International Star Registry

Legitimacy

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is an internationally recognized de facto authority which designates stars, planets, asteroids, comets, and other heavenly bodies according to internationally accepted rules. The IAU neither sells naming rights nor does it authorize any other company or organization to do so. The IAU cautions consumers that products and services marketed by other companies have no formal or official validity whatsoever. In fact with a few exceptions of ancient or Arabic names, nearly all stars are designated by catalog numbers rather than names.

A minority of nations, Seventy-four of the world's 195 nations are represented at the IAU by their national science or astronomy academies. However, these academies in some sense represent the vast majority of the Earth's population even though they are not voted for or elected by the people causing unpopular results at times. The IAU declines to answer consumer requests to locate stars or sell star naming privileges because such endeavors detract from its scientific mission.

Commercial interests have stepped in to name stars for consumers as the IAU does not perform this service. Neither the IAU nor commercial interests have legal authority to name celestial bodies as such competing authorities can issue names. In 1998 the International Star Registry was issued a violation by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs for deceptive advertising for claiming "official" naming rights and have since discontinued this claim.