You can’t buy stars, pulsars, or AGN.
You can’t officially buy stars. Any website claiming to sell stars or sell star names is selling you a piece of paper and a line in their “private registry”.
You cannot pay to officially name a star, the sky is free for everyone.
Astronomers do not use the names that are purchased through websites claiming to name stars.
This website is fake. I made it to inform potential customers.
The international body responsible for naming stars is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group on Star Names (WGSN).
According to the WGSN guidelines:
- Names of all individuals are prohibited for bright stars, except for rare cases with demonstrated historical precedence and widespread international diffusion. Contrived names are discouraged, except for rare cases with demonstrated historical precedence and widespread international diffusion.
- Names of events principally known for political or military activities are prohibited.
- Names of a purely or principally commercial nature are prohibited.
- Names of pet animals are prohibited.
You can read the full WGSN guidelines here.
Websites that claim to sell stars claim to:
- Sell stars that are visible to the naked eye
- That they have sold 100,000+ or even 500,000+ stars
- Lead you to believe that each star is only named once
Being extremely generous with how excellent our vision is and how dark the night sky is, humans can see at most ~9000 stars in the entire night sky (over both hemispheres) with their naked eye. This means that each star these websites claim to sell has been sold at least 10 and possibly up to 50 times.
Some of these websites sell stars for $40AUD per star. They claim to have sold 500,000+ stars. That means they have sold $20 million worth of stars. Selling something you can’t sell.
Space Name Registry 