Star Names
Published on Dec 16, 2005 at 7:49 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under astronomy, stars.
Every year, I hear on the radio, TV, or elsewhere about “buying star names” or naming a star after a loved one, or something. As an astronomy professor, often people bring me an envelope with a certificate for some star that they bought, or someone bought for them, and they ask me more more information on it. For some people, it is just a novelty. For others, they are serious, as the star is supposed to commemorate a deceased loved one. So, I dutifully try to see if I can find anything about these stars for them. There have been more than one company selling star names, I have found. Some clearly are just a ripoff, and they name non-existant stars, or they reuse the same stars over and over again. Others seem to actually try to have a unique star per person.
However, you should not think that anyone other than the company selling the star names will ever use those names. Professional astronomers very seldom use star names, except for the dozen or so brightest stars. All other stars are referenced in the literature by a catalog designation. Besides, the company selling the star names does not have any authority to do so. The only names recognized by astronomers are those approved by the International Astronomical Union. All other names are more like nicknames, at best.
The so-called “proper name” of a star, the name that people usually think of such as Sirius, Rigel, Deneb, etc, are generally agreed upon names from antiquity. Most have Arabic origins. However, these stars have a multitude of other names. This means that such names are not unique, or clear. So, in the early 17th Century, Johann Bayer produced a catalog of stars in which each star is designated with a Greek letter and the constellation name in which the star is found, such as Alpha Cygni, Gamma Scorpii, Lambda Orionis, etc. There are 88 constellations, so there are 88 alpha stars, 88 beta stars, and so forth. However, Bayer only designated the brighter stars in the constellations, so when later astronomers became interested in the dimmer stars, they did not have designations for them. There are only so many letters in the Greek alphabet, so the Bayer designations could only extend so far. By the early 18th Century, John Flamsteed had come up with his own designations based on numerals, such as 32 Cygni, 88 Tauri, etc. This system is not limited as to how many stars per constellation could be designated. He numbered stars in order of increasing right ascension (basically right to left) across the constellation. However, he could only designate the stars that he saw. Later astronomers compiled much more extensive catalogs, such as F.W.A. Argelander’s Bonner Durchmusterung of 1860. A star designation in this catalog sounds something like BD+25degrees2147. As telescopes got better, more complete catalogs were developed, with the star names being a designation within the catalog. Each catalog overlapped all the less complete ones that came before, so stars wound up with a multitude of designations. Variable stars have their own system of names (there are two types in routine usage), so this adds more names to stars. The ultimate catalog is the Hubble Guide Star catalog, developed for the HST. These are all the official names that astronomers use. So, any other names would be lost in the list of names that stars already have. Since these catalog designations are readily available, and referencing stars in the same manner as prior publications allows for easier literature searches, these are the designations that professionals use.
So, when people come to me to find information about their star, I can’t access it by the name that they “purchased.” I need to know one of the other designations. That is almost never given, though. One of the biggest star naming companies at least gives the coordinates of the star. Now, that I can use. There are professional databases that can be searched by position. However, almost never do I find a star at the position listed. This does not automatically mean that the whole thing is a sham, though. Stars move around slightly. A bigger factor is that the Earth is slowly precessing (ie: changing the direction that its north pole points). This changes the apparent positions of all the stars in the sky. Professional astronomers, therefore, when giving coordinates, also give the epoch (or year of validity) of the coordinates. If you know the epoch, then you can account for the effect of precession through simple calculations. However, I have never had one of these certificates that people bring me list an epoch. So, I put the coordinates into my search, and then look at what comes out. I try several standard epochs, and they seldom actually match, so I don’t know if the companies are rounding, using a non-standard epoch, or just making something up. Often, for one of the biggest star naming companies, I find that there is at least a little dim star somewhere nearby. Is that the one? Well, for most people, I tell them that there was no star at the coordinates given, but this one is closest. Once in a while, though, I find someone who has named a star after a child that has passed away, or something equally emotional, so I would never tell them that there is no star there. I just say that this star appears to be the one, and tell them what I can find out about it.
But for the rest of you, then you should know that these star names are a novelty gift, and professional astronomers will never use them (especially if no one can figure unambiguously out what star is what!).
-Astroprof
Seattle SEO on September 4, 2008 at 11:28 pm: 1
Interesting. Always thought this was more of scam than anything. At least it doesn’t sound like an actual rip off.
NJ Web Designer on September 12, 2008 at 12:53 am: 2
So noone keeps a master database of these star coordinates and the supposed “names” which are being sold? Even if I were to give you the coordinates of a star there’s no place to look up if someone purchased it before?
Funny, though, that the ads google is putting on this page are selling star names
Computer Repair on September 14, 2008 at 12:56 pm: 3
When my uncle died we got him a star. Id hate to think it was a waste. I mean I have no clue where to look in the sky. But I feel good knowing hes some where forever.