dave@cylixd.UUCP (Dave Kirby) (11/27/85)
It's Christmas season again, and time for the annual deluge of advertisements on talk radio stations concerning the "International Star Registry." In case some of you have not heard this commercial, here is approximately how it goes: "Tired of giving the same old gifts year after year? Well, why not this Christmas give somebody you love something really unique - why not name a star after them? That's right, a star. For $35, the International Star Registry will name a star after anyone you choose. Think of it! Their name will be immortally assigned to a star; it's a gift that will outlive the one you give it to. The person receiving the gift will receive a beautiful four-colour parchment, certifying that the star has been named after him, and a sky chart showing the exact location of the star. All names will be compiled in a book of registry to go in the Library of Congress. This season, why not give a gift that will last a lifetime? The International Star Registry. Your unique gift is just a toll-free phone call away. Why not do it today?" Now this carefully worded ad sounds real nice, but it occurs to me that I could say the exact same thing this ad says if I just decide to call myself "International Star Registry," get a sky atlas, and start naming stars after people for a $35 fee; after all, it only costs me $10 to the Copyright Office to get any book registered with the Library of Congress. (ANY published work submitted for copyright registration must be accompanied by a second edition that will automatically go in the Library of Congress.) So once I have named a few stars, I send in my 10 bucks and presto! The International Star Registry book is now "official!" "International Star Registry" does not sound like the name of a legitimate astronomical society. Has anyone out there ever heard of it? Or is it, as I suspect, a clever scam? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave)
ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (11/28/85)
> "International Star Registry" does not sound like the name of a > legitimate astronomical society. Has anyone out there ever heard of it? > Or is it, as I suspect, a clever scam? I think your suspicions are well-founded.
rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher) (12/02/85)
> > It's Christmas season again, and time for the annual deluge of > advertisements on talk radio stations concerning the "International > Star Registry." In case some of you have not heard this commercial, > here is approximately how it goes: > > "Tired of giving the same old gifts year after year? Well, why not > this Christmas give somebody you love something really unique - why > not name a star after them? That's right, a star. For $35, the > International Star Registry will name a star after anyone you choose. > Think of it! Their name will be immortally assigned to a star; it's > a gift that will outlive the one you give it to. The person receiving > the gift will receive a beautiful four-colour parchment, certifying > that the star has been named after him, and a sky chart showing the > exact location of the star. All names will be compiled in a book of > registry to go in the Library of Congress. This season, why not give > a gift that will last a lifetime? The International Star Registry. > Your unique gift is just a toll-free phone call away. Why not do it > today?" > > Now this carefully worded ad sounds real nice, but it occurs to me that > I could say the exact same thing this ad says if I just decide to call > myself "International Star Registry," get a sky atlas, and start naming > stars after people for a $35 fee; after all, it only costs me $10 to the > Copyright Office to get any book registered with the Library of Congress. > (ANY published work submitted for copyright registration must be > accompanied by a second edition that will automatically go in the > Library of Congress.) So once I have named a few stars, I send in my > 10 bucks and presto! The International Star Registry book is now > "official!" > > "International Star Registry" does not sound like the name of a > legitimate astronomical society. Has anyone out there ever heard of it? > Or is it, as I suspect, a clever scam? > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Dave Kirby ( ...!ihnp4!akgub!cylixd!dave) As you suspected, the International Star Registry is a first-class rip-off (in my humble opinion only). The new star names aren't recognized by any astronomical society, who all use the internationally accepted star names (ie., Messier numbers, traditional names for prominent stars, etc.) You could do the same thing for anything else, like: - insect species - buildings in Chicago - tropical islands Anyone can publish a book that renamed the Sears Tower after you, as an extreme example. The problem is, even if their "official book" now called the Sears Tower the "Joe Blow Tower", no one else in the world would call it that, and the plaque on the entry-way would still say Sears. The only reason this outfit can get away with naming stars is that less than 1% of the general populace knows the real names (actually, a lot less than that), so no one is going to argue with you that "Joe Blow's Star" is actually M77398 in the astronomer's star charts. Even if the star has no name to begin with, don't expect any astronomers to pay any attention to these new names. You could better spend your money by having your own certificate printed, because that's the only thing of value here. And why stop at stars that are too dim to see anyway? How about: - pick an unnamed section of Antarctica, and name it for your dog - name a new "part of the human body" (eg. start calling the wrinkled skin on the back of the knuckle of your left pinky, the "Smith's Epidermal Fold" - Put up a street sign on your driveway, naming it "(your name here) Court" See, there are all sorts of opportunitis to have things named after you, if you only use your imagination as well as the International Star Registry does! Bob Schleicher
tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) (12/03/85)
To anyone who is wondering, an outfit called International Star Registry is indeed a real outfit and they do indeed name stars after anyone who wants it done. Now, they are not in the business for the fun of it. You pays your money and you gets the star. If you will think about it, only the tiniest fraction of stars have names or designations. What they do is put your name on an, as yet, unnamed star and include it in the international registry. That's not too hard to do since anyone with a telescope can name things not previously named in the firmament. If you want a star named after yourself, go ahead and do so. The name can be recognized officialy by sending it to the keepers of the registry, wherever they are. I have a friend who's father has a rather large crater on the moon named after him. It even appears on the National Geographic charts, even though it cannot be seen from earth (it is on the right edge looking at the moon). Go ahead and plunk down the money and get a star named after yourself. There are plenty to go around. Or, if you don't want to spend the dough, do it yourself. We could name stars from now till doomsday and never even scratch the surface. Besides, what sounds better, T45l6 or the Joseph P. Scudsworth star? Have fun, it is not a rip off. T. C. Wheeler
gadfly@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly) (12/03/85)
> > "International Star Registry" does not sound like the name of a > > legitimate astronomical society. Has anyone out there ever heard of it? > > Or is it, as I suspect, a clever scam? > > I think your suspicions are well-founded. I concur. I'm sure I read about those guys in "Sky & Telescope" (or "Astronomy" or some such) a few years ago. They have nothing to do with any of the truly official star catalogues. It's not fraud-- they really do name your star--but no serious astronomer, professional or amateur, will ever care. -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 03 Dec 85 [13 Frimaire An CXCIV] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7753 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***
rastaman@ihdev.UUCP (Gus Anthozoan) (12/04/85)
In article <285@pyuxii.UUCP> tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler) writes: >... If you will think about it, only the tiniest fraction of stars have >names or designations. What they do is put your name on an, as >yet, unnamed star and include it in the international registry. >That's not too hard to do since anyone with a telescope can name >things not previously named in the firmament. ... The name can be >recognized officialy by sending it to the keepers of the >registry, wherever they are. ... Go ahead and plunk down the money >and get a star named after yourself. ... We could name stars from >now till doomsday and never even scratch the surface. Besides, >what sounds better, T45l6 or the Joseph P. Scudsworth star? >Have fun, it is not a rip off. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit. Talk to somebody at your local planetarium or astro department. Or post this on net.astro and let the boys at Texas set you straight if you don't believe me. Sure, any yahole can call any star anything he wants; the problem is that it doesn't count unless sanctioned by the IAU. (Before I sold out I was an astronomer; this garbage torques me off more than the daily horoscopes.) The people can, of course, copyright their list and get a copy put in the Library of Congress, but that's not the same thing as having the designation officially sanctioned. (By the way, I don't believe that any catalog has a "T" designation.) Jeff Johnson ihnp4!ihdev!rastaman