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Name a Star

by Tammy Plotner on April 17, 2008

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One of my many hats is as the president of a public observatory, helping people discover the wonders of the night sky. On many occasions people have come into the observatory with a certificate and locater chart to help them find the star they named. Since the fourth century BC, mankind has been looking up at the heavens and assigning names to the stars. Nearly 2400 years later, we’re still doing the same thing. Is the process recognized by the science community? Can you really name a star after someone?

Master Shi Shen and Lord Gan were ancient Chinese astronomers/astrologers who began compiling their own star catalog roughly around the height of Greek civilization. Although the catalog was small, time would march on and others would begin their own process, such as Timocharis and Hipparchus. By the second century BC, Ptolemy had leaned heavily of the work of Hipparchus and “Almagest” – a catalog of 1022 stars – became a standard for over the next thousand years. But what they lacked… was a system.

In 1603, an astronomer named Johann Bayer published what would eventually become a standard known as the Uranometria. Using Greek letters and listing over 1200 stars, it quickly was seized upon by the science of astronomy and Bayer designations are still widely recognized to this day. Enter John Flamsteed, who also created a standard numerical stellar catalog which designated 2554 stars. Much like his predecessor, Flamsteed’s numbers were widely adopted and incorporated where no Bayer designation existed for a particular star. The use of both Bayer and Flamsteed star names are the backbone of many charts and maps still used to this very day.

As time progressed, so did mankind’s ability to see ever farther and deeper into space. Astronomical catalogs began to flourish and expand. The Henry Draper Catalog published between 1918 and 1924, lists more than 225,000 of the brightest stars, named using HD followed by a 6-digit number. The satellite driven Hipparcos catalog lists a little more than 118,000 stars and the Tycho catalogue lists a little more than 1,050,000 stars down to magnitude 7.3. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Star Catalog (SAO) takes it down to ninth magnitude and the Astrographic Catalog to magnitude 13 and over 4.6 million stars.

What all this amounts to is a specific, data driven need for a specific listing of stars for specific purposes. Astronomical catalogs are usually the result of an astronomical survey of some kind, and frequently contain data from other catalogs as well. So where does it all end? Probably never. As we delve deeper into our Universe we uncover more than ever dreamed possible and all of those stars need a name. The same object can be given different designations in many different catalogs. It’s only the biggest, brightest stars that have more agreed names.

As the president of a public observatory, I am often called upon by strangers who come to me with packets and questions on how to name a star. Contained within these packets is information of where someone who wants to buy and name a star for a loved one – a common practice and one that’s often perceived as a rip-off by the scientific community. Oh, I’ve read some very scathing articles about this practice, and the bottom line is: Only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has the right to officially name celestial objects for scientific purposes. (Coincidentally, the same group of people who also decided that Pluto should no longer be a planet.)

But what if you’re not a scientist? Do these stars that you pay to name actually exist and can they be seen? The answer is yes. A reputable company that lets you buy a star name (choose carefully!) provides you with a certificate, a locater chart, and a set of coordinates. In the long run, these coordinates are far more important than any name or designation will ever be. The very fact that they do point to a specific star answers loudly the question as to whether or not it is legitimate. Even if it’s an 11th magnitude point of light set in a field of hundreds of others, the fact exists that it is there.

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When you buy a star for someone, you are paying for the entertainment you will receive for learning a little about the night sky. If the agency is misleading about what you’re getting in any way, then you should rightly feel that you’re being scammed. But if they’re up front that the name isn’t official, and is only kept in their own catalog, you can know what you’re getting.

Will science ever recognize that star?

No.

If star Laurie Hoffman goes nova tomorrow, the IAU records will indicate that HD 178543, or a similar designation according to what catalog and epoch they choose to use, blew its top. Yet, the fact remains there is a record somewhere that lists the nova as star Laurie Hoffman. You are given a set of coordinates for your name a star and a star does exist at the point.

What’s my take on name a star? I see absolutely no harm in it IF you are given a set of coordinates, a star chart that matches those coordinates, and a certificate that let’s you know it’s for real in someone’s eyes. Sure. The chances of a novice ever finding a name a star on their own is slim. But at least they’re looking. If they come to me with a set of numbers, I have the knowledge to give them a sky survey picture of their star and to show them personally in a telescope. They are aware that there will be no arrow in the eyepiece pointing to the star they have named, no sign post or engraved plaque. It will be one in a field of many, but it will be there.

Believe me, folks… This is not a bad thing. Anytime you can motivate someone into taking a deeper look at what’s above them, you’ve accomplished something. If they can’t find it on their own? It doesn’t matter. It gave them an excuse to really take a look at the stars. If they have to list the aid of an observatory to locate their “name a star”, then they’ve been exposed to the wonderful world of astronomy. Star Laurie Hoffman might not ever be important to the scientific community…

But it is to you and me.

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About

Tammy is a professional astronomy author, President Emeritus of Warren Rupp Observatory and retired Astronomical League Executive Secretary. She’s received a vast number of astronomy achievement and observing awards, including the Great Lakes Astronomy Achievement Award, RG Wright Service Award and the first woman astronomer to achieve Comet Hunter's Gold Status.

Tagged as: name a star, star naming

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  • Martin Watts

    A few years ago I was desperately looking for a job and found one an ad in our local paper. Then I found what they were doing and decided there were some things I wouldn’t do for money. Selling land on the moon is right up there. See: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages/article.html?in_article_id=409923&in_page_id=8

  • DrBill

    Two sides of the coin in my case – When I left my last-but-one job, my leaving present was a star named after me – a 9th magnitude one in Sextans – just about visible in early spring from my latitude with the aid of a small telescope. I was delighted with this thoughtful present..

    The flip side is that in my job as curator of a public observatory I had grieving people coming along asking to see their deceased grandad’s star – as often as not a 13th magnitude thingy somewhere near the south celestial pole and not visible at ANY time from our latitude – and needing a pretty decent telescope to see it even if it was in the sky.

    The difference was in the expectation of the recipient – In my case, it was a bit of fun. In their case, they probably imagined they could step outside and point out some twinkly naked-eye star to their kids and tell them that’s where grandad lives now. What a let down to be told they’d never be able to see it unless they spent a large sum of money travelling to the southern hemisphere and even then they’d need to find somebody with a big telescope with reliable pointing to catch a glimpse.

    I wasn’t taken advantage of – They were.

  • Astrofiend

    “Stu Says:
    April 17th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    “But Stu, won’t you even show people the star that they think was named after a loved one? And use it as a valuable opportunity to teach the real science?”

    Hmmm, let me think… “Look into this eyepiece… see that star? That’s the one you paid £20 for but DON’T own and ISN’T named after your mother… cool huh?”

    I don’t think so. Wound… salt… you know?”

    Seriously? When you put it like that, no wonder people leave upset and angry. Yes, star naming companies are basically grifters. However, don’t take your anger with them out on the people who have bought these names in good faith. What good comes of saying “Yeah, you got ripped off big-time fool. Your loved one is dead and they aren’t gonna be remembered by a star name, that’s for sure!!”?

    Instead, how about some compassion? Maybe find out gently about the circumstances involved, and if they are obviously painful, how about keeping your trap shut? Hint: They don’t really care about science or astronomy just because they want a look through your telescope at ‘their’ star, they just want it as some comfort in a time of pain. And how does that harm anyone, or science, in the long run?

    I hate these star naming crooks as much as anybody, but you have to make the distinction between them and those who are lead along by them.

  • Nuno

    Thanks for the tip O Driscoll
    I’ve just named one myself!

    Nuno G

  • Yael Dragwyla

    Tammy, you are more right than you know. One thing I forgot to mention in another comment I made here is that the reason a lot of us Yankees, i.e., Americans, are not happy with the IAU’s rather cavelier dismissal of Pluto as a “dwarf planet” is the fiction of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and his colleagues in the Lovecraft Circle of the first few decades of the 20th century. They predicted a possible 9th planet before the discovery of Pluto, naming it “Yuggoth,” and also cited various stars and cosmological phenomena as the dwelling-places of monsters in their fiction. Like Yuggoth, these abodes of Mythos beings have names you’ll never find in the IAU’s catalogs or, for that matter, earlier ones compiled by Arabs, Chinese, Chaledean, European, or other pre-IAU astronomers. But, like Yuggoth, in their fiction, most of the time, they give enough informaton to pin down the likely location of the stars, etc. where their monsters dwell — and fans have a merrie time working out the remaining astronomical and cosmological details. Lovecraft himself was a ferociously intelligent man who, though self-educated, was once described by colleagues and fans as, “In a time when only 12 men understood Einstein’s Special and General theories of relativity, H. P. Lovecraft was one of those 12 men.” He was also an excellent chemist, and a man of enormous scholastic erudition. (He had his personal quirks, some of them repellent, such as the racism peculiar to his time and class, so I’m not saying he was perfect –just intellectually and artistically brilliant.) The point is: many of his fans, inspired by his fiction and that of his colleagues, went on to pursue careers in the sciences, and that will continue as long as there are people to become mesmerized by his fiction. When Pluto was discovered in 1930, from then on that planet became “a.k.a. Yuggoth” in the mind of fans, who learned all they could about it — and then, in many cases, also contributed a little something to the Lovecraftian canons as well as pursuing careers in the sciences. Those fans are furious at the displacement of the results of the hard work of Clyde Tombaugh — an American — and the historical and literary focus on their favorite fictional universe by the IAU. There is also the issue of rewriting all those textbooks should Pluto’s status as a “dwarf planet” stand, and wonder if the IAU is getting huge kickbacks from textbook publishers who are gleefully contemplating the huge profits they’ll get from all those new issues of older textbooks, whose purchase will gouge libraries, school systems, and university students for a long time to come. So yes, you have a point — and more than a point. In spite of the IAU’s efforts to pooh-pooh the concerns of many of us about the demotion of Pluto to “dwarf planet” status — and also because of it — a lot of us out here are not only angry about their high-handed treatment of Pluto and other “dwarf” bodies, but that anger is increasing, for all the reasons cited above.

  • ceb1947

    How about naming grains of sand? If Sagan was correct then the grain of sand is star bones.:):)

    So for a modest donation, one could send a chart locating your grain of sand, for an additional amount we could locate the beach and if you act now! We will throw in the ocean and island the beach is located on. Remember this is a limited time offer.:):):)

  • http://theastronomer.tripod.com Tammy Plotner

    LOL! Grains of sand… giggle!

    Stu? No offence taken, friend. By now, you’ve probably guessed that if you’re out there promoting astronomy that I’d fight to the death for you. It’s very easy to write a comment and have the spirit of it mis-read by the influence of what you’re feeling at the moment or the comments around it.

    (Eric Near Buffalo? Ah, ah, ah… Granny Tammy is waving her finger your way and asking to please play nice! What a shame these girls didn’t appreciate someone so thoughtful as to point them towards the stars… May they be deemed the life of ignorance they chose when they left you!)

    Don’t be angry and mean-hearted towards those who have profited from “Naming A Star”. I can assure you after having looked at these packets that they (the reputable ones) didn’t just mass produce a bunch of crap. These are lovely, well-printed certificates, accurate locator maps, impeccible coordinates and genuinely registered on their “unscientific” star catalogs. My guess is half (or more) of what you pay goes towards the expense of creating this packet, maintaining the data base, and shipping. That’s not even counting the person that makes sure it’s really a star.

    Do some of these stars exist in the southern hemisphere? Yep. Are some of the exceedingly faint? Yep. A little good investigation revealed that to a point you are allowed a certain amount of control over where (meaning what part of the sky) that you chose to name a star. (If there is gullability involved, it would be the person who didn’t think to choose a constellation which can be seen from where they live!) I have also counciled (counseled?)… ok…. helped…. folks choose an area – and again, it was a good thing because it got them to thinking that the stars just aren’t the same everywhere for every time.

    I honestly understand where Stu is coming from and I do not advocate the “Name A Star” process – unless it pleases you. If you want to work out a lucrative enterprise? Try photographing the named star and including it… ;)

    In the meantime, remember this gist of this article was to point out that many star catalogs – or registries – have existed over time. Just like having my name put on a CD that’s left on Mars may never be read… so these offspring catalogs may never be recognized.

    But I gotta’ really cool piece of paper that says it’s there!

  • GrayGoo

    Why isn’t the IAU using their monopoly on the right to name stars? This would be like the Internet and ICANN.

    I own several points in Internet space as does Mr. Cain and everybody else around here. It’s a lucrative business and ICANN significantly _undervalues_ their monopoly rights.

    IAU could auction leases for visible stars. When Taco Bell spends money to put a giant foam target in the ocean for satellites to hit with the promise of free tacos if it hits, why wouldn’t they get the Taco Bell Nebula?

    It’s not like laser advertisements on clouds or the moon… such advertisement will inspire me and others to stock up on ammunition and explosives. This, however, is harmless.

  • http://www.afountain.org/astronomy/ Rusty

    The biggest problem I have with the “Name a Star” business is that it takes advantage of innocent people who know little or nothing about astronomy! Individuals who use “Name a Star’ businesses are almost always beginners to astronomy and don’t understand that only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has authority to name a star or astronomical object. In my thinking this makes the “Name a Star” business nothing more than a scam. The business is disrespectful to the IAU and the professional astronomical community in general. The business is degrading to amateur astronomers because people are often given a very sour first impression of the hobby when they learn that their star is not actually named after them. Yes, It’s true the fine print on the documentation published by “Name a Star” companies may be generally truthful. But, most people don’t take the time to read all the fine print and they are ultimately misled to believe a star has actually been named after them or someone for whom they purchased it as a gift! When they learn the truth of course they are upset.

  • John Sabia

    I have had many people ask me to show them their star at the public observatory I work at.. I have no problem with that. Unfortunate most are 13 magnitude stars.

    What I have never found is any one of these companies supporting the astronomical community.

  • Jo Anne C. Mazurek

    This NOT HARMLESS.
    It instills the idea even more that ANY and EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE FOR AND BY HUMANS.

    I am sick and tired of humans thinking we

    can BUY and OWN EVERYTHING !!!!

  • zeb

    I have my own naming system, and named all the stars in the sky after myself. So, tonight after the Zeb goes down, make sure to go out and enjoy the zebs and all the little zebs that go around them.

  • Dark Gnat

    I can imagine God laughing at the futility of naming or buying stars.

    He might say “Guess what, none of you own these stars, I do, and that includes the Sun, muhahaha! ”

    * The preceding post was intended for entertainment purposes only, and is not recognized by any astronomical society, any religious organization, or any political affiliates. The author of the post in no way intends to offend believers of any faith, agnostics, atheists, nor does the author promote any religious or philosophical ideals. This post was made in jest, and shall not be used for monetary gain without the permission of its author, and/or the owner of the site. This post was typed in a facility that contains peanuts, and may contain partially hydrogenate vegetable oils.

  • http://www.dilbert.com Steve

    If a star went nova 50,000 years ago, but the light from that event won’t reach the Earth for 4.6 million years, then have you really named a star? You now own a white dwarf!

  • breadforthought

    Very nice article Cain, I have liked it very much. My sons gave me a certificate for my birthday some time ago. Of course I know that would not have had any meaning for the scientific community, but it has a lot for me and for my sons. It is more or less as when we bring flowers to a loved dead friend or relative, it is for us and for the memories we have, it is an act of love from one persone to another and that is extremely important for who is involved. My best compliments for your site. Ciao

  • GrayGoo

    Jo Anne C. Mazurek:

    The IAU should sell the stars, period. They have the monopoly. They live on planet earth. They are harming astronomy by NOT enforcing their monopoly on naming stars through either direct auctions or sanctioning existing star sale companies to control quality and raise money.

    You want to promote astronomy? That costs money. Fraser and others are examples of people that promote science out of pocket.

    What if it doesn’t have to be that way? What if the IAU can have a marketing department and issue grants to people like Fraser? How do you propose to do that?

    Everything is for sale and the only people NOT selling what they can are not “good guys”, they are fools.

    This is a clear cut issue. The IAU has a monopoly on naming stars. The IAU will dramatically improve the state of astronomy with a little bit of money. Sell the frakking stars.

    Donations aren’t going to convince people to look up at the sky.

  • John H

    Is there really a star (unofficially) named Laurie Hoffman? If so, where is it? Or is it just a name pulled out of a hat? Because, that’s my wife’s maiden name! It would save me having to buy her one, which now I cannot do anyway, since there is already a star with that name…

  • Greg

    These companies are exploiting people for money, what corporatrion can you think of that won’t do the same if it had the chance? Caveat Empor always applies. But there is a bit of logic and an important point in all of this. I do think that an international agency should be created with the purpose of naming stars. The star catalogs are nice and serve their scientisic purposes but are completely devoid of charm, creativity, identity and character. If mankind ever does survive long enough to colonize the galaxy, do you really think these scientific names will be used to describe peoples’ home star system? If people were allowed to bid on buying stars then the proceeds could be used to fund international space exploration efforts. If this ever were to happen, then I would avoid picking stars near the supermassive black hole (Sag A) and try to pick a young red dwarf with high metallicity to get the highest chance of longevity and bearing planets where humans might actually live.

  • Om

    One comment and one question:

    Love the post above raising the question of whether or not one would “own” a star that had long since “died” … only the light it emitted millions of years before shucking off its mortal coil (or the celestial equivalent thereof) is still just reaching our shores now ….

    And at the risk of exposing lack of astronomical sophistication … are the coordinates Man assigns to a given star eternal? If Laurie Hoffman’s descendants 5000 times removed were to head to “her” star for a weekend getaway, will it be where it was way back in the mists of 21st century time?

  • David

    “It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment or naming starts as a way to explain their frustrations.”

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