Is there a system according to which newly discovered stars are given their name?
by 
wickedwillie
ANSWERS: 3
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The general rule for naming new discoveries in science is that he who discovers it gets to name it. However when you are talking about something as numerous as stars, I think that serious people have given up on trying to name them. You discover a new galaxy and you now have billions of stars to think up names for. The only people that I have heard of that are interested in name stars is the group that calls itself the National Star Registry. For a fee they will assign the name of your choice to a star that they pick out. Then they record this information in a book that is then submitted to the copyright office. It's one of the biggest legal scams there is. The scientist pay absolutely no attention to it and I don't know that there is anything to stop someone else from coming along and assigning a different name to the same star. There is definitely no reason why someone else in another country couldn't come along and do so.
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Stars are often called by their designations in various star catalogs. There are many such catalogs, so most stars have several different designations. Some designations are based on brightness, some on position, some on order of discovery, or other criteria. The International Astronomical Union is the body that is generally recognized by the scientific community as controlling the naming of all celestial bodies and the features on them. They have very specific rules for naming various objects such as stars, planets, moons, craters, etc. From the IAU website (http://www.iau.org/IAU/FAQ/starnames.html): "A few bright stars have ancient, traditional Arabic names, but otherwise stars have just catalogue numbers and positions on the sky." "The IAU frequently receives requests from individuals who want to buy star names or name stars after other persons. Some commercial enterprises purport to offer such services for a fee. However, such "names" have no formal or official validity whatever"
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Most stars you can see are named for the constellation they are in and the greek letter that corresponds to their rank in brightness in that constellation. Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in Centaurus, for example. Some stars, mostly very bright ones, are known by traditional names. Alpha Centauri is also known as Rigel Kentaurus. There is also Sirius, Betelgiuse, Polaris, and many others. Newly discovered stars are usually too faint to be seen with the eye (otherwise they wouldn't be newly discovered) and are given boring classifications like SO025300.5+165258.
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