Star Naming - A Few Facts

The Society is often asked to point out stars which have been "named" after individuals.

We realise that it can be a great comfort to "name" an object after a loved one and there are commercial enterprises which offer to do this for a fee.

However, before this is done we would like to point out the following.

• The only body recognised as responsible for naming objects in the night sky is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) the IAU can be found on-line at http://www.iau.org.
• Most objects are not given names but reference numbers and designations so that they can be easily found again. There are hundreds of millions of stars - names would get very confusing!
• The stars assigned references by the IAU are recognised and used by professional and amateur astronomers, scientists, space agencies and other authorities world wide. For example when observing stars and planets or launching space missions; everyone needs to know which locations the references refer to. The references assigned by the IAU are those used.
• As yet there are no rules concerning "buying" bits of space. Makers of international law have more urgent concerns.
• Therefore, the "star naming" companies are not breaking the law and Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society does not wish to suggest or imply that any company is doing so.
• We wish to inform you that many people misunderstand what they are being offered. The name that they choose for a particular star has no formal validity and is not recognised by the Astronomical community worldwide.
• You may think that the name is preserved forever but, sorry, probably not. The name you pay for can be ignored, forgotten, or sold again to anyone else, by anyone at any time.
• If you have already "named" a star the Society can help you find it. The Society wants to strike a balance between its distaste of "selling" star names, and helping to educate the public in Astronomy.

You can book our observatory for a private party; the current fee is £50 for up to a maximum of 20 people.

When you visit we can show you the portion of the sky in question, we regret it may not be possible to identify a specific object in all cases.

Further information regarding officially recognised naming of stars and other astronomical objects is available from the IAU