Explore Space Together
All Name A Star Live gift sets include a letter-size Star Certificate that displays the name of your star, what the star is named in honor of (such as a graduation, an anniversary, love, Christmas, Valentine’s Day), the star’s registration date, a personal message you write for your gift recipient, and the astronomical coordinates of your star. Continue reading “The Info on Your Star Certificate”
1. Visit the My Sky section of the Name A Star Live website at mysky.nameastarlive.com/Account/LogOn
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3. You should automatically be taken to the “My Stars” section of the site. If not, click on either of the “My Stars” links in My Sky.
4. Now that you’re in “My Stars,” click on the “LAUNCH CERTIFICATE” link.
5. A popup box will appear. Click on “Download Certificate” next to the mission of your choice, e.g., “Heritage Flight.” Note that only the mission name(s) that your star name flew on will be displayed. A letter-size PDF file will then download to your computer. For the best effect, we recommend printing this letter-size PDF document on glossy or photographic paper. You may print this document as many times as you wish.
Name A Star Live is the only star-naming service that launches your star’s name into space, and provides you a launch certificate after each launch occurs. We’re operated by Space Services, Inc. – a real aerospace company that has been launching payloads into space since 1982.
We’re often asked by our customers how, exactly, we launch the star names.
First, we launch more than just your star’s name: We launch all of the unique information from your Star Certificate, including the star’s name, what the star is named in honor of, the star’s registration date, the message you write for your gift recipient, the star’s astronomical coordinates and your order number. We save all of this information in our database of stars — our star register, or “archive of star names”: Your star will be assigned the name you give it, and will never be assigned any other name in our star register.
Second, for each mission we save our star database onto a data storage device. We then ship this device to the facility where the rocket is assembled. Technicians integrate the device into the rocket as a “secondary payload” — we ‘piggyback’ on rockets that carry scientific or communications “primary payloads” into space. The technicians must integrate the device into the rocket weeks, or even months before liftoff. So there necessarily is a delay between the time you name your star and the time your star name and other related information are launched.
Please note that our spacecraft and missions are carefully designed so as not to create space debris, and our data storage device is never released into space. For example, for our missions that fly in Earth orbit, our data storage device remains permanently attached to a rocket stage or a satellite that orbits Earth until the spacecraft harmlessly re-enters and is completely consumed by Earth’s atmosphere.
Scheduling a rocket launch is not like booking a flight on an airplane. While airline flights may be delayed a few minutes or hours due to weather or other reasons, normally your airplane flight will take off from your airport at least on the same day your flight is scheduled for departure. In contrast, rocket launches often are delayed for days, weeks, months or even years due to a variety of technical or other reasons inherent in spaceflight. You can find information about our upcoming missions by visiting our online launch schedule.
Third, depending on the mission, your star name will:
In most cases you can attend each launch in person! Our parent company, Space Services, Inc., has had payloads launched from locations around the world, including: Kennedy Space Center, Florida; Cape Canaveral, Florida; Spaceport America, New Mexico; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; New Zealand; the Canary Islands; and the Marshall Islands. But if you can’t join us for the launch, you can usually view the launch live via webcast.
No matter the mission, after each liftoff you can download a letter-size, Digital Launch Certificate confirming that your star name flew in space. This is provided to you via the Internet: You can even order a Printed or Framed Launch Certificate. This certificate displays your star’s name and astronomical coordinates, as well as information about the launch.
Launching your star’s name and other details into space is part of what sets Name A Star Live apart from other star-naming companies: Through our launches, we make the symbolic gesture of naming a star a real and exciting experience!
Naming stars for our mothers is popular today. In fact, many objects in the night sky have been named after mothers for thousands of years. And now mothers fly among the stars as astronauts!
The Name A Star Live constellations Andromeda and Cassiopeia are named after two beautiful mothers from classical mythology. Cassiopeia, the Queen of the Ethiopians and the mother of Andromeda, was a prideful woman who boasted that she was more beautiful than the female attendants to Poseidon, the god of the sea. For this transgression Poseidon punished Cassiopeia by sending a sea monster to attack Cassiopeia’s country and to kill Andromeda. But Andromeda was saved and would later have seven children of her own. Now both mothers travel together in the heavens above as the constellations we know them by today.
As you’re thinking about what to get your mother for Mother’s Day, you might be interested in some of the Mother’s Day messages Name A Star Live customers have included on their Star Certificates. Below are some of the best messages we’ve received. Of course, we’ve changed the names in the messages to protect the privacy of our customers. We hope these examples will give you some ideas about what to write for your mom.
Have a happy Mother’s Day!
Name a star for your mother this Mother’s Day!
As you’re thinking about what to get your significant other for Valentine’s Day, you might be interested in some of the Valentine’s Day messages Name A Star Live customers have included on their Star Certificates. Below are some of the best messages we’ve received so far. Of course, we’ve changed the names in the messages to protect the privacy of our customers. We hope these examples will give you some ideas about what to write for your loved one. Have a happy Valentine’s Day! Continue reading “Top Ten Valentine’s Day Messages”
The central region of the Milky Way appears in the middle of the heart, as the plane of our galaxy stretches across the image. The stars of the constellation of Corona Australis (The Southern Crown) form a glittering arc of jewels at the top of the heart’s left lobe. The diffuse glow to the left of the heart’s lowest point is zodiacal light, caused by the scattering of light from the Sun by dust particles in the Solar System.
On the far right horizon, the 8.2-metre telescopes of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility stand out in silhouette atop Cerro Paranal. The lights of a car driving down from the observatory platform can be seen just to the left of the telescopes.
Julien Girard is an ESO astronomer based in Chile, who works at the Ver Large Telescope (VLT). He is the instrument scientist for the NACO adaptive optics instrument on the VLT’s Unit Telescope 4. He submitted this photograph to the Your ESO Pictures Flickr group, from where it was picked out as an ESO Picture of the Week.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: B. Whitmore ( Space Telescope Science Institute) and James Long (ESA/Hubble).
Colliding galaxies make love, not war
This Hubble Space Telescope image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. As the two galaxies smash together, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. The brightest and most compact of these are called super star clusters.
This picture of a heart-shaped pit on Mars was taken on February 26, 2008 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and is centered near Mars’ equator. The pit is one of many adjacent to Hydaspis Chaos, a jumbled topographic depression thought to have formed by collapse of the surface due to—perhaps—catastrophic release of groundwater.
Just in time for its Valentine’s Day 2000 date with 433 Eros, the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft snapped this photo during its approach to the 21-mile (34 kilometer)-long space rock. Taken Feb. 11, 2000 from 1,609 miles (2,590 kilometers) away, the picture reveals a heart-shaped depression about 3 miles (5 kilometers) long. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory – which manages the NASA mission – processed the image on Feb. 12, 2000.
October’s the month for Halloween, and Name A Star Live can help you get in the mood for trick-or-treating! Here are some spooky sights and sounds from outer space.
First, let’s set the scene with some scary space sounds! Before scrolling down this webpage any further, turn up your speakers or headphones, and start this video of some eerie sounds from Saturn:
Let’s start with a witch who resides just outside the Name A Star Live constellation Orion:
As frightening as this witch may be, no need to fear: She’s about 800 light-years away, and so won’t be casting any spells on us for a long time to come! She’s actually a giant collection of dust particles that is reflecting light off of a star named “Rigel” in Orion.
I ain’t afraid of no ghosts — especially when they’re 1,200 light-years away! This phantom of the night haunts the constellation Cepheus, which borders the Name A Star Live constellations Cassiopeia and Cygnus.
This ghost is located a little closer to Earth, at 380 light-years away in the Name A Star Live constellation Taurus. It’s part of the Pleiades star cluster (a.k.a. “The Seven Sisters”), which many people confuse with the Little Dipper. Let’s hope this ghost doesn’t get any closer to Earth!
The Ghost Head Nebula, or NGC 2080, is a star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy visible from the southern hemisphere of Earth. The nebula spans about 50 light-years across.
What’s Halloween without spiders? The Black Widow Nebula hangs in her web in the southern hemisphere constellation Circinus. But arachnophobes have no fear! This spider from the depths of space is actually a stellar nursery. In this Spitzer Space Telescope image, the two opposing bubbles are being formed in opposite directions by the powerful outflows from massive groups of forming stars. The baby stars can be seen as specks of yellow where the two bubbles overlap. So upon seeing the Black Widow nebula, instead of screaming shouts of terror, we should say, “Aw, how cute!”
Much closer to home than any of the nebulae presented above, Mimas — a moon of Saturn — appears ready to blast Earth out of existence! We better keep a close eye on this scary menace!
Finally, we wish you a Happy Halloween with this solar image showing active regions on the Sun that combined to look something like a jack-o-lantern’s face on October 8, 2014. This image blends together two sets of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to create a particularly Halloween-like appearance.
We hope you’ve enjoyed these spooky sights and sounds!
What has Saturn ever done to us?
No, there’s not an insurgency planning to take action against the planet Saturn! Rather, this month Saturn will be at what astronomers call “opposition,” which is a great time to observe the beautiful ringed planet. On June 27 (June 28 for those of you in Australia, Japan, China, India and other parts of the eastern hemisphere), Saturn will be at opposition, meaning Saturn will be on the opposite side of the sky from the sun: When the sun sets that evening in the west, Saturn will rise in the east. Really, all of June and into July is a great time to see Saturn. You can use the Moon to find Saturn (and Jupiter) in late June:
On June 27, look for Saturn immediately adjacent to the Moon.
For the best view, wait until at least two hours after sunset to look at Saturn through a telescope. (Before then, you’ll be looking at Saturn through the thicker layers of Earth’s atmosphere near the eastern horizon.) So get out your telescope and take a look at the beautiful ringed planet this summer!
Look for Jupiter too!
In addition to Saturn, you can see the giant planet Jupiter in the Name A Star Live constellation Libra this month. Viewed through a telescope, you may see up to four of Jupiter’s largest moons. And did you know that 11 Earth’s could fit across the width of Jupiter?
Jupiter viewed from the northern hemisphere…
Viewed from the southern hemisphere…
Our Moon Tweets let you know when the Moon is in a Name A Star Live constellation.
Did you know you can use the Moon to identify where your star’s constellation is in the night sky? Follow us on Twitter where we let you know when the Moon appears in a Name A Star constellation (area of the night sky).
Name A Star Live offers some really good tools to learn about the night sky and find your star’s constellation. Visit our website to learn about our Virtual Planetarium software and planisphere constellation finder!