Regarding the naming rights of stars, I met a friend at a party recently. He mentioned to me about buying the naming rights of a star, and I was surprised to find out that there is such a service on Taobao! I opened Taobao and searched for star naming rights, and found that many merchants also provide this. I was just thinking: Can you buy the names of stars? And it’s only a few hundred yuan? How does that work?

A closer look revealed that the so-called naming of stars is registered with an organization called the Star Association, and looking at their official website, it is basically impossible to see that it is related to any state agency⌨️. Can a private organization name stars? "Name" is a title that identifies an individual, and generally needs to be confirmed by an agency with public authority. If it is a people's name, it needs to be registered with the country's birth authority. Because you are a national of a certain country, other countries will not interfere with your country's naming rights. But what about the stars? Even if it is regarded as a piece of land, since no country actually owns it, it is more difficult to determine its naming rights. Even China's National Observatory may not have the qualifications to name a star.

If it is difficult to deal with it by the internal unit of the country, expert opinions can only be made by internationally recognized institutions, just like when a new species of organism is discovered. The existing astronomical organization with a longer history and higher international recognition should be the International Astronomical Union. Astronomers generally agree with the credibility of this union. According to the website’s official statement, the naming rights of stars “should be proposed by the discoverer of the celestial body after the celestial body is numbered. You may try to contact some asteroid discoverers or those who specialize in asteroid discovery. The scientific team may have some asteroids that have been numbered but not yet named. For example, the popular Chen Yixi star was discovered by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and then donated its naming rights to the Intel International Science and Engineering Competition. Winner. By the way, there were actually several Hong Kong winners who were named stars later, but after all, soup was the first thing to taste, so no one reported it.

So in the end, some organizations that claim to name stars, such as the Star Association in the Mainland or the Online Star Register abroad, have not actually received international recognition for their naming. They are not even recognized by their own country or certified by government agencies. Record your registration for you in their archives, and then display it on their self-developed app to make you happy. So instead of buying the illusory star naming rights, why not buy a beautiful and delicious planet cake at the same price?

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