Talk:Smith's Cloud

Image
Having searched for images of Smith’s Cloud, all I can find are derivatives of the one on this NRAO page. While NRAO images have been uploaded to Wikipedia before and claimed to be public domain as a US Government work, this is not true. The NRAO image use policy clearly states:

Images, electronic or otherwise (including captions), created, authored and/or prepared by the NRAO/AUI and the NRAO staff are copyrighted in content, presentation, and intellectual or creative origin. All such materials are considered intellectual property and are intended for use for educational, public information, and research purposes. Use of NRAO/AUI names and/or logos in publicity, promotion, or advertising is prohibited without prior written consent of NRAO/AUI. Commercial use will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Furthermore, none of the licensing terms are compatible with Wikipedia's Image use policy as the ‘public information’ clause is too restrictive:

A. Usage Categories

Three general categories are defined for the use of NRAO images: Educational/ Public Information, Personal (Not for Profit), and Commercial.


 * 1. Educational / Research Use: NRAO allows reproduction, authorship of derivative works, and other transformations of the original work strictly for educational, public information, and research purposes without further permission, subject to the General Conditions section listed below. If a recognizable person appears in an image, use may infringe a right of privacy or publicity, and permission shall be separately obtained from the recognizable person. For other non-commercial uses, permission shall be obtained from NRAO/AUI.


 * 2. Personal, Not-for-Profit Use: NRAO allows reproduction, authorship of derivative works, and other transformations of the original work strictly for personal, non-profit / non-commercial / non-retail use without further permission, subject to the General Conditions section listed below. Some examples of personal, non-profit/non-commercial/non-retail uses are downloading images for personal posters, screensavers, or as gifts for friends and relatives.


 * 3. Commercial Use: Written permission must be obtained from the copyright owner prior to commercial use (See credits in the Image Gallery. If someone is listed in addition to NRAO/AUI, they should be considered the primary copyright owner). For NRAO images, the NRAO will work with vendors on a case-by-case basis to establish appropriate permissions for use, which in some cases may involve a fee or royalty agreement.

Wikipedia editors should therefore not upload this image unless it is later released under a less restrictive licence. —Safalra (talk) 12:03, 12 January 2008 (UTC)


 * How does this not fall under the "public information" category? BobertWABC (talk) 23:34, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia would be covered under the ‘public information’ category, but such a licence is not sufficiently free for Wikipedia - see http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-May/023760.html —Safalra (talk) 12:30, 1 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Couldn't we treat it under FUR? 76.66.197.30 (talk) 06:37, 7 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I believe it falls under the following Wikipedia policy which also matches NRAO's policy. This Wikipedia policy may not have existed when the article came out: "Aside from the claim that this image qualifies for use without permission under fair use, this image is also available under a license that permits educational, personal, or otherwise non-commercial use. Images available under such terms do not meet the definition of Free Cultural Works as adopted by the Wikimedia Foundation, and are therefore considered non-free on Wikipedia and may only be used under Wikipedia's fair use policy." This is cut & paste from the Summary section for the photo. Tom.Reding (talk) 02:27, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Distance
A recent article on astro-ph (see reference below) indicates the distance to Smith's Cloud (HVC 40-15+100) is 9.8 - 15.1 kpc (32,000 - 49,000 ly), considerably different than the 8,000 ly referenced in the Wikipedia article.

Reference: http://arxiv.org/pdf/0709.1926

Doesper (talk) 03:23, 25 January 2008 (UTC)