Star Trick
You may have heard a radio ad telling you that that you can actually buy a star and have it named after someone. But is this science, or science fiction? Ten years ago, Ryan Welling, now a student at the University of Utah, was looking for a Christmas present for his girlfriend. So Ryan purchased a star from a company called “The International Star Registry” for $99 and presented it as a gift to his then girlfriend.
“There are any number of firms that will claim that, for a fee, they will name a star for you” says Seth Jarvis, the Director for the Clark Planetarium. “And the idea is that that the sky is so full of stars, there’s clearly one available to get your name on it.”
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The problem with that claim, Jarvis explains, is that there is only one organization intentionally recognized to name celestial objects; the International Astronomical Union, who never names anything for a fee. “Every single one of the businesses that claim to be selling you a star name aren’t doing anything that will be permanent in any astronomy book,” Jarvis said. In fact, Jarvis told Gephardt Daily that the only place where any record will exist of your name on any star is in the files of the company that took your credit card.
So really, what you are paying for is a just very expensive piece of paper. “And it’s meaningless,” Jarvis adds. “It would be more meaningful for me to go around a forest and tell people that I am naming the trees for them, and take money for them. And trust me, the U.S. forest service is never going to use those names.”
Jarvis added that if you wanted to stimulate someone’s interest in the night sky and what is out there, you would be better off taking that money and investing in a real astronomy book, or even take them to some shows at a planetarium. “Quite frankly, these schemes are ripoffs.” Jarvis said.
As for Ryan Welling, he says he did not feel cheated because he had no illusions that he was buying anything official. “I wanted something unique, I was too lazy to put any effort into it, and I heard a radio ad and figured ‘why not?'” But he did tell Gephardt Daily that he is pretty certain that his ex-girlfriend did not keep the star certificate, and he added that when the subject of this past purchase came up with his wife, Sarah, he asked her if he should buy a star for her now, and she laughed and walked out of the room.
