A Star Naming Story

[Roy Foreman]

On Valentine's Day my partner excitedly presented me with a certificate proclaiming that a star in the sky had my name assigned to it. As a non astronomer she thought that she had done something really special for me, and hoped that I could locate it and take an image of it.

I have no doubt that this topic will have been discussed at length on SGL in the past. Whether or not it is a scam is not the point I wish to make in this post. Stars have official names and/or numbers, and to unofficially assign someone's name to one is just a bit of fun and a nice gesture.

What really got to me was how badly it was all done. Clearly these people have little more than a passing knowledge of astronomy. Alongside the cirtificate they give you a star map showing the location of your star in the sky, and a whole load of technical blurb that for the most part is little more than fantasy.

My 'star' is NGC 312 which is not a star but a tiny galaxy less that 2' in size located in the constellation of Phoenix, which is at declination -52 deg. The only way I'm ever going to see it is to take a trip down under, knock on the doors of Siding Spring, and in my best aussie accent say ' Excuse me, guys, mind if I have a quick squint through one of yer scopes '

It gets worse. According to their map NGC 312 isn't actually my star. About 7 deg above the galaxy a tiny star is encircled in red. That, presumably, is my star. Yet all the technical blurb refers to NGC 312. And some of it is hilarious !

Rise, transit and set times are given for .... December 25th 2022 ! On this day it rises at approximately 5pm, transits and hour later, and sets an hour after that. So just skimming the horizon then. And from what location ?

The one that really had me chuckling was when it said, Size - small, Brightness - faint, shape - round !

And yet it is so easy to get it right. I used Sky Map Pro to make a full colour print of the region showing NGC 312, plus my star - TYC 7531-280-1, its co-ordinates, magnitude, spectral type etc. and if it were in the northern hemisphere I could image it as well.

Maybe I could make a decent living out of doing this !

My partner will remain oblivious to all this, of course. She must continue to believe she has done something special. I will show her the map I produced so that she knows it is a real star with a real data.

Her star has always been is Albireo - arguably the most beautiful star in the sky.

[LukeSkywatcher]

It does seem to be a money making scheme (I wouldn't call it a scam). Its the thought that counts.

Lorna broke our rule of not celebrating Valentines Day, and bought me a Fiance card.

Made me well up. 

[knobby]

Definitely the thought that counts 👍

We did this last year for a friend we lost to Covids partner. 

We did carefully research it and chose a random star near Cassiopeia ... that way they can look up most of the year and see roughly where it is.

They were happy so money well spent. 

[Jiggy 67]

If nothing else, your partner got excited about it .....which is all that matters really 👍

[StevieDvd]

I'm so glad my missus had the sense to buy me some land on Mars instead.

[dweller25]

I had a star allocated to me - it’s in the southern hemisphere and magnitude 14 - it’s the thought that counts 🙂

[LukeSkywatcher]

3 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

I'm so glad my missus had the sense to buy me some land on Mars instead.

Hope you don't mind Ben Affleck as a neighbour. 

[Thorney]

My sister in law brought me some land on the moon a few years ago. Completely forgot about it till I seen this post 😬. I must dig out the paperwork and read the details again. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

I own a bit of Mars and the Moon. Big enough for a single microbe with no kids to live happily.

[Peter Drew]

We get several requests each year for recipients of stars etc to help them with the location and the possibility of visiting to have a look at them through one of our telescopes.  Almost invariably, the star is far too dim or badly placed for little to no chance of a view.  I have often asked whether they had any input with the choice as the high magnitude numbers suggest inexperienced selection, apparently not.  We were able, on one occasion to show someone their patch of land on the Moon thanks to the services of Quickmap which zoomed to show that it even had its own small crater.

I know that many astronomical groups, including our own, to a degree frown on these star naming sites but it does give pleasure or condolence depending on the circumstances, I just wish that, as mentioned by the OP that the vendors would pay a little more attention to the reality.  

[Roy Foreman]

Thanks to all who have contributed to this topic - makes interesting reading !  Never knew that the moon and mars were included in these schemes. It would have been nice to have chosen a particular star, even if only a faint one, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise for me.

[oobydooby]

My star is 82EGSWJR9-39979280 which I think is probably it's magnitude but I do have the co-ordinates.....  13h 15m 6.7s right ascention, +6deg 6Min 41.2 sec Declination.  If anyone can find it please send it to me  I will happily pay any excess postage on receipt.

[John]

I was very, very lucky when I did this a couple of years back - I got the Sun

I'm just getting around to sorting out the billing arrangements for it's use. Look out for something in the post shortly. Only a couple of quid per person per annum but 7.8 billion consumers so a nice little earner 

Direct Debit preferred

 

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by John

[StevieDvd]

19 hours ago, John said:

I was very, very lucky when I did this a couple of years back - I got the Sun

I'm just getting around to sorting out the billing arrangements for it's use. Look out for something in the post shortly. Only a couple of quid per person per annum but 7.8 billion consumers so a nice little earner 

Direct Debit preferred

 

 

Sorry mate I went in like a corporate and registered complete ownership of the milky-way - no sub-letting allowed for small allotments like stars or planets 🙂

[LukeSkywatcher]

In a strange way, we are all stars. We are all made up of the same stuff.

*Romantic ideal*