Comment by HungTDD on 20/07/2022 at 16:57 UTC

9 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)

View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

Are the images of the black hole from the Event Horizon Telescope free use? Are we allowed to add them into books without infringing on copyright laws? I'm writing a book on astrophysics and would very much wish to use them.

Replies

Comment by Brickleberried at 20/07/2022 at 17:55 UTC

17 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I believe they're public domain. (NASA images are.) You should still give them credit though in the caption.

Comment by AngusVanhookHinson at 21/07/2022 at 01:50 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

All images from NASA are public, since they're paid for with taxpayer dollars. And NASA is damned accommodating, all things considered. A friend sent them a letter when we were kids in the 90s, and they sent him enough posters and really nice gear to fill a FedEx overnight envelope, probably three pounds of stuff.

In most circumstances, if you wanted some cool stuff from them, you should keep in mind that while he images are free and open use for digital download, official posters and such require some sort of payment but it tends to be very reasonable. Last I remember, nice museum quality prints were $20, but that was also 20 years ago.