Over the past few centuries, a small number of stars have been named after individual people. It is common in astronomy for objects to be given names, in accordance with accepted astronomical naming conventions. Most stars have not been given proper names, relying instead on alphanumeric designations in star catalogues. However, a few hundred had either long-standing traditional names (usually from the Arabic) or historic names from frequent usage.
In addition, many stars have catalogue designations that contain the name of their compiler or discoverer. This includes Gliese, Wolf, Ross, Bradley, Piazzi, Lacaille, Struve, Groombridge, Lalande, Krueger, Mayer, Weisse, Gould, Luyten and others. For example, Wolf 359 was discovered and catalogued by Max Wolf.
Various private organizations claim to name stars in honor of people in exchange for a fee, but these names are used only within their own publications, and are not recognized by the scientific community.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is widely recognized by scientists and governments as the world authority for names of astronomical bodies, and lays down strict standards for this naming.
In July 2014 the IAU launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to exoplanets and their host stars,[1] the outcome of which was announced in December 2015.[2] As a result, the IAU approved two star names after individuals:[3]
In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[4] which will catalog cultural and historical names for bright stars to help preserve astronomical world heritage, and maintain a catalog of IAU-approved unique proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016[5] set out its terms of reference and naming guidelines. All approved names are included on the current List of IAU-approved Star Names, last updated on 1 June 2018.[6] The WGSN rules generally discouraged the naming of stars after people, but confirmed the names Cervantes and Copernicus as well as four others:
Barnard's Star, the fourth-closest star to the solar system, named after the American astronomer E. E. Barnard who discovered it has the highest known proper motion of any star.
Sualocin and Rotanev for components of Alpha and Beta Delphini, two stars which appeared in the Palermo star catalogue of 1814. They were eventually identified as the reversed spelling of Nicolaus Venator, a Latinised version of Nicolò Cacciatore, assistant to the astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. It is not clear whether Piazzi intended to name the stars after his assistant, or if Cacciatore made the names up himself.
In 2019, the IAU held a second NameExoWorlds campaign to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IAU's founding.
Apart from the few formally approved by the IAU, and leaving aside commercial attempts, stars named after individuals fall broadly into two groups. The first group are those named openly for an individual connected with them in some way. The second, somewhat more obscurely, are those named after an individual but without explicitly making this clear.
There is a growing number of stars whose common names honour individuals. Many of these were highly significant in some way when discovered, usually through having some unusual characteristic. The best source to get these names is Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Volume 2 (Double Stars, Variable Stars, and Nonstellar Objects), in the chapter Glossary Of Selected Astronomical Names.
Abt's Star is SV Crateris (ADS 8115/ HD 98088/ β 600) in Crater. Named after Helmut Abt.[11]
Bessel's Star is 61 Cygni, for a short time the nearest star whose distance was accurately known (measured by Friedrich Bessel in 1838). Also called Piazzi's Flying Star, since Giuseppe Piazzi nominated it as a good candidate for distance measurements (parallaxes).
Hind's Crimson Star is R Leporis, a long-period variable star, named after the discoverer John Russell Hind. It is one of the reddest stars visible (a typical Cool Carbon Star, CCS).
Huruhata's Variable is the WZ Sagittae type dwarf nova EG Cancri.[37]
Huth's "moving star" of 1801-2, discovered and observed by Hofrath Huth at Frankfurt an der Oder. Huth's "moving star" appeared in the constellation Leo.[38][39]
Kepler's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1604 when first observed, after Johannes Kepler, who studied it extensively though he did not have priority of discovery.
Kurtz's Light Variable Star is HD 188136 in Octans.[11]
Kuwano's Object/Star has been used to refer to the nova-like object PU Vulpeculae.[11] The names "Kuwano's Object" and "Kuwano's Star" have also been used to refer to V1407 Aquilae and V4021 Sagittarii, respectively.[45] These are all named after Yoshiyuki Kuwano [ja].
Lamont's Star is a peculiar star near the nucleus of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31).[46]
Latham's planet is the small red dwarf star or massive brown dwarf HD 114762 b in Coma Berenices, unofficially named Latham's planet after its discoverer David Latham (1989).[47]
Olbers' Star is a peculiar star in Virgo (mentioned in the Deep-Sky Name Index 2000.0 by Hugh C. Maddocks) (Foxon-Maddocks Associates). Named after Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers.
Osawa's Star is V436 Cassiopeiae (HD 221568).[52][53] Named after Kiwoteru Osawa.
Plaskett's Star (also designated HR 2422) is one of the most massive binary stars known, with a total mass of about one hundred times that of the Sun. It is named after John Stanley Plaskett, the Canadian astronomer who discovered its binary nature in 1922.
The Sanduleak–Pesch Binary Star is a white dwarf binary in Hercules. Named after Sanduleak and Peter Pesch.[60]
The Sanduleak–Stephenson Star/Object is also known as Sanduleak-Stephenson 433, SS 433 in Aquila, a neutron star in radio source W50. Named after Sanduleak and Charles Bruce Stephenson.
Scholz's star is a late-M dwarf + T-type brown dwarf (M9.5 + T5) system, discovered in 2013 by Ralf-Dieter Scholz. It has large parallax, but relatively small proper motion, and it is known for its close flyby to the Sun about 70,000 years ago.
The Schweizer–Middleditch Star is a star near the center of SN 1006 in Centaurus. Named after Francois Schweizer and John Middleditch.[63]
Sneden's Star is a giant star, named after Chris Sneden. The star is known for its high-resolution spectroscopic observations.[64]
SN Refsdal is the first detected multiply-lensed supernova.
Stepanian's Star is LX Serpentis, a 14th magnitude flare star (?). Named after Jivan A. Stepanian.[65]
Sugano's Star is a variable star in Orion, either V369 or V1143 Orionis.[45]
Tycho's Star, name given to the supernova later designated SN 1572, after Tycho Brahe, though he did not have priority of discovery.
Van Biesbroeck's Star is VB 10, a very small, faint, red dwarf named after George Van Biesbroeck, who discovered it in 1944 – the smallest and faintest star then known.
Walborn's Star is the Wolf–Rayet star BAT99-6 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in Dorado. Named after Nolan R. Walborn.[11] It was found to be a binary between a slash star and an O-type main sequence star.[68]
Warren and Penfold's (WP) Star is the optical counterpart of X-3 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Named after P. R. Warren and J. E. Penfold.[69]
Weaver's Star is SS 38, the third discovered symbiotic star with a carbon star as the cool component. Named after Wm. Bruce Weaver who first identified it as a symbiotic star in 1972.[70]
Wild's Supernova is SN 1966j in NGC 3198 (in Ursa Major). Named after Paul Wild.[27]
Wischnjewsky's Supernova in Fornax A. Named after Marina Wischnjewsky.[71]
The Zealey–Lee Supernova in the nucleus of an anonymous galaxy in Grus. Named after W. Zealey and S. Lee.[11]
Some stars were given names that were disguised names of individuals, which names subsequently appeared in star catalogues and thus into more general usage.
The earliest noted example was Sualocin and Rotanev, which names have now been approved by the IAU WGSN (see above). More recently, during the Apollo program, it was common for astronauts to be trained in celestial navigation, and to use a list of naked-eye stars which to take bearings. As a practical joke, Gus Grissom gave names to three stars on this list, which were references to the three Apollo 1 crew:
The names stuck, perhaps in memoriam for their deaths in the Apollo 1 fire, and were used through the rest of the program. Unknown to Grissom, these stars already had traditional names; however, those were not generally used, allowing the three new names to make their way into other records. Today, they are generally considered disused—some sources listing them as "traditional".
It is possible, though unlikely, that further traditional names are in fact hidden names such as these, not yet identified; etymologies for many star names are not currently known.
As early as 1979, when the International Star Registry was formed, private companies have attempted to sell the right to unofficially name stars.[72] These companies have no legal standing to assign any star a name, and as such these names are never recognized by the astronomical or scientific communities. The IAU does not recognize this practice, and on its website describes it as "charlatanry".[73]
^Burleigh, M. R.; Heber, U.; O'Donoghue, D.; Barstow, M. A. (10 February 2000). "The Schweizer-Middleditch star revisited". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 356: 585. arXiv:astro-ph/0002236. Bibcode:2000A&A...356..585B.