If you want to name a star through NASA, you may have heard about our Nonprofit Adopt a Star program. It allows you to attach your name or dedication to a star through our completely transparent public database. All proceeds support the research efforts of a team of astronomers using NASA space telescopes. Many for-profit companies with no connection to NASA or astronomy may claim to offer similar services, but they are not being honest. You can easily distinguish them by their use of the phrase “Name a Star” or “Buy a Star” or “Register a Star”. As astronomers, we called our Nonprofit program “Adopt a Star” to avoid these misleading claims and to help educate the public about deceptive for-profit companies.
ABOUT US: We started this Nonprofit Adopt a Star program in 2008 to help raise research funds for the Kepler/TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium, a large international team of scientists. Our work is central to the science goals of NASA’s Kepler and TESS missions, but NASA is not allowed to fund international organizations—that’s why we need your support! NASA launched the Kepler space telescope in 2009. It targeted nearly 200,000 stars in the summer Milky Way, followed by 300,000 stars all around the sky. Some of the stars have planets, and some of those planets pass directly in front of their star. Our team determines the sizes and ages of these planetary systems by measuring the properties of their host stars. Kepler has stopped collecting new observations, but TESS launched in April 2018 to survey nearly the entire sky. We still have a lot of work to do!
NONPROFIT ALTERNATIVE: Some of the deceptive for-profit companies operate with “.org” domains, and even use the phrase “Adopt a Star” in their ads. However, our Nonprofit program is the only one doing charitable fundraising for science. Please, before you “Adopt a Star” as a gift, make sure it’s Nonprofit. Most of the services that you find online are for-profit companies masquerading as astronomy supporters. Don’t be fooled—support the search for Earth-like planets, adopt a star today!