The Astronomad

Last updated 8 September 2026

Privacy policy

This page explains what The Astronomad collects about you, why, and what you can do about it. It covers theastronomad.com and its subdomains, the emails I send, and the photo review form. It is written to meet the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Who is responsible

The data controller is Andreas Karaolis, trading as The Astronomad, based in Cyprus.

Email: andreas@theastronomad.com

I run this on my own, and I am not required to appoint a data protection officer. Write to the address above for anything in this policy. A postal address is available on request by email.

What I collect and why

When you sign up for a free training, the Blueprint or any other download. I store your email address and, if you give it, your name, together with the date and the link or page you came from. I use this to send you what you asked for and, if you agreed, my emails about Milky Way photography and my courses. Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). You can withdraw it at any time with the unsubscribe link in every email.

When you buy a course. The purchase itself happens on Teachable, which processes your payment. Teachable then sends me your name, your email address, what you bought, the price and the fees, so that I can record the sale, give you access to the reviews and any future lessons, and keep the records the tax rules require. Legal basis: performance of the contract with you (Article 6(1)(b)) and my legal obligations for accounting (Article 6(1)(c)). Buying a course does not put you on my email list. If you were not already subscribed, I only email you about the course you bought.

When you click one of my links or visit one of my pages. My links (for example theastronomad.com/editing-course) are tracked. When you click one, I record the time, the link, your country, your device type, your browser and the page you came from, and I give your visit a random id. I use this to know which of my posts and videos bring people to my pages, and which of them lead to a sign-up or a sale. This is my own, first-party tracking. It stays on my own system, it is never shared with anyone, and it is not used for advertising. Legal basis: my legitimate interest in understanding how my own content performs (Article 6(1)(f)). You can object at any time, see Your rights below.

When you open or click my emails. My emails contain a small tracking image and tracked links, so I can see whether an email was opened and which links were clicked. I use this to see which emails are useful and which are not, and to stop sending to people who never open them. Legal basis: my legitimate interest in running my email list sensibly (Article 6(1)(f)). If your email app blocks images, opens are not recorded.

When you send a photo for review. If you are a student and send a photo through theastronomad.com/reviews, I store your name, your email address, your photo, your comment and the date. I use them to review the photo in a monthly video and email you the link. The review video is shared with the other students and in my community. If you tick "keep my photo out of the shared video", I review it but do not show it. Legal basis: performance of the course contract (Article 6(1)(b)).

When you comment on one of my Instagram posts. If your comment contains one of my keywords, like "workflow", my automation sends you a direct message with a link. To do that, and to know which of my posts brings people to my courses, I record your public Instagram username, the text of that comment, which post it was on and the time, read through Instagram's official API from my own posts. If you then tap the link in that message, that visit is linked to your comment so I can see which posts lead to sign-ups and sales. It is used for nothing else, it is never shared, and it is not used for advertising. Legal basis: my legitimate interest in understanding which of my own content works (Article 6(1)(f)). Delete your comment on Instagram, or email me, and I remove it from my side too.

When you message me on Instagram. If you send me a message through Instagram, including the automated replies that ask for your email, Meta processes that message under Meta's own privacy policy. If you give me your email address there, it is stored as described under sign-ups above.

I do not collect special categories of data (health, beliefs, and so on), and I do not carry out automated decision-making about you.

Cookies and similar storage

mrd_cid (set by theastronomad.com). A random id that links your click on one of my links to the page you land on, so I can count sign-ups and sales per link. It lasts 90 days and contains no personal details. The same id may be kept in your browser's local storage for the same purpose. It is my own cookie: nothing about it is shared with any other company, and there are no advertising or third-party tracking cookies on my pages. If you do not want it, delete it or block cookies for theastronomad.com in your browser; my pages work exactly the same without it.

mrd_abw (set by theastronomad.com). When I test two versions of a page against each other, this cookie remembers which version you were shown, so you see the same one on every visit and I can compare how the versions do. It holds a random id and the version you saw, lasts 90 days, contains no personal details, and is never shared with anyone.

Session cookie for the admin area. Only I use this, when I log in to manage the site. It is never set for visitors.

Fonts. My pages load their fonts from my own server, so no font provider sees your visit.

Cloudflare analytics. Cloudflare, which sits in front of my site, runs its own cookie-free analytics on my pages: aggregate counts of visits and pages, with no cookie and no profile of you.

Third-party content. Some pages embed YouTube videos. When you play one, YouTube (Google) may set its own cookies under Google's privacy policy. Teachable sets its own cookies on astronomad.teachable.com, covered by Teachable's privacy policy.

Who else sees your data

I use these companies to run the site and the emails. Each one processes data only on my instructions and under a data processing agreement:

Where a company is in the United States, the transfer is covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where the company is certified, and otherwise by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

I never sell your data, and I do not share it with anyone else unless the law requires me to.

How long I keep it

Your rights

You can ask me at any time to:

Email andreas@theastronomad.com. I answer within one month. If you think I am handling your data wrongly, you can complain to the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection in Cyprus (dataprotection.gov.cy) or to the data protection authority in your own country.

Children

My courses and emails are for adults. I do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you think a child has given me their details, email me and I will delete them.

Changes

If I change this policy, the date at the top changes and, for anything important, I will say so in an email.