The IAU and its star names
The IAU was founded in 1919. In 2016 it set up a Working Group on Star Names to settle on one name for well-known stars, because the same star often had several spellings or names in different books. Most names it chose are old ones, from Arabic, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Polynesian, Aboriginal Australian and many other sky traditions. Sirius, Vega and Betelgeuse are IAU names. The IAU keeps the list of names; see the IAU’s page on star names.
Catalogue names: how most stars are known
- Greek letters (Bayer names). In 1603 Johann Bayer labelled the stars of each constellation with Greek letters, roughly brightest first: Alpha Orionis, Beta Orionis and so on.
- Numbers (Flamsteed names). The stars in John Flamsteed’s catalogue of 1725 were later numbered across each constellation from west to east: 58 Orionis is Betelgeuse.
- HR numbers. The Bright Star Catalogue lists the roughly 9,100 stars you can see with your eyes. Its numbers come from an earlier Harvard list, so they are called HR numbers.
- HD numbers. The Henry Draper Catalogue, from the 1910s and 1920s, gave numbers to over 200,000 stars and sorted them by the pattern in their light (their spectrum).
Your keepsake lists these real labels, so anyone can find your star in a star app or an atlas.
Why a bought name is a keepsake
Because the IAU names stars, and does not sell names, a name bought anywhere is not used by astronomers. It is not on star charts and it will not be used by scientists. It can still mean a great deal to you, which is why we make keepsakes, and why we say clearly what they are. Read can you buy a star? for more, or the IAU’s own words on buying star names.
Can the public ever name a star?
Yes, but only through the IAU itself. In its NameExoWorlds contests, people in many countries proposed names for some stars that have planets, and the IAU chose among them. These were never sold.