Cookies are small files that sit on your computer, phone or tablet. This information is collected by the University of Cambridge to record and store information about how you use cam.ac.uk and the University’s other core pages. Information is shared within the University of Cambridge, and in limited cases, with our third-party providers. Below is more detail about the cookies we use, what they record, how you may choose which cookies you’re happy for us to use and with whom the information is shared.
Information on this page supplements the University-wide cookie policy and applies specifically to websites hosted by the Institute of Astronomy (websites containing the ast.cam.ac.uk domain). There is an additional cookie policy for personal websites hosted by the Institute of Astronomy.
Necessary
Necessary cookies maintain the security of our website’s connection to you. They also make our site work. They always need to be on.
| Name | Used by | Duration | Description | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cookieyes-consent |
Institute of Astronomy |
1 year | CookieYes sets this cookie to remember users' consent preferences so that their preferences are respected on subsequent visits to this site. It does not collect or store any personal information about the site visitors. | |
| RT_SID_* |
Institute of Astronomy |
session | Maintain a user session, allowing navigation through RT without constantly needing to re-authenticate. | Privacy policy for the University's core website |
| wiki_*_session |
Institute of Astronomy |
session or 30 days if the “Keep me logged in” option is set |
Used by MediaWiki for keeping users logged in and enabling server-side features while they navigate the wiki. | Privacy policy for the University's core website |
| __cf_bm | 3rd party sites | 1 hour | This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management. | Cloudflare Cookies |
| cf_clearance | 3rd party sites | 30 minutes | The cf_clearance cookie is required for JavaScript detections. JavaScript detections are stored in the cf_clearance cookie. | Cloudflare Cookies |
| csrftoken | Meta Platforms, Inc. (Instagram) |
1 year 1 month 4 days | This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks | Instagram's privacy policy |
| DokuWiki |
mwgaia.ast.cam.ac.uk |
session | Used to increase the security of DokuWiki sites | Privacy policy for the University's core website |
| DW* |
mwgaia.ast.cam.ac.uk |
session or 1 year if the “Keep me logged in” option is set |
Used for authentication after login. This holds the necessary data to (re)login a previously authenticated user. | Privacy policy for the University's core website |
| iconify* | mwgaia.ast.cam.ac.uk | session | Used by the Iconify service to store information for a website's content management system (CMS) to determine how the website's menu tabs are displayed. | Privacy policy for the University's core website |
Functional
Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
| Name | Used by | Duration | Description | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sitestyle | Institute of Astronomy | 1 year | Stores user-selected site layout preferences (e.g., sidebar, top menu bar, etc.) to enhance user experience and maintain consistency across visits. | |
| mid | Meta Platforms, Inc. (Instagram) |
session | Used to store a unique identifier that helps Instagram remember your session and maintain functionality and settings. | Instagram's privacy policy |
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
| Name | Used by | Duration | Description | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga* _ga_* |
Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
2 years | We use Google Analytics to understand how users are navigating our website, see how often content we publish is used and to test changes to improve the user experience. Your IP address is anonymised. | Google’s privacy policy |
| _ga | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors. | Google’s privacy policy |
| _gid | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
1 day | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the collected data includes the number | Google’s privacy policy |
| __utmt_~1 | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
10 minutes | Set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to enable website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. of visitors, their source, and the pages | Google’s privacy policy |
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
| Name | Domain(s)/URL | Duration | Description | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| __utma | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
1 year 1 month 4 days | Google Analytics sets this cookie to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | Google’s privacy policy |
| __utmc | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
session | Google Analytics sets this cookie to enable interoperability with urchin.js, an older version of Google Analytics and is used in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine new sessions/visits. It is deleted when the user closes the browser. | Google’s privacy policy |
| __utmz | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
6 months | Google Analytics sets this cookie to store the traffic source or campaign by which the visitor reached the site. | Google’s privacy policy |
| __utmt | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
10 minutes | Google Analytics sets this cookie to inhibit the request rate. | Google’s privacy policy |
| __utmb | Institute of Astronomy Google Inc (Google Analytics service) |
1 hour | Google Analytics sets this cookie to determine new sessions/visits. __utmb cookie is created when the JavaScript library executes and there are no existing __utma cookies. It is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. | Google’s privacy policy |
Manage cookie preferences
In addition to this, different browsers provide different methods to block and delete cookies used by websites. You can change the settings of your browser to block/delete the cookies. Listed below are the links to the support documents on how to manage and delete cookies from the major web browsers.
Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050
Safari: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer-bca9446f-d873-78de-77ba-d42645fa52fc
If you are using any other web browser, please visit your browser’s official support documents.