RICHMOND, VA -- In response to numerous
inquiries on the subject of purchasing star names, the
International Planetarium Society offers the following
information, as stated at their 9th Biennial Conference June 30,
1988 at the Science Museum of Virginia.
Selling Star Names
The
star names recognized and used by scientists are those that have
been established through long- time usage or published by
astronomers at credible scientific institutions. The International
Astronomical Union, the worldwide federation of
astronomical societies, accepts and uses only those
names. Such names are never sold. Private groups in
business to make money may claim to "name a star for you or a
loved one, providing the perfect gift for many occasions."
One organization offers to register that name in a Geneva,
Switzerland, vault and to place that name in their beautiful
copyrighted catalog. However official-sounding this procedure may
seem, the name and the catalog are not recognized or used by any
scientific institution. Furthermore, the official-looking star
charts that commonly accompany a "purchased star name" are the Becvar charts excerpted from the Becvar Atlas.
While these are legitimate star charts, published by Sky
Publishing Corporation, they have been modified by the private "star
name" business unofficially. Unfortunately, there are
instances of news media describing the purchase of a star name,
apparently not realizing that they are promoting a money-making
business only, and not science. Advertising and media promotion
both seem to increase during holiday periods. Planetariums and
museums occasionally "sell" stars as a way to raise
funds for their non-profit institutions. Normally these
institutions are extremely careful to explain that they are not
officially naming stars and that the "naming" done for a
donation is for amusement only.
Official Star-Naming Procedures
Bright
stars from first to third magnitude have proper names that have
been in use for hundreds of years. Most of these names are Arabic.
Examples are Betelgeuse, the bright orange star in the
constellation Orion, and Dubhe, the
second-magnitude star at the edge of the Big Dipper's cup (Ursa
Major). A few proper star names are not Arabic. One is Polaris, the second-magnitude star at the end of the
handle of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor).
Polaris also carries the popular name, the North Star. A second
system for naming bright stars was introduced in 1603 by J. Bayer
of Bavaria. In his constellation atlas, Bayer assigned successive
letters of the Greek alphabet to the brighter stars of each
constellation. Each Bayer designation is the Greek letter with the
genitive form of the constellation name. Thus Polaris is Alpha
Ursae Minoris. Occasionally, Bayer switched brightness order
for serial order in assigning Greek letters. An example of this is
Dubhe as Alpha Ursae Majoris, with each star along the Big Dipper
from the cup to handle having the next Greek letter.
Faint stars
are designated in different ways in catalogs prepared and used by
astronomers. One is the Bonner Durchmusterung,
compiled at Bonn Observatory starting in 1837. A third of a
million stars are listed by "BD numbers." The Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Catalogue, the Yale
Star Catalog, and The Henry Draper Catalog published by Harvard College Observatory are all widely used by
astronomers. The Supernova of 1987 (Supernova 1987a), one of the
major astronomical events of this century, was identified with the
star named SK -69 202 in the very specialized catalog,
the Deep Objective Prism Survey of the Large Magellanic
Cloud, published by the Warner and Swasey Observatory.
These procedures and catalogs accepted by the International
Astronomical Union are the only means by which stars receive
long-lasting names. Be aware that no one can buy immortality for
anyone in the form of a star name.
