Why Name a Star?
Why name a star? And what is the scientific community’s position on star naming? Scientists, astronomers and planetarium directors are united in denouncing star naming as scientifically immaterial. Space.com reports that one’s money can be better spent on a science or an astronomy book than on a novelty gift, yet planetariums and other science-based non-profits have initiated star naming services because they are so popular with the public.
Why do star naming services have such popularity? There are two fundamental reasons:
1. The least self-evident reason is that for every person who might discovered an article about astronomy in the paper, a thousand have checked on their astrology for the day. As a matter of fact, most laymen mix up astrologers and astronomers and make no distinction between them. Why? Because astrology discusses a humans personalized relationship with the heavens. Why is that so prodigious? The concept that what happens in the stars acts upon a person’s private life has been a component of our culture from the outset. Johannes Kepler, who verified once and for all that the planets orbit around the Sun instead of the Earth, gained his living drawing horoscopes for the monarchs of Europe. So while astronomy was superseding astrology, astrology was still viewed a very prestigious profession. It wasnt until Isaac Newton started to describe the way planets, moons, and stars affect each other in outer space through his laws of physics did Western Civilization begin to regard the stars as anything else besides foreshadowing of their individual fate.
2. The concept that stars hold a personal association with people began with the Greek opinion that the whole universe orbits around the Earth. If it were true that the stars orbits about the Earth, then what takes place in that universe, so one might believe, certainly must affect me. This is why astrology to this day causes such a prodigious impact on the populace, especially when it ventures to foreshadow the future.
If you want to name a star (or a galaxy), find out more at Windowpane Observatory.
