| Q: | Can I really name a star? | ||||||||||||||||
| A: | Yes you can! You can also name planets, nebulas, star clusters and galaxies. You can name countries, cities, towns and streets. You can name historical figures, politicians, musicians and movie stars. You can name neighbors, friends, coworkers and acquaintances. You can call anything or anybody anything that you want. You can even pay anyone as much money as you want for the privilege of doing so, and nobody will stop you from doing it. Here's the catch: Nobody but you will recognize your right to name anything but those things you actually own, create or discover yourself. If you discover a comet or asteroid, for example, you can by international agreement name it yourself. You can also charge someone else to name it according to their wishes. This is not what the dozens of star-naming "services" are doing. Instead, they are charging people for something along the lines of a certificate and a map, much as some shyster might sell you a map of Paris, with the Eiffel Tower labeled "YOURS!" These documents serve only to certify the gullibility of the purchaser. | ||||||||||||||||
| Q: | That's a pretty cynical attitude you've got there, fella... | ||||||||||||||||
| A: | I apologize if I've come across that way, but look at it like this: Rather than wasting money on naming a distant and probably near-invisible star (nobody gets Vega, after all), you could buy your spouse/child/friend/self a real astronomy gift and give the whole sky for about the same price. Isn't that good news?
Any one of these gifts will provide your loved one with immeasurably more enjoyment than a bogus star certificate. | ||||||||||||||||
| Q: | Sorry, but I really want the bogus certificate. | ||||||||||||||||
| A: | Well, why not get a legitimate one for free? Click here and enter your loved one's name, and it will be burned onto a CD which will be mounted on the Deep Impact spacecraft, slated to crash into comet Tempel 1 in July 2005. You can then print a full-color certificate right from the website, documenting that you have really put their name on a comet. | ||||||||||||||||