Privacy

The short version

Cool Moon Facts does not ask who you are and has nowhere to put an answer. There is no account, no sign-in and no email list, and nothing on these pages follows you from one page or visit to the next. The one measurement is a count of page views, described below, which never learns who you are. Everything the site does — the phase, the rise and set times, the calendar, the eclipse globes — is arithmetic your own browser performs. Nothing you set or save is sent to us. There is advertising of two kinds. One is a labelled card near the foot of most pages, an image on this site and a plain link. The other is Google’s AdSense code, which most pages load while Google reviews this site for its advertising programme. Google’s code is the one part of this site that can learn something about you, and it is described under Google AdSense.

There is no server to send it to

This site is a folder of files. It has no database, no login, no API and no form that submits anywhere. Once a page has loaded, the only things it may still fetch come from this same domain: an advertisement card’s picture, when you scroll down to it, and a list of town names, only if you open the location search. From other companies there are two things. Cloudflare’s page counter loads from static.cloudflareinsights.com and reports one page view back to this same domain; it is described under “What our hosting provider sees”. And most pages load Google’s advertising code, which talks to Google’s own servers; see Google AdSense.

Who operates this site

Cool Moon Facts is operated by Whiptronics LLC, a Utah limited liability company. Privacy questions go to coolmoonfacts@whiptronicsllc.com.

Cookies

This site sets no cookies of its own. Not necessary ones, not preference ones, not analytics ones. On the pages that carry Google’s advertising code, Google may set and read cookies in your browser, or use similar technology; see Google AdSense. A store you reach by following an advertisement card or a gear link may set its own, on its own site.

Your location

The site can show moonrise and moonset, and how high a meteor shower’s radiant gets for you, which needs to know roughly where you are. There are two ways to tell it and both are yours to start. You can type a town, which is matched against a list of places stored on this site and searched on your own device — what you type is never sent to a geocoding service, because there isn’t one. Or you can press “Use my location”, which asks your browser for your coordinates; we immediately round them to two decimal places, keep only the rounded pair, and store it in your browser. We never receive either one. Clear it any time with the Clear button beside it, and if you set nothing the site simply hides rise and set times, and the shower pages answer for two sample latitudes instead.

On the pages that carry Google’s advertising code, the “Use my location” button is not offered, and the site tells your browser to refuse any request for your location made from those pages, by anything, Google’s code included. Your browser grants location to a whole website rather than to one script, so this is the only way to be sure. Typing a town works everywhere. A location you have already saved is kept in this browser’s storage, and any script running on a page of this site can read that storage, Google’s included; we have no way to hide it from another company’s code on the same page. If that matters to you, set no location, or clear it when you are done.

The birthday explorer

The birthday explorer asks for a date, and optionally a time, a time zone and a label for the picture. They are used on that page, by your browser, and that is all: they are not saved anywhere, not added to the page’s address, and never sent to us or anyone else. The downloadable picture is drawn in your browser from the answer on screen and saved straight to your device. A link to a date is made only when you press the button that says so, and it holds the date and nothing else you typed, after a # in the address; that part of an address is not sent to a server when the link is opened, but whoever you send it to can read it. The explorer page carries no advertising code.

The star finder

The star finder needs a place and a time, and you choose how to give it the place. “Use my approximate location” asks your browser for your position; the finder rounds it to one decimal place, about 10 km, and keeps only that. “Choose a city” searches a list of about 8,000 cities that is stored on this site: the list is downloaded from this same domain the first time you use the box, and what you type is searched on your own device. Or you can type coordinates.

Whichever you use, the place and time stay in that page’s memory. They are not put in the page’s address and never sent to us or anyone else, and they are not saved in your browser’s storage unless you press “Remember this place on this device”. Then the place and its time zone are kept in this browser as the one place the site keeps (cmf.sun.place.v1 below, which the Sun pages and the star guides use too) until you forget it; the finder offers it back as a button and never uses it by itself. Otherwise leaving or reloading the page forgets the place, and “Forget this place” does it sooner (for a kept place, on this device as well). A star guide’s link to the finder names the star after a # in the address, which says nothing about you. The sky map on the same page shows that same place and time and keeps nothing of its own. It loads only when you open it, and everything it loads comes from this same domain: NASA’s star imagery, a star catalogue, a list of nebulae, clusters and galaxies, and the site’s planet calculations. It sends nothing anywhere. “Share this view” makes a link holding what to look at and a date and time, never a place: whoever opens it sees that sky from their own place. On a phone, “Point with my phone” turns the map as you move the phone. Nothing asks for motion access until you press it (an iPhone shows its own prompt then); the readings only turn the view and are neither stored nor sent, and this is the only page on the site allowed to use the phone’s motion sensors. The finder page carries no advertising code, even though the star guides around it do, and it keeps the strict security policy and location permission described above.

Friends’ Skies

Friends’ Skies keeps a list of people and places you choose to save, so it can show what is worth looking up at from each. It is kept in this browser’s storage (the cmf.skies.v1 entry below) and nowhere else: there is no account and no copy on our side, and the people on your list never hear from us. It does not ask for their phone number or email address, and it does not want a street address: a town is enough.

Finding a town works like the star finder’s city box: a list of about 36,000 places is downloaded from this same domain the first time you use the box, and what you type is searched on your own device. A name you give someone is never part of that search, and nothing you type is sent to a geocoding service, because there isn’t one. “Tell them to look up” writes a message you can send yourself: through your device’s own share sheet if it has one, or by copying it. The site never sends anything for you. The message holds the time and direction for them and, for eclipses, meteor showers and the Moon’s phases, a link to this site’s public page about it; never your list or where anyone is. This site does not send notifications and does not ask to. The page carries no advertising code.

Birth charts

The birth chart asks for a birth date, a time (or how sure you are of it) and a place. They are used on that page, by your browser, and that is all. They are never put in the page’s address, never sent to us or anyone else, and never used for advertising, because the page carries no advertising code. The calculation runs in your browser; the files it needs are fetched from this same domain when you ask for a chart, and the requests say nothing about you. Finding the birthplace works like the other town boxes on this site: only the letters you type into that box are searched, on your own device, and nothing is sent to a geocoding service.

A chart is kept only if you press “Save this chart on this device” (the cmf.charts.v1 entry below). Anyone who uses the same browser profile may be able to see saved charts. Delete them one at a time or all at once on Saved charts, or with Delete everything in Settings. Printing and downloading leave out the birth date, time and place unless you tick them, and “Share your Big Three” shares only the signs. Please do not enter a child’s full name; a nickname does the job.

Daily astrology

Today in your sky, Cosmic Weather and the Cosmic Archive work from a birth chart you saved on this device, recalculated in your browser each time. The files they need come from this same domain and say nothing about you. The address shows only a date (and sometimes which item of that day’s list is open), never your chart, your birth details or a note.

Nothing is kept unless you ask: a reading only when you press “Keep today’s reading” or turn on keeping, and a note or mood tags only when you save them (the cmf.astro entries below). Notes are never used to work out a reading, never sent anywhere and never used for advertising, because these pages carry no advertising code. Deleting a saved chart deletes its kept readings and notes. The archive and the settings page can save everything as a file, delete one day, delete one chart’s readings and notes, or delete it all; so can Delete everything in Settings. Anyone who uses the same browser profile may be able to see what is kept, and your browser does not encrypt it.

The website sends no notifications and never asks your browser for permission to. The notification settings are only kept, for an app that could follow them.

Astronomy words

The Astronomy Word of the Day is the same for everyone on a given date; which date is today comes from your own device. Saving a word keeps its name in this browser (cmf.words.v1 below), and Next word remembers its shuffled order only for the open tab (cmf.words.queue.v1). Neither is sent anywhere or used for anything else, and the word pages carry no advertising code. Saved words do not sync to another device. Remove them one at a time or all at once on Saved words, or with Delete everything in Settings. “Report a problem” on a word opens an email to us in your own mail app, filled in with that word and its page; nothing is sent unless you send it.

Cool Sun Facts

The Sun pages work out sunrise, twilight and the darkest hours in your browser, for a place you choose. Finding a town works like the other town boxes on this site, searched on your own device. “Use my location” asks your browser for your position only when you press it, rounds it to about a kilometre, and keeps it, with the place’s time zone, in this browser (cmf.sun.place.v1 below) so the pages remember it. A date you pick goes in the page’s address; the place never does. The star and constellation guides read that same saved place, if there is one, to say where each star or pattern is right now; they never change it, and with no place saved they say nothing.

Two buttons on Plan an observation fetch public forecasts, and nothing is fetched until you press one. “Check the cloud forecast” sends the place’s coordinates, rounded to about a kilometre, to the US National Weather Service (api.weather.gov), which answers for the United States and its territories. Outside them, the same rounded coordinates go to this site, which asks MET Norway (the Norwegian Meteorological Institute) for its forecast and passes the answer back: MET Norway sees this site’s request, not your device, and this site keeps no record of it beyond Cloudflare’s shared cache of the forecast, kept for up to an hour against the rounded coordinates alone. “Check NOAA’s aurora forecast” downloads NOAA’s public aurora model file, the same for everyone, and sends nothing about you; the value for your place is looked up on your device. Neither service is sent anything else, and these pages carry no advertising code.

The Today, Solar observatory and Space weather pages download NOAA’s public solar files (services.swpc.noaa.gov) when they open, the same files for everyone. The Today page also shows NASA’s newest picture of the Sun: it asks this site which pictures are newest (this site reads NASA’s list), and the picture loads from NASA (sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov), checked again every few minutes while the page is open. Choosing one of SDO’s pictures on the observatory asks this site for that picture’s details, which it fetches from Helioviewer (NASA and ESA), and the picture then loads from Helioviewer; the comet practice’s pictures load from the SOHO archive. Like any request on the web, each one shows that service your device’s internet address; none of them carries your place or anything else about you.

A horizon profile you draw is kept in this browser (cmf.sun.horizons.v1 below), against the place it is for. Export saves it as a file on your device; import reads a file you pick, on your device, and keeps only the numbers it expects. The year and alignment pages fetch nothing at all.

The notebook on Measure the Sun keeps your measurements and notes in this browser (cmf.sun.notebook.v1 below). Export writes a JSON or CSV file to your device, without the places’ coordinates unless you choose to include them; import reads a file you pick, here on your device, and refuses anything it does not recognise without touching what you already have. Nothing is uploaded or reported anywhere.

What is saved in your browser

The site uses your browser’s local storage — a private area belonging to this website on your own device. It is not a cookie, it is not sent with requests, and we cannot read it. Any script running on this site’s pages can read it, though, and that includes Google’s advertising code on the pages that carry it. These are all of the entries:

cmf.place

A location, if you set one: latitude and longitude rounded to two decimal places — about a kilometre, which is as precise as rise and set times need — and the name of the town you picked, or “Your location” if you used the button.

cmf.mode

Which of the three ways of reading the Moon you chose last: science and history, historical beliefs, or astrology and myths.

cmf.hemisphere

Which way up to draw the Moon, if you have overridden the automatic choice.

cmf.saved

The numbers of the facts you have starred, and the names of any star or constellation guides or Sun pages you have saved (such as “star:sirius”). Identifiers, not text — the pages themselves are already on the site.

cmf.alert.v1.*

One entry per alert you have dismissed, so an eclipse notice you have already read does not come back.

cmf.egg.v1.shown

The date something small and silly last appeared, so it does not appear again for a while.

cmf.skies.v1

Only if you use Friends’ Skies: the people and places you saved there. For each, the name you gave it if any (“Mom”, “Cabin”), the town, the town’s map coordinates and its time zone, or coordinates you typed, rounded to one decimal place. No phone numbers, no email addresses, nothing about the people themselves.

cmf.charts.v1

Only if you press “Save this chart on this device” on the birth chart: for each chart you saved, the name you gave it, the birth date, the birth time and how sure you were of it, the place with its coordinates and time zone, and the chart settings. Nothing else, and never sent anywhere.

cmf.astro.settings.v1

Only if you change a setting for your daily sky: which saved chart to use, the voice, up to two focus topics, whether to keep readings, and your notification preferences, including the time zone they are for.

cmf.astro.history.v1

Only if you keep a daily reading (one at a time, or by turning on “Keep each day’s reading”): each reading exactly as it was shown, with the planets behind it and the versions that made it, filed under the saved chart it was for.

cmf.astro.notes.v1

Only if you write one: your private notes and mood tags for a day, filed under the saved chart they are for. They are never used to work anything out and never leave this browser.

cmf.words.v1

Only if you save an astronomy word: the names of the words you saved (such as “syzygy”), in the order you saved them, and when. Names, not text: the words themselves are already on the site.

cmf.sun.place.v1

Only if you choose a place on the Sun pages, or press “Remember this place on this device” in the star finder: its name, its coordinates (a city’s centre, or your own device’s position rounded to two decimal places, about a kilometre, on the Sun pages, or to one, about 10 km, in the finder), its time zone, and your height above the ground if you gave one. Used in this browser to work out your sunrise and twilight times and where the stars are; never sent anywhere.

cmf.sun.horizons.v1

Only if you save a horizon profile: for each place you drew one for, the place’s coordinates (as saved above), the heights you entered for each direction, how you measured them and how sure you were, and when you saved it. Used to work out when the Sun clears your hills and buildings, in this browser only. Export writes it to a file only when you press it.

cmf.sun.notebook.v1

Only if you save an experiment on Measure the Sun: each record’s title, your notes, what you measured (lengths, times and how sure you were), the place’s name, time zone and coordinates as chosen above, and what the site predicted. It stays in this browser; Export writes a file only when you press it, and leaves the coordinates out unless you tick the box.

cmf.words.queue.v1

Only while you press Next word, and only for that tab: the shuffled order of words it is working through, so none repeats until you have seen them all. It is in the tab’s session storage, which your browser empties when the tab closes.

cmf.*.corrupt

Only if something saved above could not be read back (a damaged or half-written entry): the unreadable text, kept once instead of being silently thrown away. Delete everything removes it too.

Deleting it

Settings has Delete everything saved in this browser, which removes every entry above. Smaller pieces have their own controls: Clear beside your location, and “Remove all saved facts” for the stars. Your browser’s own “clear site data” for this site does the same job. Because it lives only on your device, clearing site data, private browsing, or a different browser or phone will lose it — and we cannot recover it for you, because we never had it. There is no “request my data” process, because there is no account and no copy on our side to request.

What our hosting provider sees

The site is hosted on Cloudflare. Like every web host, Cloudflare processes ordinary request information to deliver pages and protect the site: your IP address, the page requested, the time, your browser’s user-agent string, and similar technical details. Cloudflare also collects browser-reported network error reports for this domain by default. That processing is Cloudflare’s, under their terms, and happens before any code of ours runs. We do not receive, review or store those logs.

Cloudflare Web Analytics, Cloudflare’s page-view counter, is switched on for this site. Cloudflare adds a small script, loaded from static.cloudflareinsights.com, to each page as it serves it. When the page loads, the script sends one report to Cloudflare, through this site’s own address, containing the address of the page, the site that linked you here if your browser shares it (usually only its domain), your browser’s engine and version, how quickly the page loaded, and an identifier made up for that one page load and never reused. Like any request, it also reaches Cloudflare with your IP address and user-agent string, from which Cloudflare works out a country, an operating system and a device type.

It sets no cookie and stores nothing on your device, so nothing links one page view to the next or recognises you when you come back. Cloudflare says it does not “fingerprint” individuals by their IP address, user agent or anything else (Cloudflare Web Analytics). What we see is totals: page views and visits by page, referring site, country, browser, operating system and device. We never see who you are, the town you set, or which facts any one person read. That count is the only measurement on this site; we do not say “nothing is ever recorded anywhere”, because a request has to reach a server to be answered.

Google AdSense

This site has applied to Google AdSense, Google’s advertising programme, and while Google reviews it most pages load Google’s AdSense code. We have placed no Google ad units on any page. Google’s automatic ad placement is switched off in our account, so no Google ads appear while the review runs. The pages that load it are Tonight, the science facts, the folklore entries, the calendar, the phase pages, the moon names, the eclipses, the meteor showers, the history pages, the astrology and myths pages, the star guides, the constellation guides, the asterism guides, the star stories and the star astrology and myths pages. The pages that never load it are the birthday explorer, the star finder, Friends’ Skies, the birth chart and your saved charts, the astrology dictionary, your daily sky and its archive, your saved facts and the privacy, terms, accessibility and methodology pages.

When a page loads Google’s code, your browser fetches it from pagead2.googlesyndication.com, so Google receives what any server receives: your IP address, your browser’s user-agent string, the address of the page and, if your browser shares it, the page that linked you there. The code runs inside the page with the same access as this site’s own scripts, may contact other Google servers, and may set and read cookies or use similar technology. What Google does with that is governed by Google, not by us: see how Google uses information from sites that use its services (opens in a new tab).

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a person’s prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads based on visits to this site and other sites on the internet. You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google’s Ads Settings (opens in a new tab), and out of some other vendors’ use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info (opens in a new tab).

Two protections come with it. The pages that carry Google’s code switch off location detection, as described under “Your location”. And the pages that do not carry it tell your browser to run no script from another company at all, apart from Cloudflare’s page counter, so Google’s code cannot run there even if something tried to load it. The cost is on the pages that do carry it: Google supports only one kind of security policy for its code, one this site’s kind of hosting cannot produce, so those pages have to allow scripts from other websites.

Advertisement cards

Near the foot of most pages — not these legal pages — is a card labelled Advertisement, for another company’s products. We may earn a commission when you purchase through these links. The card is an image stored on this site, a sentence of text and an ordinary link. Showing it contacts nobody: no advertising script, no tracking pixel and no cookie, and the advertiser learns nothing about your visit unless you choose to click. Which picture appears is fixed for each page, not chosen about you.

If you click an advertisement

That is the point where tracking can begin, and it is not ours. The link takes you through Awin, the affiliate network, to the advertiser’s own shop. Awin and the advertiser may use cookies or similar technology to attribute a purchase to this site, under their own privacy notices. The link is marked so that your browser tells them only that you came from this site, never which page of it you were on. We see clicks, sales and commissions, never who made them.

Links that leave this site

Some links go to other companies — NASA and other reference sites, our Ko-fi tip page, our Printful shop, Amazon from the gear sheet, and the shops in the advertisement cards. Their privacy practices apply from the moment you arrive. The Amazon links carry our Associates tag so a qualifying purchase can be credited; Amazon then handles your visit under its own notice, including its own cookies, and we are told totals rather than people. See the gear sheet’s own disclosure, which sits above the links it applies to.

Sharing

The share buttons hand your device’s own share sheet a link to a public page on this site, or copy that link to your clipboard. Your location, your saved facts and your settings are never put into a link, a page title, a share card or a web address, and no share is recorded.

If you email us

The address above is a Cloudflare forwarding rule, not a mailbox: mail is routed to Whiptronics LLC’s inbox. If you write to us we will have your message and your email address for as long as we keep the correspondence. Please do not send anything sensitive.

Children

This site is suitable for all ages and is not directed at children in the sense the law means. We do not collect information from anyone, of any age. Google’s advertising code, on the pages that carry it, is Google’s, and Google’s own policies govern what it does.

Security, honestly stated

The site is served only over HTTPS. Its pages say, in a Content-Security-Policy the browser enforces, which other sites may run code in them: on the pages without Google’s advertising code, none but Cloudflare’s page counter; on the pages with it, any, because Google’s code requires that. Because it holds nothing about you on our side, there is no store of visitor information here to breach. What we cannot promise is perfection: no website can. If you believe you have found a security problem, please write to us before making it public.

Changes

If what the site does changes, this page changes with it and the date below moves. If we ever add something that collects information, it will be described here in plain words before it ships.