Is naming a star real?
Short answer: you can name a star as a gift. You cannot buy an official scientific name. Those two facts can both be true.
Official star names are not for sale.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the body astronomers treat as the official namer of stars. Catalog designations (the ones researchers use) come from scientific surveys, not from a checkout page. No storefront — including Stellara — can sell you an IAU name, a NASA name, or a name that replaces the catalog ID.
If a site implies otherwise, that implication is the problem. The sky does not have a gift shop with a registrar’s stamp.
So why does Stellara exist?
Because people still want a gesture: a real star, pointed to, with someone’s name on a page they can keep. That is a commemorative gift. It is symbolic. We say so on the homepage, on checkout, and here.
What Stellara actually is
Stellara is a $29 digital gift.
- You name a real star — one that’s actually in the sky, visible, and not already named with us
- /gift picks that star for you. /browse lets you pick a specific one
- You get a page for that naming and a PDF certificate with a QR code back to the page
- You get the receipt. The other person gets an email only if you opt in
- Checkout holds the star for 30 minutes. Digital only. Nothing ships
The name lives on Stellara’s page and certificate. It is not an official designation in astronomy.
What you are not buying
- An official IAU name
- A change to star catalogs used by scientists
- A guarantee that every planetarium or app will show your name
- A printed kit or a plaque in the mail
- Ownership of the star
The star stays a star. Your gift is the record we make for you.
“But I saw a registry…”
There are companies that sell star names as gifts. Some are clearer than others about what “official” means. We are not going to list them or grade them here.
The test is simple: does the company say the IAU is the official namer, and that the product is commemorative? If yes, you’re in gift territory. If the copy sounds like a deed to the sky, you’re not.
Stellara’s answer is the first one. We would rather lose the sale than fake a registry.
Can you actually find “their” star?
Yes, as a pointing problem: we attach the gift to a real, visible star and give you a page for it. You can look at that region of sky. You will not see their name written on the star. You will see a star, and a page that says why you picked it.
That is the honest version of “find it in the sky.”
Why we still think it’s a good gift
It’s specific. It’s not another candle. It takes a minute. It costs $29. It can be Christmas-morning digital if you order by December 24, 2026, or a birthday or a quiet memorial if that’s the point.
It only works if we don’t lie about the astronomy.
If you want the official names
Read the IAU. They name stars (rarely, and not as consumer products) and they maintain the standards astronomers use. That process is not a $29 checkout. We are not competing with it.
Name a star anyway
If you want the gift — a real star, a page, a certificate, a commemorative name — start here:
Questions
Is Stellara official?
No. Official naming is the IAU’s job. Stellara is a commemorative gift.
Do you report names to the IAU?
No. That is not how official naming works, and we don’t pretend to file paperwork.
Is the star real?
Yes. The name is symbolic; the object is not.
Who gets email?
The buyer always gets a receipt. A recipient gets email only if the buyer opts in.
How long do you keep the page?
As long as Stellara runs the product. That is a company record, not an astronomical catalog. We don’t call it “forever official.”