosting websites, invariably with no data attached. Such an image would be seen by some people, then quickly forgotten, and reduced to nothing more than a bunch of pixels in the giant wasteland of the Internet.

This should not be allowed to happen. AstroBin is the response: an effort to host, collect, index, and categorize the output of astrophotographers all over the world so that their precious data would serve a purpose, and have a meaning forever.

Subscriptions

 

# Is AstroBin for free?

No. A free account will let you perform 10 uploads, to evaluate the service, and partake in all social activities. Some features will be restricted or limited. For more storage and features, check out our subscriptions!

# Are there any limits on how large and how many images I can upload?

The lower subscription plans do impose some limits, however you will find them more than reasonable. AstroBin's goal is to store astrophotography images in as much detail as possible, so we do whatever we can to keep that accessible also to free accounts, and accounts in the lower subscription plans.

For a truly unlimited experience, we recommend the Ultimate subscription.

Keep in mind that there is a distinction for the purpose of the image you upload:

  1. You can upload JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF images for social sharing purposes, and we recommend you keep these files reasonably small, as others will want to download them to view them.

  2. AstroBin warns above 25 MB about the fact that some people might have a slow Internet connection. For files larger than 25 MB, the “click-and-drag” zoom feature is not available.

  3. Files larger than 200 MB put a lot of strain on the AstroBin servers due to the computational and memory cost of generating thumbnails from such large files. Additionally, for memory and security reasons, images cannot exceed a total pixel count of 273439296 (equivalent to 16536 x 16536 pixels) on all subscriptions. Please note that this is a total count, and it doesn't matter if one axis has more pixels than the other.

  4. You can upload uncompressed data source files. These are private to you and for your records only: a way to safe-keep your files long term. Uncompressed data source images may be as large as you want (up to 4 GB), as they are not processed or manipulated by AstroBin in any way (e.g. thumbnails are not generated). This is a feature available in the Ultimate subscription.

# How can I upgrade my current subscription to a higher tier?

If you have an automatically renewing subscription purchased on or after June 2nd 2023, you can upgrade your subscription to a higher tier simply clicking on the Upgrade button available on the subscription page. AstroBin will automatically balance the unused time on your previous subscription in your next invoice.

If, instead, you have a non-automatically renewing subscription, or an automatically renewing subscription purchased via PayPal before 2019, an automated upgrade path is unfortunately not offered. In this case, the easiest way to upgrade is to simply purchase the plan you want, then drop us a message, and we will be do one of the following:

  • If you upgraded from a non-recurring subscription to another non-recurring subscription, we will extend the remaining time on your new subscription to account for the unused time on your previous subscription, or, if you prefer, send you a partial refund.

  • If you upgraded from a non-recurring subscription to a recurring subscription, we will credit the due amount to your balance, and it will be automatically deducted to your next automated invoices until it reaches zero.

# Will I lose my images if my subscription expires?

Absolutely not! AstroBin is all about fairness, and that sounds quite unfair (although some competitors do exactly that!)

When your paid subscription expires, nothing happens to any of your data. They remain, unchanged, on AstroBin indefinitely. The only thing that happens is that you won't be able to upload new images until you renew (if you already have more than the number of images allowed by the Free account).

That sounds fair, doesn't it?

# What payment methods are accepted?

AstroBin uses Stripe to securely process payments automatically, and your credit card or other payment information is not stored on AstroBin, as a safety precaution.

You can pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, S€PA Direct Debit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, AliPay, Bancontact, EPS, giropay, iDEAL, Przelewy24, Sofort, Cartes Bancaires, and Klarna. If you don't have access to these payment methods, you can make a bank deposit at one of these bank accounts (please pay the amount you see on the pricing page):

For payments in US dollars:

Inside the US:

Account number 8310788830

Routing number 026073150

Outside the US:

Account number 8310788830

SWIFT / BIC CMFGUS33

Address

TransferWise

30 W. 26th Street, Sixth Floor

New York NY 10010

United States


For payments in Canadian dollars:

Beneficiary AstroBin

Account number 200110016315

Institution number 621

Transit number 16001

Address

TransferWise Canada Inc.

99 Bank Street, Suite 1420

Ottawa ON K1P 1H4

Canada

For payments in Euros:

Beneficiary AstroBin

IBAN BE76 9671 5599 8695

SWIFT / BIC TRWIBEB1XXX

Address

TransferWise Europe SA

Avenue Louise 54, Room S52

Brussels 1050

Belgium


For payments in British pounds:

Beneficiary AstroBin

Account number 52990073

Sort code 23-14-70

IBAN GB79 TRWI 2314 7052 9900 73

Address

TransferWise

56 Shoreditch High Street

London E1 6JJ

United Kingdom


For payments in Australian dollars:

Beneficiary AstroBin

Account number 412756021

BSB code 802-985

Address

Transferwise

36-38 Gipps Street

Collingwood 3066

Australia


For payments in Swiss Francs:

Beneficiary Salvatore Iovene

IBAN CH97 0900 0000 6922 3618 4

SWIFT / BIC POFICHBEXXX


If you paid via bank transfer or credit card invoice. after your payment (please check the prices on the subscriptions page) please get in touch stating your AstroBin username or email address, and what you paid for, so that we may update your account accordingly.

# How can I cancel my subscription?

If you have purchased a recurring subscription before 2018, please cancel it directly at your PayPal. For all new subscriptions purchased since 2018, there is no need to cancel, because you will not be charged automatically upon expiration. Additionally, AstroBin does not delete your images, or any of your content, if your subscription expires: this is not our philosophy and we're proud of it.

# How can I downgrade my subscription?

Unfortunately, a downgrade path is not offered at the moment. Simply wait until your current membership expires, then feel free to purchase a lower tier if you so wish!

# If I make donations, will that make me a Lite/Premium/Ultimate member?

No, donations are voluntary and on top of the regular subscription. It wouldn't really be a donation if I gave something tangible in return. It's a way to provide additional support for me to keep AstroBin up and running and work on improving it as much as possible. Please read more about this here.

Practicalities

 

# In what languages is AstroBin available?

The following languages are officially supported on AstroBin, meaning that nearly all text is translated:

  • English

  • French

  • German

  • Italian

  • Chinese (Simplified)

  • Portuguese

Please note that when new things are released on AstroBin, there might be a gap of a few days or weeks when the new words are not translated yet until the order comes in.

Additional languages are community-supported and presently incomplete. If you like, you can contribute! Please get in touch if you need assistance with that.

# What are the supported image formats?

AstroBin will accept JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, GIF (including animations) for images, and MOV, MPEG, MP4, AVI, WMV, WEBM for videos.

TIFF support is currently experimental, and certain types of TIFF files will not work (e.g. files with internal compressions, floating-point precision, or grey-scale 16-bit, 32-bit pecision). In any case, AstroBin will convert your TIFF file to JPEG in order to display it: browsers cannot display TIFF files natively at all. The original TIFF upload will only be available to you. For this reason, we recommend you upload a JPEG and store the TIFF for safe-keeping as an uncompressed data source: members on the AstroBin Ultimate subscription plan can also upload one XISF/FITS/TIFF/PSD file to associate to each of their images. Learn more.

# What are the Staging and Public areas?

On AstroBin, you have two places for your images. The Staging Area is where you can upload images that you want to quickly share on forums, mailing lists, or social networks. The days of scaling down and compressing your image so you can upload it to a forum for feedback and critique are over! Just upload to AstroBin's Staging Area, and send the link to anyone you want. The image will be visible only to the intended recipients, and won't appear on your profile, AstroBin's home page, or AstroBin's search engine.

The Public Area, instead, is for your finished products. After you have received feedback on your favorite forum, you can promote an image from the Staging Area to the Public Area, and it will appear on your profile. Remember that you can also move images back and forth from one area to the other as many times as you want!

New uploads automatically go to the Staging Area and the image can be promoted at the end of the upload process.

# Why is my image "pending moderation"?

When new users on a Free membership uploads an image, a human will need to review it to filter out spam. This limitation is lifted once the user reaches an AstroBin Index of 1.0 or above (it only takes a few likes), or if the user purchases a paid membership.

The moderation queue is usually reviewed many times a day, so if your image is there, the waiting time is usually no more than a few hours.

An image that is pending moderation will not be visible on the AstroBin front page or search results, but anybody with a link will still be able to access it.

# What is the Image Index?

The Image Index is a system based on likes received on images, that incentivizes the most active and liked members of the community. Learn more.

# What is the Contribution Index (beta)?

The Contribution Index (beta) is a system to reward informative, constructive, and valuable commentary on AstroBin. Learn more.

# How is the Image of the Day selected?

A staff of approximately 200 volunteers goes thru a three-stage process: approximately 128 "submitters" propose images for IOTD; approximately 64 "reviewers" advance some of them to the next stage; finally, any one of 8 judges can select an image from the pool of finalists as IOTD. There are limitations in place in the system to avoid abuse and monopoly. Read the full details here.

Only users with a Lite, Premium, or Ultimate subscription are eligible for the IOTD and Top Picks contests.

To submit your images for consideration, you can use the Actions menu (⚡️ icon on mobile) or enable automatic submission in your preferences.

# How are the Top Picks selected?

Top Picks are images that are in the Image of the Day selection queue (see previous question). They have been submitted by submitters, and reviewers have advanced them to the final step. However, they have not become Image of the Day. If a Top Pick does not become an Image of the Day within the selection window, it retains the Top Pick status indefinitely. If it gets promoted to Image of the Day, it is also removed from the Top Picks list.

# What are the badges I see on images sometimes?

 

  • The lock means that the image is unlisted and in the user's staging area

  • The gavel on an aquamarine field means that the image is currently in the IOTD/TP process, being reviewed by the staff

  • The arrow pointing up on a bronze field means that the image was nominated for Top pick

  • The star on a silver field means that the image was selected as a Top pick

  • The trophy on a golden field means that the image was selected as Image of the Day

[#](#username-colors) What do the different background colors on some usernames mean?

  • Blue is for site administrators

  • Green is for image moderators (spam control)

  • Gold is for IOTD/TP staff members

# How are the images on the front page sorted?

Any time an image receives a like, a bookmark, or a comment, or a new revision, it gets pushed to the top of the front page. New uploads go to the top of the page as well. Depending on the time of the day (i.e. the current traffic conditions on AstroBin), images will be near the top of the front page for a shorter or a longer time.

 

# How do I post about AstroBin itself on the AstroBin forums?

AstroBin is a very focused community, and one of AstroBin's core principles is to provide the astrophotography community with tools to improve one's skills and connect with other astrophotographers.

The AstroBin forums have a very specific purpose: discuss astrophotography and astronomy.

To offer outstanding customer support, AstroBin has a ticketing system: if you need support please use the contact form.

If you want to discuss the AstroBin platform, please join the AstroBin Platform open discussions community forum, but be aware that AstroBin staff will not address support requests posted there.

A forum is not a great interface to provide user support, because it's not a ticketing system that allows a support agent to assign statuses and priorities to tickets, to track them efficiently and provide better user support.

# An image I uploaded failed to plate-solve. Is there an issue?

Due to algorithmical and computational constraints, the plate-solution success rate can never be 100%, both for images blind-solved using astrometry.net, and those solved using the PixInsight engine.

Plate-solving working by detecting stars on our images, and using complex triangulations to match your image against a reference star database, to determine the position, resolution, and orientation of our image on the celestial sphere.

Both the star detection and star triangulation must allow for some tolerances in their parameters, of course, and this means that some images will not fit these tolerances. Were the parameters too loose, there would be false-positives (images that get annotated incorrectly), and were they too strict, too many images would fail to solve.

Typically, the reasons why an image might fail to plate-solve include:

  • Very large fields with lots and lots of stars

  • Optical distortions

  • Harsh post-processing that causes the information about relative star brilliancy to be lost

  • Excessive noise

  • Blurriness

  • Presence of large occlusions (mountains, buildings, etc)

AstroBin performs your plate-solutions using nova.astrometry.net, and the technical card of your image will have an “Astrometry.net Job ID”. Click on that to get the full log.

If you're on AstroBin Ultimate, and the basic plate-solving at astrometry.net succeeded, but the advanced plate-solving powered by PixInsight failed, you can get a log by clicking on the info sign in the plate-solving progress bar, while the image is plate-solving.

Sometimes, plate-solving might also fail due to non-deterministic factor. You can try the job again using the Edit menu on top of your image.

 

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