A few months ago a lady called me on the telephone. She told me her
name and where she worked and then told me about her beloved poodle
which had just died the week before. I kept listening. Why was she
telling me this dog tale, I wondered?
"Can you help me find the star named after my dead poodle?" she finally
asked. "I have a framed certificate, a book and a chart."
"Stars are not named after poodles" I told her, a little sternly, but
with compassion, since her poodle had just died. "You bought a nice
piece of paper and a nice frame, but companies selling frames and
certificates have no right and no authority to name stars."
"Have you tried calling the company that sold you the frame and asked
them to show you your star?" I queried. She replied "No," rather glumly.
I told her how these companies rip off vulnerable people, naming stars
after children, beloved aunts and dead poodles. And then nice
astronomers had to break the bad news to these people that no star was
really named after their favorite animal, vegetable or boyfriend. And
this made them feel bad and made them think astronomers are unhelpful
and even mean. I told her there were even competing star seller
companies that sold the exact same star to different people. So the star
"Aunt Helen" could also be named after "Spike," I explained.
Well, she was a nice lady. Someone else had bought the star for her
poodle. I asked her for her email address so we could talk some more.
In the first note I sent to her, I offered her a deal. Read these
reports about these star scam companies, and promise me not to buy any
stars or recommend this rip-off to others. "Read and promise, then we'll
talk," I offered.
So I sent her some information like this:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,49345,00.html
http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/starnames/isr_news.html
And Ask Cecil: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_385.html
After she read the information, she called back, agreed to the terms and
I told her I'd do what I could to locate her star, but no promises. I
asked for any information she received. She sent me this from her star
chart: Monoceros RA6h24m54.29s D6 19'42.35"
So I booted up my computer and brought up SkyMap Pro 9. I found many
stars near the location, and none exactly at the coordinates she sent to
me. So I got the chance to tell her a little about precession and asked
if she knew what epoch her start chart coordinates were from. Of course
she had no idea. After some more correspondence, she mailed me the
"star chart" she received. And I had to chuckle... the chart showed a
huge 30 degree square swath of sky, including all of the constellation
Orion and plenty of Monoceros. A circle identified the dead poodle
"star." The circle, about 3 degrees in diameter showed three stars
brighter than magnitude 9, and dozens of fainter stars. The one that
matched her coordinates best was magnitude 9.63 Tycho 145-1922-1, at RA
06h 24m 59.5279s Dec. +06 19'.47.743".
She wanted to come to a star party right away to see her star. I invited
here to Lake Sonoma on the night I located it myself. I invited here to
Fremont Peak. I explained Monoceros won't be visible much longer. We
agreed to get together this coming Saturday night, April 5th on Mount
Tamalpais. I explained to her there were many lovely stars and
constellations named officially after dogs and that while I will be
happy to show her the area of Tycho 145-1922-1 I think she will be
happier to look at the celestial canines Canis Major, the great dog,
Canis Minor, the lesser dog. and even Canes Venatici, the hunting dogs
when she looks into the sky to remember her poodle.
Those constellations were truly named after dogs and her poodle would be
happier romping with them than with a bogus dog star which already has a
name: Tycho 145-1922-1.
Together we will view brilliant white Sirius, the real dog star in Canis
Major, mellow yellow Procyon in Canis Minor and regal Cor Caroli, in
Canes Venatici, the major dog stars in the canine corps of the sky. And
we'll take a look at mag 9.63 Tycho 145-1922-1 while we are in the area.
Although this is a true story, Happy April 1, everybody!
Woof Woof! Jane
-- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@No-Spam http://www.whiteoaks.com