Buy and Name a Star with IAU: Is that possible?

I have a dream to name a star with IAU

The fact that you are seeking information about naming a star with the help of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and not with any other possibly related organization is a good sign as it demonstrates your knowledge on who might be responsible for such a service.

Unfortunately, even such a closely related organization as IAU is to buying and naming stars does not provide such a service. The reason for that is relatively straightforward: IAU was never meant to provide such services, and it never will provide such services, given it has a “slightly” different and perhaps more critical mission on its horizon.

This comprehensive yet short article seeks to answer the question of “why is it not possible to name a star with IAU” and what is the only alternative to doing so. We hope you enjoy reading it and find all the answers to your questions on this topic.

IAU: What do they do?

Before jumping into answering why IAU will not let you name a star for someone, we should first understand what it does as an organization and its sole purpose. As well, we should understand the position of IAU on star names. Here is a short outline:

IAU is an international non-governmental organization in charge of advancing Astronomy, promoting astronomical research, education, and international cooperation.

On their website, IAU mentions that their key activity is to hold various international meetings and conferences to gather various experts from astronomy.

They are responsible for internationally recognized names of celestial bodies, including stars, but much more than just stars. Their activity is also related to planets, meteor showers, galaxies, and more. Names for celestial bodies are just a tiny part of what IAU does.

IAU has officially named just more than 300 stars when speaking about stars, specifically, the brightest and most famous. That is much less than 1% of all stars visible in the sky. Most of these names come from various ancient traditions, for instance, Greek.

There is a possibility to undergo a process where IAU will assign a specific name to a star, but that process is very complex and time-consuming. You will be required to prove that a given name has any historical relation to a given star. To initiate such a process, you need to be a reputable astronomer.

The rest of the stars that do not have proper names get “catalog names,” for example, HD19845 or HIP4234. IAU explains this phenomenon so that it is much easier to work with millions of entities in the database when they have structured catalog names.

It must be that the facts mentioned above have already clarified many aspects about buying a naming a star with IAU. If you still have questions about the subject or simply are not satisfied with how the scientific star naming community operates (we bet you are not), follow the next chapter to see final thoughts and conclusions on this.

Why doesn't IAU offer you to buy and name a star?

We have already learned what IAU does in general and precisely regarding star names. At this point, you might still have questions on why it is the way it is, why only a tiny portion of stars get named, and why you cannot just pay for this to happen. Here are a few simple facts and arguments:

IAU was established to foster astronomical research and education. Unfortunately, buying a star for someone's birthday does not help science.

IAU is a non-profit organization, so they cannot take money from you for a star name. The way they name stars is a scientific process where you need to provide historical evidence for a star to obtain a particular name. So it is instead a “proving and naming,” not a “buying and naming” process.

As a scientific organization, IAU believes that the stars without proper names need catalog names (e.g., HD342323), which contradicts what one might wish to achieve when looking for that perfect present with a star name, “Jennifer.”

Finally, when naming a star for someone, you most likely wished it to be present so that you would care about the visual side of it. Even though we have learned that IAU does not allow us to name stars, theoretically, IAU would not be an appropriate service provider for preparing your registration certificate, framing it, or providing you with a nice gift box. The visual side of their website iau.org speaks for itself.

This all might sound disappointing in case you wanted to name a star with a well-known scientific organization, which on the surface seems to be in charge of what you wished. Unfortunately, the facts speak for themselves. Do not get too frustrated, though; you can still get your gift, just not with IAU, and probably the alternative is even better. See more information about that in the next paragraph.

Name a star with International Database instead

Can I name a star without IAU?

At this point, we can agree that it is not possible to name a star with IAU. Moreover, the same is true for any other governmental or non-governmental organization. Still, you can use private services that use International Databases for star name records.

These service providers are professionals when preparing your star naming gifts with style. It leaves an unforgettable impression on the recipient. Additionally, they use absolutely the same star catalog that IAU uses. Remember us previously discussing that most of the stars are not officially named with proper names (apart from generic codes)? That's right! The next paragraph will explain how that works.

Is buying a star from non-governmental entities real?

Once people discover they cannot name a star with IAU or any other known organization, they ask themselves a common question: How come commercial entities can provide such a service when IAU cannot, and what is the value of such a bargain? The answers to these questions are pretty simple and mainly stem from “official” bodies denying us this option. See explanations below:

1 Neither IAU nor any other official body provides a star naming service; therefore, this becomes a matter of private entities to offer this.

2 No national or international laws prohibit such transactions because neither IAU nor any other “official” body has legal rights on star names. Accordingly, this is 100% legal; otherwise, such service providers would be denied to promote themselves on the internet or receive payments.

3 IAU will not recognize your star name since they only recognize around 300+ star names and various catalog names. Since they do not deal with naming stars for customers, it is not their competence to acknowledge or deny this.

4 The star you would name with a private company will be from the same catalog that IAU uses, so that will be a specific star that can be seen in the night sky.

5 A limited amount (around 300+) of brightest stars already have astronomical names from IAU; therefore, our team at Starregistration.net is strict with offering registrations only for stars that do not have IAU or other customers names. For example, we could not offer you to name a Northern Star as it has a name called Polaris.

Important! If naming a star elsewhere, please pay attention to service providers that claim they have a partnership with IAU or other “well-known” space-related organizations. They can surely put the IAU logo on their website and insist on that, but at this point, you should know very well that this is a myth.

We hope that you have mastered the subject of IAU and star naming at this point. Also, we hope you are not disappointed that you cannot get it done the way you probably imagined. Remember that you can legally name a star with a commercial online service that provides customers with an unforgettable giving experience. Explore more about all the perks on our comprehensive page, Name a Star Gift.

Find out more

How much does it cost to buy a star? A SHOPPER’S GUIDE

Buy a Star from NASA: Can you do that?

How to Buy a Star: A 6-Step Tutorial

Where to Buy a Star? AN HONEST OVERVIEW

Name a Star for Free: IS IT WORTH IT?

Can You Buy a Star? An Easy Explanation

Adopt a Star AS A GIFT AND NAME IT!

Name a Star Gift

Conclusions

You cannot buy and name a star with IAU because they are a scientific organization with a different purpose and field of expertise.
IAU has named just over 300 stars. The process to submit such an application is very complex and requires you to be a reputable scholar or astronomer.
It is private service providers that offer you to name a star as a gift, so you do not require IAU assistance for this matter.
Private service providers have all legal rights to name stars, and there are no national or international laws prohibiting this.
Commercial service providers use the same star catalog that IAU uses, and they offer to name only stars that do not have IAU assigned names.

Frequently asked questions

Unfortunately, you cannot do that with IAU because it is a scientific non-profit organization with a different purpose; therefore, IAU does not sell star names for money. You can name a star with private service providers.

You cannot buy a star from IAU because this is an international non-profit organization, so they do not take money from customers. Also, their way of giving star names is scientific. You can buy a star with online gift services.

Yes, this is 100% legal for private companies to offer you to name a star and provide you with a gift set. No laws prohibit such transactions. Also, there is no other way for you to do this since IAU does not offer this.

Still have questions? Contact us!