1. How much does it cost to name a star?

Naming a star is the gift of life, and packages start at just CHF 149 for the unframed International Star Registry Custom Star Kit. This includes a beautiful 12" x 16" parchment certificate, a large celestial map showing the star's location, an astronomy brochure and a congratulatory letter. You can also choose framing options.

2. Do I buy a star?

No one can sell stars, but you can put the name of a special person on a star! Each star with that name is unique and will be named forever. We permanently publish all star names in the astronomical compendium Your Place in the Cosmos©, which is registered in the U.S. Copyright Office. This sky catalog, created by the International Star Registry®, is the only published directory of named stars in the world.

International Star Registry is a company founded in the USA in 1979. We are a member of the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. Since 1979, 10 volumes of our star catalog have been published and registered with the United States Copyright Office. NASA will no longer use this new name. This unique star catalog is not a directory for scientific use and is not recognized by astronomers. The stars are recorded in this way as a lasting, meaningful tribute to someone who shines brightly in your life.

3. How long is the name valid?

By publishing all star names with their telescopic coordinates, we have chosen the most permanent method of recording that exists. Each star name is permanently recorded in our book Your Place in the Cosmos©. The book is registered with the US Copyright Office and a copy of the book is kept in a vault in Switzerland. In addition, we keep your name permanently in our database.

4. What is a name I can give?

Most stars are marked with the name of the person or persons you wish to honor. We also see many creative names and nicknames that have a special meaning for the buyer and the honored person. Apart from a few small limitations, the sky is the limit! The name can only be 35 spaces long. Furthermore, the names must comply with our rules of decency, which state that the name must not be obscene or vulgar. Characters from several other languages are supported, but emoji characters are not.

1. Can I select an area in the sky when ordering?

Yes, the sky is mapped in 88 constellations, and you can select any constellation. Zodiac signs are very popular. There are also many other constellations known to avid stargazers! If you can't choose a constellation, don't despair, we will gladly choose a constellation for you to view from your location.

2. Can I name a star close to another one?

Yes, many people want to name a star close to another star they have already named. Please contact us for this.

3. Is there a constellation visible from Europe, North America and China?

Since these places are all north of the equator, each of the northern constellations is visible from all these places.

4. Is there a constellation visible from Australia, the USA and Europe?

Yes, if you name a star after someone, there are many great opportunities to view it from the northern and southern hemispheres. You can name a star in the recipient's zodiac sign or choose from many equatorial constellations, including Canis Major, Orion, Ophiuchus, Scutum, Sextans, Lepus, Monoceros, Aquila and Ophiuchus. Residents of Canada and Northern Europe may have difficulty finding some of these constellations on the southern horizon. We recommend the constellation Orion for them, because the bright stars of the belt make the constellation easy to find.

5. There is a "star number" on my certificate of the International Star Registry. What does it mean?

The coordinates of the star are shown on your certificate. More precise telescopic coordinates are also given on the white celestial map. What is the meaning of a star coordinate?

Just as places on Earth are given with latitude and longitude, stars in the sky are mapped with right ascension (RA) and declination (D).

The Right Ascension of the star indicates the position of the star in the sky from east to west. The declination of the star indicates its position from north to south.

The Right Ascension is measured in hours, minutes and seconds, with the 0/24 hour mark appearing at the "First Point of Aries".

The declination is measured in degrees, hours and minutes. The 0 degree marks the "Celestial Equator" (approximately the northernmost star in Orion's belt) and extends 90 degrees north to the celestial North Pole (approximately the North Star) and -90 degrees south to the celestial South Pole.

6. Is there a scientific number for my star?

All the stars we name come from the NASA Hubble Guide Star Catalog, a resource of about 20,000,000 stars. If you would like the GSC number of a star you name, Customer Service will be happy to help you. If you name your star through the International Star Registry, NASA will continue to use its own designation instead of these star names.

7. What is the visual magnitude and where can I find it?

The visual magnitude of a star is a measure of the apparent magnitude of the star as seen from Earth. The magnitude is given as a value between -2 and +30 with higher numbers for darker stars.

Because of the magnitude alone, you cannot see the star you name with the naked eye. Ideally, you should be able to see the star you name in the sky with binoculars or a telescope, but locating it with a home telescope is a challenge. You can also send an email to customer service and we can send you a link to find your star online through "Worldwide Telescope". If you name a star, the catalog numbers from the NASA Guide Star Catalog can also be provided. The names of the stars and their visual magnitudes are printed on every star map in the International Star Registry.

8. Can I request a star that is visible to the eye?

The human eye can only see stars that are brighter than magnitude 6. Each star is unique. Just as the star you name will never be renamed, we cannot offer you a star that is named after another star. There are only about 9000 visible stars under the very best conditions, and there are no unnamed visible stars.

When you order, name a star that is visible with a telescope or good binoculars. You can also send an email to customer service and we can send you a link to find your star online through "Worldwide Telescope". The exact coordinates of the telescope, the names of the stars, and the visual magnitude are printed on every star map in the International Star Registry.

9. do you have an online list of all star names?

Yes, you can find your named star.

We keep a permanent record of all star names in the book 'Your Place in the Cosmos'. You can contact customer service to find out in which volume your recorded star name appears.

10. will the scientific community recognize my star name?

No. This is not a scientific listing of stars. NASA and the scientific community will not use these star names.

We created the International Star Registry 40 years ago with a very original and charming idea. We have found that over the years dozens of photometric and astrometric catalogs of stars have been created.

These catalogs are constantly updated and are all valid catalogs of the stars intended for scientific use. In 1979 we broke with the scientific tradition and began to assign names to the previously numbered stars, listing them alphabetically rather than by size and location, and publishing the names in a book as a permanent record.

The purpose of our listing is to honor a loved one with an amazing gift that it truly out of this world. Our catalog of star names in not intended for scientific use. In 1919, The International Astronomical Union (IAU) was established with the objective to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy. For scientific uniformity, it is the only body that names celestial objects for scientific use, which it does very infrequently.

We believe that the stars above us belong not only to the scientific community, but to everyone. We offer our star naming service as a unique gift idea. Your star name is recorded in our book Your Place in the Cosmos©, which is published and registered with the US Copyright Office. Like other published works, by publishing the star names with their location, we are preserving the record for our descendants for future generations. To date, nearly 3 million star names have been published in 10 volumes.