Purchasing a star
 

I heard from a few ppl that it is possible to own a star. Well, i dunno if u legally own it, but it's like u get a certificate saying that u own it and stuff, and u get to name it. I know it sounds like a ripoff, but i thought that it would be cool if me and my gf bought one together for our first anniversary. Does anyone know?


O ya, i live in Toronto Ontario if it would help.

Thanks in advance guys

Living in Toronto probably wont help unless in Toronto you make alot of money. If it is possable then its expensive. I know you get to name it if you discover it first. Which is unlikely.

nono that's not what i meant

what i mean is like u get a certificate and u get to name it or something, but u don't need LEGALLY own it. Just a novelty

something like this:

http://www.buy-a-star.com/

It's like buying nothing on ebay. A waste of money. ;)
Normally, that is.
Now, if you do it for or/with your girlfriend like you said, then you could turn it into a romantic gesture.
Other than that, I guess it would be cool to say you "owned" a star, but kinda useless otherwise.

oh alright, why dont you just make your own certificate in powerpoint, same thing

I2icky, pack up a few items- a blanket, some wine, maybe a boombox with your favorite romantic songs, etc. Get your girlfriend, and head out of the city for an hour or so. Find a secluded spot, away from city lights, lay down the blanket and choose your own star! August 11-14th is the Perseid Meteor Shower- it doesn't get better than that!
Spend your $49.95 on yourselves- not some rip-off con artist that sells you a fake piece of parchment!

you sound like the little prince.. maybe you could have her read that to prep her for you star gazing activities. chicks dig that book.

You can buy real estate on the moon, the UN has the power to hand it out so some guy claimed the moon and is selling chunks of it. You get a certificate that says where your land is and such. I think disney bought a huge chunk, haha.

http://www.starregistry.com/
that's what you're lookin' for. 54 bucks USD. :/

I remember when I was in HS we bought a star for our Physics teacher... he died several years ago, so I went to look up the star we named after him. It was at that time that I learned it was a scam. The star naming people resell the 10 magnitude stars over and over again. Each year they publish a new directory which is the "copyrighted" work...

lame i say, but i do look for Sirius everywhere I am in the northern hemispere. It's one of the brightest stars, find Orion's belt and it points to it. There, my own star but have never spent a penny to "own" it.

It's a really sweet idea, and I was nearly suckered into it too.
But as stated above it would be like buying nothing.

It's not even like you could get out your telescope and say 'oh oh, there's our star, it's that one!'. lol!
:)

None of that stuff is real.

Esp. ownership of stars and such.

Besides, how would they be able to parcel out your land on the moon?

Do they tell you which 100 acres is yours? something like: You have the back 40 in the meteor district between the large crater and that funny looking one?

Well considering that there are more stars than grains of sand on the Earth.
You just go ahead.

And when you invent your spaceship to get there,
make sure that you wear sandals, because the surface of those stars get pretty hot.

I've never heard something so silly.
Let's put it this way...
You just got the same value for your money
as the person who bought "nothing" on Ebay.:rolleyes:

this just reminds me of the book, <u>The Man who sold the Moon</u> by Robert Heinlen. Excellent book.

You can also buy a ranch in Texas - Best I remember it was for $25. You get a legal deed to a one square inch ranch in the Great State of Texas - for land that probably changed owners several times for the price of ten inches. You get a deed - legal description, and even a map showing exactrly where your ranch is located - right down to the inch! Happy Ranchin'! Sucker!!!

You could raise a good size herd of fleas on one square in. *yee-haww*

It becomes part of an international registry. Another way is to be the first to discover something. Thats what your buying. Its worthless to some and valuable to others I suppose. I payed to have a srar named for a girl I was on love with, now thats the part of the nightsky I cant stand to look at.

NOTICE:

You are here-by served with this notice to terminate looking at or refering to the constellation known as the "Big Dipper" (BD). Any and all requests to observe (read "gaze") at BD must be approved in advance by the our legal office. Thank you.

- Bill Gates.
"I'm done with earth... moving on to the stars."

ok - i have to admit it.

I have purchased a star.

i bought one for an ex girlfriend.
it cost a bit of money, but the star is now known as Felicity´s Star.

the name and ownership is logged in a registry with the American Space Program as well as with Switzerland.

of course, i don´t believe this.
but it sure makes an interesting present. and the thought of having far away stars named in your honour is quite romantic, if not a little colonial.

my final thought - waste of money!

not just because of my having split with her, but also for the complete lack of reality in the whole process.

it is true that it is a waste of money but for someone whos hobby is astronomy it is quite the gift

I would never buy myself a star, but the one perfect gift that anyone could ever get me is a star

one of my ex's bought me a chunk of the moon and a chunk of mars (through probably the same registry place as bundy noted). So far, this is the closest anyone has come to getting me the perfect gift. Since it only cost about 20 dollars or so to get the chunks of mars and the moon it pretty much was the perfect gift, since she probably would have purchased a star if she had the money.

Either way, it was an amazing gift and those two chunks of those chunks of rocks are now in my name. I even have a map and i can point out what part of it is mine and everything. It's a really cool thing to be able to do that. Even though i hate my ex a lot, it's still amazing that she did that and it reminds me of good times with her.

In other words, sometimes it might be the best idea to get someone a star but sometimes people might think it's pointless. Myself, i think it's the best idea in the world. It's not something that you purchase for yourself though.

The body that is responsible for naming celestial objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It has never been, and most likely never will be, in the business of allowing people to "officially" name stars for a price. The companies that sell you these star names, however official they make themselves sound, are not recognised by the IAU, nor will astronomers ever use the names from these "international registries". You will also probably find that you can buy the same star from completely different groups, which makes "officially" naming the stars a farce. Also, don't approach the IAU with a request to have a star named.

On the other hand, if you happen to be lucky enough to be one of the first three people to discover a new comet and notify the IAU quickly enough, it will be named after you (and up to two other people). Just make sure you do your homework first and that it isn't one that is already known! Similarly, if you find a new asteroid, there is a good chance that you will be invited to suggest a name for it - but the IAU has the final say. Once again though, if you think you've found something new, do your homework to check - there are thousands of asteroids out there!

This might all sound a bit "stuffy", but for my part I'm thankful for it. I'd gag at the thought of having to call Sirius "Rupert Murdoch" or something like that!

Oh, and by the way - if you're thinking of naming an asteroid, please bear in mind that Elvis is already out there! :D

What a great suggestion.

I bought a star for my parents on their 30th wedding anniversary. Its a silly romantic gesture but its kind of fun. A conversation piece. Something you don't get as a gift everyday. Would I do it again? Probably not, unless I was hard-up for gift ideas as I was at the time. :D

copyright doesn't mean what you think
 

a relative of mine bought one of these stars from the star registry people

basically they send you a cheesy certificate and a map to "your star" and some other documents about astronomy and stars

it makes an attempt to sound official by saying that the name of the star will be registered in a publication with the US copyright office.....well I can publish my own book full of 5000 pages of garbled text and get it registered with a copyright, too bad nobody would ever care about it and it's not an official reference by any stretch of the imagination

like other posters say, it's a nice thought but not even remotely what you might be suckered into thinking