[Kstars-devel] NGC/IC catalog

[Jason Harris]

Hello,

I have been attempting to find a replacement for our NGC/IC catalog, because 
the one we are currently using is free for non-commercial use only.  I found 
a really nice version by Wolfgang Steinicke that includes modernizations and 
corrections verified by him personally.  Unfortunately, this one is also 
FFNCU.  I emailed Herr Steinicke to ask him if he was interested in releasing 
a version of his catalog under a GPL-compatible license, trying to explain 
the situation as best as I could.  He simply replied that since KStars was 
non-commercial, there was no problem in using his catalog under its current 
license.

I have been unable to find a version of the NGC/IC catalog in the public 
domain that contains all of the data that we'd like to use (such as angular 
size, aspect ratio, position angle, and magnitude).  I am in the process of 
synthesizing my own NGC/IC catalog from several public sources, but it will 
likely be less complete than Steinicke's when it is finished.

So, I would like your opinion:

+ I think that it is Ok to include Steinicke's catalog in the program, with a 
header that indicates that it must not be incorporated into a commercial 
application without first contacting the author for permission.

+ I am willing to finish my "Free" NGC/IC catalog, and make that available to 
distributions or users who are concerned with the restrictive usage terms on 
the main catalog.  Each version of the catalog would contain a reference to 
the other version in its header (with a URL for download).  For example, I 
would add this catalog to the kstars_debian branch.

+ Let's say after I finish my "Free" catalog, I notice that I have been able 
to obtain magnitudes for only half of the objects.  Would it be "fair use" of 
Steinicke's catalog to insert the magnitudes of the remaining half from his 
catalog?  I suppose this is a grey area, so I am inclined not to push it, but 
I wanted to bring it up for discussion.

regards,
Jason
-- 
KStars:  A K Desktop Planetarium
http://edu.kde.org/kstars