Should you name a star? Probably not.
If you Googled “buy a star” or “name a star for someone”, you’ll have already noticed that most of those sites feel a little off. They are. Here’s the unfiltered version, then a real alternative.
The truth about star-naming services
Only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially names celestial objects. The IAU does not sell or grant naming rights, ever. Every commercial site selling “name a star” certificates operates outside the IAU and has no scientific authority.
Worse: most of these services don’t even keep a centralized registry. The same star can be “named” for hundreds of different people across hundreds of competing star-naming sites — there’s no uniqueness, no enforcement, no record beyond the PDF in your inbox.
What you typically get: a $20 paper certificate emailed instantly, with no physical print, no recognition by any observatory, and a name nobody else can verify. The seller has effectively zero cost of goods sold. It’s pure margin on a sentimental impulse.
The honest alternative — name a galaxy
The Galactic Registry is a different kind of thing. We’re still not the IAU. We don’t pretend to be. But we run a permanent, public, searchable registry of symbolic dedications, each tied to a real NASA-catalogued galaxy with verified coordinates and imagery.
Once you claim a galaxy, it’s removed from the available pool permanently. Nobody else can claim it. The dedication is filed in our archive forever, with a unique entry number you can search any time.
And we actually ship something. A 12″×18″ archival cotton certificate, hand-numbered, with cyan-foil registry seal, in a rigid shipping tube — worldwide, with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee. That’s the version that doesn’t lie.
Side by side
| Feature | Typical Star Naming | Name a Galaxy |
|---|---|---|
| IAU recognition | None | None — but no one pretends |
| Uniqueness enforced | ×No, sold many times | ✓Yes — once claimed, gone |
| Real catalog source | Sometimes (Hipparcos id) | ✓NASA / NED / SDSS / Messier |
| Physical print included | ×PDF only typically | ✓12″×18″ archival cotton |
| Searchable public registry | ×No | ✓Yes, perpetually |
| Refund guarantee | ×Rarely | ✓60 days, full refund |
| Object size & age | One star | ✓100–400 billion stars, billions of years old |
| Typical price | $20 — $40 | $39 — $299 |
Common questions
Is naming a star official?
No. Only the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially names celestial objects, and the IAU does not sell or grant naming rights. Every commercial star-naming service operates outside the IAU. The certificates they sell are not recognized by any astronomy organization, observatory, or scientific publication. They're symbolic.
What do you get when you 'buy a star'?
Typically a paper certificate with the star's IAU designation (e.g., HIP 12345), the date, and a symbolic name you chose. The same star can be 'named' by hundreds of different people across hundreds of competing star-naming sites simultaneously — there's no centralized registry that prevents duplicates.
How is naming a galaxy different?
Three real differences: (1) Galaxies are rarer and more documented than stars, with public NASA imagery for many of them. (2) Our registry is uniqueness-enforced — once a galaxy is dedicated, it's permanently removed from the available pool. (3) We ship a 12×18 archival cotton print and offer a 60-day satisfaction guarantee. Most star-naming sites have neither.
Are galaxies more impressive than stars to dedicate?
Subjective, but: a galaxy contains 100-400 billion stars, has been around for billions of years, and is observable from any major telescope on Earth using the coordinates we provide. A star is one point of light. The Milky Way alone holds 100 billion stars; we have 2,068 galaxies in our registry, each one its own city of stars.
Can I dedicate a galaxy in a deceased loved one's memory?
Yes — memorial dedications are one of our most common use cases. The dedication name and any inscription you choose appear on the certificate, get filed in the public registry permanently, and the galaxy itself becomes a place to point at on a clear night.
Why is naming a galaxy more expensive than naming a star?
A few reasons: (1) The print is real — 12×18 inches on archival cotton with cyan-foil seal, hand-numbered. Most star-naming PDFs cost the seller $0 to deliver. (2) We ship physical worldwide. (3) Each galaxy is unique-claim — we lose the inventory once you take one. (4) 60-day refund guarantee. Star-naming sites have ~95% margin selling instant PDFs; we're 25–60%.