I’m thinking of naming a star after someone (Yes… that someone already has everything else that costs $54). I was wondering:
How dependable are places like www.starregistry.com?
Also (sorry, I never took any sort of astronomy class) will that star definitely be visible from New York?
The stars that are being “named” by these star registery scams are not visible by the naked eye from anywhere on the planet, let alone the heavily light-polluted east coast. All the stars you can see in the sky already have names.
These star registeries are basically meaningless - they put the name in a book, but it counts for nothing and isn’t officially recognized by anyone. Save your money.
The only body that can actually assign names for astronomical objects is the International Astronomical Union. And they ain’t selling names.
Basically with these star-naming companies, you get a nice, pretty and quite meaningless certificate. It’s fine for a novelty gift as long as you’re aware the name carries no scientific weight whatsoever.
And of course, there’s nothing wrong with commandeering an already-named star and claiming it as being named after you. (Just stay away from alpha Eridani. ;)) You can even make your own certificate.
Most of the bright stars in the sky already have a dozen or more names anyway. What’s another?
The ads I have heard for these star registeries don’t even count as a scam. They state that they will record the name of the star “in book form with copywright notice”. That is exactly what they do. The fact that it is meaningless is left to the individual to discover.
Oh well. Nuts to that, then. I’ll pay the extra $50 for a TempraFoam pillow.