Why name a star?
There are as many reasons for wanting to name a star as there are stars in the night sky! It's the sentiment that is represented by the gift, whatever its nature, which is important. Naming a star leaves a permanent personalised message in the most beautiful of settings, the night sky.
Name a star for a; baptism, birth, birthday, Christening, confirmation, communion, valentine, engagement, wedding, wedding anniversary, graduation, memorial, mother's / father's day, good luck / going away, thank you, retirement, Christmas, other holidays, star employee.. or any other reason!
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Why use Buy-a-Star.com?
Buy-a-Star.com offers a high quality and individually tailored product and service to our customers. The star naming service allows for the star to be chosen in any of the 12 Zodiac signs or 88 constellations or you can let us select one that's viewable on your occasion date. Adequate information is provided to enable you to identify which of the constellations are viewable from your location.
Our competitively priced gift packs contain everything needed to get the most from this special gift including a detailed Stars & Planets handbook which provides an essential guide to the night sky. Packed with easy-to-use charts and diagrams for accurate identification of all constellations, stars and planets. This 224 page book covers everything you need to know from fact to mythology.
Naming a star is a popular novelty gift. We believe that our products and individual service are second to none - the combination of quality, content, cost and personalisation (with online preview facility) unbeaten by any other UK star naming service. We equally believe in providing all potential customers with all the information needed to make an informed choice on whether the service is right for them.
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What's in a Name a Star gift pack?
The following documents, only available in English language, are included in every "Name a Star Gift Pack" order:
- A welcome letter confirming the inclusion of the star in our Online Star Register.
- Two attractive, foiled Gift Certificates (A4) suitable for framing and personalised with;
- The stars coordinates, magnitude (brightness) and constellation
- Your chosen star name
- The name of the individuals gifting / receiving the gift
- The occasion and date eg anniversary
- Tribute / Personal message
- Signed and sealed by Universal-Gifts.com (our parent company)
- A high quality card presentation cover which compliments the gift certificate.
- Two A4 star maps. The first of the constellation highlighting the region where your star is located and the second a "telescope view" close up.
- A comprehensive 224 page handbook - "Stars and Planets"* which contains; detailed star maps of both the Southern and Northern hemispheres, bimonthly sky charts which can be used from any location and an alphabetical guide to all 88 constellations each with a small map, details of its main features and mythology. In addition the book provides a strong knowledge base of our solar system, the universe and amateur astronomy.
(* © Dorling Kindersley Ltd.)
- (Deluxe Gift Packs) A 11½" Planisphere for latitude 51.5°N. This is suitable for use in UK, Ireland, Northern Europe, Northern USA & Canada.
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How much does it cost?
The current cost of our STANDARD delivery gift packs:
| Gift Pack/Delivery To: |
UK & Channel Islands |
Europe |
Rest of World |
| Standard Gift Pack with Book |
£29.95
+ £4 p&p |
£29.95
+ £10 p&p |
£29.95
+ £12 p&p |
| Deluxe Gift Pack with Book + Planisphere |
£39.95
+ £4 p&p |
£39.95
+ £10 p&p |
£39.95
+ £12 p&p |
The current cost of our EXPRESS delivery gift packs:
| Gift Pack/Delivery To: |
UK & Channel Islands |
Europe |
Rest of World |
| Standard Gift Pack with Book (Express) |
£34.95
+ £4 p&p |
£34.95
+ £10 p&p |
£34.95
+ £12 p&p |
| Deluxe Gift Pack with Book + Planisphere (Express) |
£44.95
+ £4 p&p |
£44.95
+ £10 p&p |
£44.95
+ £12 p&p |
Other gift pack options, including p&p:
| Gift Pack Option |
UK & Channel Islands |
Europe |
Rest of World |
| Extra Certificate (each) |
£3.00 |
£3.00 |
£3.00 |
| Extra Set of Certificates, Star Maps & Certificate Cover |
£10.00 |
£10.00 |
£10.00 |
How much is this in my currency?
We believe that our competitive pricing structure provides excellent value for money given the level of personalisation of each order and the quality of the gift pack and it's contents.
All prices on this site are quoted in pounds sterling. Payments must be made in pounds sterling (credit cards sales will be charged in your local billing currency by your credit card provider).
Customers shipping gift packs to addresses outside the European Union (EU) should note that many countries levy import tax / customs duties on imported goods which are payable by the recipient. We accept no liability for any such charges.
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How can I place an order? / Is the order system secure?
Online card payments are carried out on our behalf by WorldPay, one of the UK's most popular, secure and established payment gateway. Worldpay's pages offer the highest level of security and encryption. Users should be reassured by the internet standard padlock symbol which will be displayed whilst you are entering your card details. We do not hold or see your card details as these are processed directly by Worldpay. We also accept payments through the Paypal payment system.
Payment can also be made by cheque, bank credit/transfer or by sending us your card details. Full details are available on our Mail Order Page. Details of your order are processed online but instead of selecting to pay online by card you either send a cheque, pay into our bank account or send us your card details by fax or post. If you are paying by cheque you should send us a cheque for the full order value. The cheque, payable to "Universal-Gifts.com", should be in UK£ and drawn on a UK banking institution. Orders are dispatched on clearance of the cheque. A copy of your order email should be sent with the cheque payment.
Orders can be submitted online or by mail order. For very large orders, a list of the name(s)/certificate wording(s) can be submitted in hard copy or on disk in .txt or .doc format. We do not offer account facilities for either corporate or personal customers.
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How long do I need to allow for delivery?
Orders are individually prepared, processed and despatched as quickly as possible. We will always aim to accommodate urgent orders where the dates have been highlighted and agreed at the time of placing the order using our Urgent Order Page.
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Delivery Type
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Standard
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Express
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Despatched
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Within 5 working days of receiving full cleared payment
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Within 1 working day of receiving full cleared payment
UK ONLY: we can usually help with really urgent orders (24-48hrs) but these must be agreed with us first using the Urgent Order contact form.
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Delivery Method
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1st Class / Recorded (UK & CI) or Airmail / International Signed for Service
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Special Delivery (UK & CI) or Airmail / International Signed for Service
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Delivery Timescale
(excluding day item posted and counting only working days)
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2 Days (UK & CI)
3 Days (Western Europe)
4 Days (Eastern Europe)
5 Days (Rest of World)
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Next Day (UK & CI *)
3 Days (Western Europe)
4 Days (Eastern Europe)
5 Days (Rest of World)
* Except following postcodes:
2 Days: GY1 Herm, GY9 Sark, HS2 Lewis, PA61 Colonsay, PA62-75 Mull, PA78 Coll & ZE2-3 Shetlands.
3 Days: KW16-17 Orkney, PH30 Corrour, PH41 Mallaig, PH42 Eigg & Muck, PH43-44 Isle of Rum & Canna
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Notes
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1. Despatch timescales are guaranteed but can be varied by prior notice on our main site.
2. Delivery timescales are NOT guaranteed as this depends on the local postal service. UK express timescales quoted are based on Royal Mail's Guaranteed Special Delivery service.
3. If you require delivery on a specific date (UK, Mon-Fri deliveries only) you must use the express delivery option and specifically request the delivery date required when completing contact/delivery instructions. Gift packs are otherwise despatched as soon as they have been prepared.
4. We may restrict shipping countries, postal carrier/service at our discretion.
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Please note that at certain times of the year, such as Christmas, we will highlight "last order" deadline dates for the occasion and may restrict such orders to a particular service ie Standard or Express.
Our preferred carrier is Royal Mail. Royal Mail's UK delivery times are generally between 7:30am and 5:30pm. All orders sent require a signature on delivery. Gift packs should therefore be sent to an address where someone is available to sign - for example place of work. We do not ship to PO BOX addresses. If nobody is available Royal Mail will leave a card detailing how you can collect the package. International orders will have their national carriers equivalient process.
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What is Buy-a-Star's returns policy?
We will replace free of charge any goods damaged in transit where the postal receipt has been endorsed as "damaged" - see damaged/lost in transit notes below. Packs are carefully packaged so this should be a rare occurrence. Incorrectly printed documents will similarly be replaced free of charge if it was our error and on a case by case basis if it was not. All claims must be submitted within 28 days of the despatch date.
You may return the gift pack, in its original condition and packaging and at your own expense, for a refund for any reason within 28 days of the gift pack despatch date. This exceeds your statutory rights under current UK Distance Selling Regulations for personalised goods.
We will deduct an administration charge of £6.00 plus the postage costs we have incurred for each individual gift pack returned, to cover the cost of items personalised to your instructions. In addition, if you benefitted from a discount when you placed your order, we will recalculate the discount based on your order less returns and deduct the difference from the refund payable. Please note that refunds will normally be made using the same method as the original payment. (i.e.: a credit card purchase will be refunded through your credit card account).
Any gift pack which is returned by Royal Mail will, at our discretion, be treated as a refund request unless re-delivery arrangements have been agreed (delivery charges may apply).
Please note that we are unable to replace or offer refunds for gift packs which have been misdirected (and not returned) using your delivery instructions or goods that are received damaged and you do not sign for it as "Damaged package" or similar where the carrier subsequently declines to compensate Universal-Gifts.com.
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Why hasn't my order been processed?
We reserve the right to decline your order if any of the following apply:
- We have insufficient stock to deliver the goods ordered
- A pricing or product description error has been identified
- We are unable to deliver to the address specified
- The personalsed certificate text is threatening or offensive
- Your payment has not been authorised, received or cleared
- We have reasonable grounds to suspect the transaction is not genuine.
If your order is cancelled by us, we will notify you by email. We will not be liable for compensation of any kind in this instance.
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How do I request a gift pack amendment?
Please use our contact us page if you need to change your order. The procedure differs depending on whether:
- The gift pack has been despatched/delivered
- The amendment is required because you have submitted incorrect details or you believe we have made an error during order preparation (these are rare!)
We will amend all gift packs free of charge if we are notified of the change prior to despatch. Gift packs are despatched promptly so any change required should be notified as quickly as possible. We will also replace free of charge any incorrectly printed documents where we have made an error - all claims must be submitted within 28 days of the despatch date. If an amendment is requested after despatch and no error was made by us a £10 fee will be charged. The fee reflects the administration time amendments take.
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What internet browsers work with your site?
Our site has been designed and tested to operate with Microsoft's Internet Explorer v4+ or Netscape's Browsers v4+.
Our site, like many other online shopping sites, uses cookies (small text files) to store the contents of your shopping basket until you checkout and pay for your order. Cookies are deleted on completion of your order.
Online payment is the easiest method of paying for your gift(s) and will work perfectly in 99% of cases. Please be patient when submitting your order if you are paying online. It can take a few moments for the secure payment screens to load if internet traffic is heavy. If you have placed your order but were unable to complete card payment details hit this link!.
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Can I buy / own a star?
It is not possible to transfer ownership of a stellar object as nobody (or everybody, depending on your personal views) has ownership. A star is essentially a boiling ball of gas trillions of miles away so ownership isn't perhaps a viable option anyway!
Naming a star, a beautiful, romantic object, is therefore a novelty gift idea which does not confer or imply legal ownership / title.
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Will my star name be officially recognized?
Our gift packs are designed to allow you to convey your thoughts and feelings to the recipient and are therefore of sentimental rather than scientific value. The star named will, most importantly, be forever associated by those giving and receiving the gift with the special message or occasion for which the gift was chosen.
Official names for celestial objects are assigned by the International Astronomical Union. The I.A.U. does not offer a star naming service. Astronomers will always use the star's catalogue number or co-ordinates. All registers which refer to and list stars by an adopted name, though perfectly valid, are not recognised by the I.A.U.
Some astronomers disagree with "name a star" services even though they are a popular gift idea and arguably increase awareness of astronomy. We believe in providing you with all the information to make your own decision. Remember that nobody has any greater claim on the stars than you.
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Will my star be unique to me?
There are millions of stars in the night sky so we can reassure you that each star is named only once in our register. The stars are catalogued in numerous scientific registers each having a unique way of referencing individual stars. For example one star in the constellation Cetus is known in the Tycho Star Catalog as TYC 5857-1466-1 and HP 8347, HD 10998, BD 21 0300, PPM 244310 and SAO 167298 in others!! Similarly there are a number of non-scientific registers of star names, chosen by individuals, which are produced independently of each other. It is therefore possible, even though there are millions of stars, that a star in our register could be referred to by another name / reference in another company's register.
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Will I be able to see my named star?
Star brightness (and thereby visibility) is graded in terms of magnitude. The smaller the magnitude, the brighter the star. A 1st magnitude star is exactly 100 times brighter than a 6th magnitude star which are the faintest stars that can be seen with the naked eye, in good seeing conditions. Only a few thousand stars are visible with the naked eye and many of these already have names from antiquity.
Most of the stars allocated are outside naked eye visibility. We will, wherever possible, allocate 10th magnitude or brighter stars which should be viewable, in good seeing conditions, with a pair of modest (7x50) binoculars. In the most popular, mainly zodiacal, constellations, fainter stars may be allocated which would require more powerful binoculars or a telescope to view.
We highly recommend Microsoft's excellent, free, virtual WorldWide Telescope which brings together real imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world to enable you to explore the night sky. Using the virtual telescope's search feature and the accurate star coordinates provided in your gift pack, you will be able to view your named star from the comfort of your home! We are also able, in most cases, to obtain a digital image of the star named for you. These free services, available on the internet, are quite separate from our service.
Remember that not all constellations are physically viewable from every location and others are only viewable for part of the year. If you would like to ensure that the star to be named is viewable on the special occasion visit our Star Constellations Page or consider letting us select a star for you.
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Is it possible to obtain a photo of the star?
In most cases we would be able to obtain and email to you a digital image of your star for no extra charge. Please contact us via our Contact Us Page if you would like to request an image of your star. The images are provided by a third party, are subject to their copyright clauses and can only be used for your own personal enjoyment.
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Can I order additional copies of my gift pack?
Yes - an additional (or replacement) set of the certificates, star charts and presentation cover contained in the gift pack can be ordered for just £10.00 per set, inclusive of p&p. If you wish to add additional copies of the book or planisphere please contact us as the price, including p&p will depend on shipping address. Orders for additional/replacements sets of documents should be submitted here if you have already received your gift pack. If you have not yet ordered, additional sets can be added during the order process.
Please ensure you quote your Client Order Reference or the Star Catalogue Reference (starts TYC..) shown on your gift certificate, if the gift pack has already been delivered, to enable us to match your request to your original order!
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Can I view Buy-a-Star.com's register of stars online?
Our Online Register was launched in 2001. The details contained in the register are limited, to protect individual's privacy, to the star name chosen (optional), star catalogue number, star coordinates, constellation and a brief description of the special occasion. If you would like us NOT to show your chosen star name please email us with your order reference.
All new orders will be listed within days of the gift pack being issued but it will take a little longer to update the register with all the stars previously allocated. If your star is not yet listed please be patient - it will be shortly!
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General information on stars & constellations
Star brightness is graded in terms of magnitude. The smaller the magnitude, the brighter the star. A 1st magnitude star is exactly 100 times brighter than a 6th magnitude star. The faintest stars that can be seen with the naked eye, in good seeing conditions, are of 6th magnitude. Large telescopes can see stars fainter than 25th magnitude! Most of the stars allocated by Buy-a-Star.com will be 10th magnitude stars or brighter which should be viewable, in good seeing conditions, with a pair of 7x50 binoculars.
Most star names such as Polaris and Sirius arise from Arabic, Greek and Roman mythology however most stars are only known by their star catalogue numbers.
Constellations are groupings of stars which appeared to make patterns in the night sky - again associated with mythology eg Andromeda and Pegasus. In reality these stars are quite often trillions of miles apart and only appear together because they are in the same line of sight.
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