Constellation of Ursa Minor

Name a star

Many stars have no name — only a number or letter. If you would like to give a star a name, you can do so easily here, by putting it as the title of your star message.

When you create a star message, the title, and thus the new name, will be displayed whenever the mouse cursor points to your chosen star.

The whole message will be displayed in the pop-up box that opens whenever anyone clicks on the star.

Example

Star message example

More examples

star (No official name)
Brightness: ##
Mary's Star
Mary, I dedicate this star to you - may you shine forever! You will always be twinkling in my sky.
With everlasting love,
Denis
star Star2
Brightness: ##
Baby Helen
BORN 7:45 3.11.90. Weight 4lb 7oz.
Hope you will always be as beautiful as you are now!
Burt and Sheela, your loving grandparents.
star (No official name)
Brightness: ##
This is my star and nobody else's 'cos I got here first.
HANDS OFF!

There is no official organisation that accepts names for stars. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the official association for naming astronomical objects but it does not have a star-naming service or procedure, and it does not assign names to stars.

A few bright stars have ancient, traditional Arabic names, but otherwise the IAU only gives stars catalogue numbers or letters, plus positions on the sky.

We think it is really nice for stars to have a name and not just a catalogue number and so we are happy to offer everyone the possibility of choosing a name for a star and showing it to the whole world through our website.

Of course, as well as a name you can also add some text to your star message, and even a link to a webpage of your own.

To create your star message:


  • Go to the star maps and choose a constellation by clicking on the down arrow below the constellation name.
  • Click on any star that is not flashing and is within the constellation's red boundary.
  • Click on 'Make this star yours, with a message here', then follow instructions.

 — try it out now just to see how it works.

More details:


  • You can give your message a heading. The text of the message can be up to a maximum of 300 characters (including spaces and punctuation).
    You may also add a link to a website.
  • Free stars
    • All stars of brightness 30 or less are free. A message on a free star will remain there for as long as you wish and you will never be charged anything for it.
    • Each person is allowed one free star.
  • Rented stars
    • For the rest of the stars, there is a small yearly rental which depends on brightness. Rentals can be cancelled at any time.
    • Payment for rented stars is made through the Paypal secure website.
      If you don't have a Paypal account you can create one easily on the Paypal payment page (and it will be very useful on many other websites too, such as eBay).
    • Paypal will pay any star rental payments automatically for you. You can cancel the rental anytime very easily in your Paypal account, and Paypal will notify us.
    • You can have as many rented stars as you wish.

For a bit more information please read our few, straightforward terms and conditions.