Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Circular Distribution Policy
The following policy statement applies to the distribution of the printed and electronic forms of the International Astronomical Union Circulars, Minor Planet Electronic Circulars and Minor Planet Circulars (hereafter referred to generically as Circular):- Under no circumstances should Circulars be posted to Usenet newsgroups or general access bulletin boards. Limited extracts (as defined by "fair use") of information from Circulars may be posted as long as the source of the information is clearly referenced. "Fair use" includes the occasional extraction of orbital elements and/or ephemerides, but does not include the verbatim extraction of large blocks of descriptive text. If in doubt, check!
- Astronomical societies and institutional subscribers may post the Circulars to internal distribution lists or bulletin boards as long as the society or institution has a subscription and the distribution list or bulletin board is restricted to members of the society or the institution. For large institutions, such as universities, this means--for example--the Astronomy Department only, not the whole university. Large groups should consider taking out additional subscriptions for the electronic versions of the IAUCs and MPECs at the suggested rate of one subscription for every 20 readers.
- You are advised that Circulars provided here are for your own personal use only and must not be redistributed (other than as permitted above).
- The collection of Circulars in datasets and the indexing thereof are permitted only for your personal use.
- Inclusion of Circulars in commercial products of any kind without express written permission is strictly prohibited (even if you are a subscriber).
- Information on subscribing to the various Circulars is available.
Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.
