The price of naming a star

With the Intergalactic Star Database, naming a star costs £13.99 on Amazon. That is a real, catalogued star registered under the name you choose, and a printed gift pack posted to your door.

What the price includes

• A real star from the Hipparcos catalogue, with its catalogue number, position and constellation, registered in the Intergalactic Star Database with its own Database Number.
• The Certificate of Registry, with your star's name, Database Number, catalogue number and constellation.
• The Star Area Co-ordinates Sheet: its exact position, brightness, a chart of its patch of sky and a graph of when it is highest through the year.
• A welcome letter and a fold-out map of the night sky to find its constellation.
• A full-colour printed gift envelope, ready to give, posted within 24 hours by Royal Mail.
• Its own page on this website: a live sky map, whether it is up tonight, a gift link to send, and the certificate and sheet to print again at home whenever you like. No subscription, no extra charge.

What to check before you name a star anywhere

Prices for naming a star vary a lot, and the price alone doesn't tell you much. These questions do:

• Is it a real, catalogued star? You should be told which star it is: a catalogue number you can look up, not just a pair of co-ordinates.
• Can you find it again later? A website where you can look the star up by its number is worth a great deal when the certificate is in a drawer years from now.
• Is the honesty there? No company can give a star an official name, whatever it charges. Official names come from the International Astronomical Union, which doesn't recognise commercial star names. Be wary of anyone who suggests otherwise.
• Is it one star, one name? In the Intergalactic Star Database each star is given to one name only.

How to order

Order on Amazon and type the name for your star when you check out. We register it and post the pack. Here is what happens next.