Star Map vs Naming a Star: Which Gift Is Actually Real?

Naming a star through a commercial registry is a symbolic gesture. The name is recorded in that company's own book or database and nowhere else. No observatory, no textbook, no star catalogue and no telescope software will ever use it. The International Astronomical Union, the only body that assigns official names to celestial objects, says so in plain words.

A star map is a record of something that actually happened: the arrangement of stars above a specific latitude and longitude at a specific date and time. It is computed from public star catalogues, and anyone can check it against free planetarium software. It does not claim to own anything. It documents a moment.

Both can be lovely gifts. Only one of them is a factual object.

The International Astronomical Union is the organisation that professional astronomers worldwide recognise as the authority for naming stars, planets, moons and surface features. On the subject of commercial star naming, its public statement is unambiguous:

"the IAU dissociates itself entirely from the commercial practice of 'selling' fictitious star names"

and

"such 'names' have no formal or official validity whatsoever."

The IAU adds that any company claiming an association, approval or collaboration with the IAU in this business is making a claim that is "patently false and unfounded."

How are stars actually named, then? Most stars have no name at all, only catalogue designations such as HR 7001 or HIP 91262, organised by position in the sky so astronomers can find them. A few hundred bright or historically significant stars carry proper names (Sirius, Vega, Betelgeuse), and since 2016 the IAU's Working Group on Star Names has formally catalogued and approved those, drawing on names from cultures around the world. None of those names was bought.

We looked at the largest and oldest, International Star Registry (founded 1979), on the date above. Their published packages:

Every package records the name in the company's own publication, which it describes as "the only permanent published catalog of named stars in the world." That is accurate as far as it goes: it is their catalogue, and it is permanent in the sense that they keep printing it. It is not a catalogue any astronomer uses.

Note what is in the box: a certificate, and a star chart. The chart is there so you can point to "your" star. It is, in effect, a small star map. The star itself is typically a faint one, chosen by the company, that you will need binoculars or a telescope to see, because almost all naked-eye stars are already taken or already have real names.

A custom star map is a computed chart. You give the date, the time and the place; the software works out which stars were above the horizon and where, using a public catalogue of star positions and brightnesses (we use the HYG catalogue, about 9,000 stars down to magnitude 6.5, which is the naked-eye limit), and draws them with the 88 constellations recognised by the IAU. The result is printed with your own words underneath. Our accuracy page sets out the whole method.

What that gives you:

• A factual record. Set the same place and time in the free Stellarium software and the star field matches. That is the test of a good map, and any honest seller will invite you to run it.
• A specific moment rather than a generic object. The sky over your wedding venue at 9 pm on your wedding night is not the sky over anywhere else at any other time.
• A finished piece of art. It hangs on a wall as it is; the certificate needs the story explained.

What it does not give you: a claim on anything. Nobody owns a star map's stars, including us.

At every tier, a star map from a reputable company costs about the same or less than the equivalent naming package, and you can see exactly what you will receive before you pay. Full prices are on our pricing page.

We do not think naming a star is a scam, provided the buyer understands what it is. It is a novelty gift with a certificate, like adopting a zoo animal or buying a square foot of a Scottish estate. It makes sense when:

• The recipient will enjoy the gesture and will not mind, or will be amused, that it is symbolic.
• You want a tangible "thing" (a framed certificate) and the specific date or place does not matter.
• The recipient already knows it is not official. Being told later by a friend who read the IAU page is the failure mode.

It makes less sense as a memorial, where the recipient may believe something permanent and official has been done, and where discovering otherwise can hurt.

A star map makes sense when the moment is the point: an anniversary, a wedding, a birth, the night you met, a graduation, a last goodbye. It works because it is true, and because the person receiving it can look up and find the same stars. It also makes sense when you want something that reads as art rather than as a document.

It makes less sense if the recipient does not care about the date or place and simply likes the idea of a star with their name on it. In that case the certificate is the better fit, and no star map will replace it.

Yes, and some people do: a star map of the moment, with the named star's constellation marked in the caption. If you go that route, choose the star map first and the naming second, since the map is the part that will still be accurate in fifty years.

If you would like to see what the sky looked like over your own moment before deciding anything, you can design a map here without paying or entering an email; the preview is the finished map with a watermark.

All pages opened on 20 September 2026.

• IAU, "Buying Star Names": https://iauarchive.eso.org/public/themes/buying_star_names/
• International Star Registry, "How much does a star cost?": https://www.starregistry.com/faq/how-much-does-a-star-cost/
• International Star Registry pricing guide: https://www.starregistry.com/blog/how-much-does-a-star-cost-pricing-guide/
• Wikipedia, International Star Registry (founding date and recognition): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Star_Registry
• The Star Moment pricing: https://thestarmoment.com/pricing
• The Star Moment accuracy: https://thestarmoment.com/accuracy
• Under Lucky Stars digital maps and prices: https://support.underluckystars.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013188100-Digital-Star-Maps and https://support.underluckystars.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022352254-How-to-order-what-are-the-prices
• OwnStarMap: https://ownstarmap.fr/en/
• The Night Sky prints: https://www.thenightsky.com/shop/night-sky-classic-star-map-print
• Mapiful US: https://www.mapiful.com/us/our-customizable-star-map-prints/
• Stellarium: https://stellarium.org/
• HYG database: https://www.astronexus.com/hyg