Air America Advertiser: International Star Registry

[rusty charly]

Founded in 1979, ISR has sold over 1 million of their full-color "Name A Star" parchment certificates. Figuring there are between 400 billion and 1 trillion stars in this galaxy alone, selling names for them at nearly $50 each sounds like a license to print money. But International Star Registry certainly doesn't have a license to name stars. Robert Naeye, editor of Mercury Magazine, a publication of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, puts it in no uncertain terms: "The star names sold by the International Star Registry are not recognized by any professional astronomical organization."

The International Astronomical Union is the only scientific body authorized to name astronomical bodies.

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ISR doesn't even use the word "official" anywhere on its main Web page.

Yet this tacit acknowledgement hasn't stopped ISR from throwing its weight around. In 2000, they threatened to sue Ohio Wesleyan University for hosting a student's Web page criticizing the company's star-naming practices. Rather than face a lawsuit, the university removed the website. At roughly the same time, ISR threatened suit against a Florida planetarium for remarks against ISR made by one of its employees.

"I was actually hoping they'd sue me," said Laurent Pellerin, the employee in question. "But ISR went after (my employer, knowing) they couldn't afford even a successful lawsuit."

International Star Registry actually brought suit in 1999 against another star-naming company, claiming trademark infringement. (Oddly enough, this case was significant, as it determined that doing business over the Internet with inhabitants of a state was the equivalent of doing business in that state.)

What bothers most people in the astronomy and planetarium communities is that too many people buy these stars under the assumption that their star's name will be acknowledged worldwide by the astronomical community. "I would be perfectly happy if ISR said up front that the star name you're purchasing is not scientifically recognized," Pellerin said. "They do that on their Canadian website. Why can't they just say it here?"