The International Star Registry is a private for profit company that for a fee will name a star what ever you choose to name it.
No. The only body with recognized authority to name astronomical objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU for short). The IAU has a naming committee in charge of setting designations for astronomical objects.
And the name will be copyrighted. What this company does is they publish a book with all the star names and copyright the book.
As far as I know, the International Star Registry does not provide any false information about what they are doing. However as a private citizen with some imagination you could name a star in the same way and achieve the same results without any expense. (See below to learn how to do this)
I know of a few not-for-profit organizations that help promote the International Star Registry and in exchange share the profits from any sales that they might bring to the ISR. So you could support a cause you believe in by making a purchase from the ISR .
Locating the star you have purchased can in some instances be difficult. The Right Ascension and Declination coordinates (like longitude and latitude on the sky) are quoted to a level of accuracy that may make it difficult to locate your star using the coordinates alone. The coordinates will get you in the right part of the sky but if there are a lot of other stars near by (a crowded field) you will need to use the sky chart they provide to tell which star of many it is.
This makes it difficult to take a picture of your star with a robotic telescope like the CWRU Nassau Station Robotic Telescope because it requires human interaction to do the final aiming of the telscope and get the correct star centered in the picture.
This page is here because as an astronomer who does public outreach, I get a lot of questions about the ISR. When we brought the CWRU Nassau Station Robotic Telescope online we got a lot of requests from people to take a picture of the star they had purchased from the ISR. It isn't possible under most circumstances to take a picture of your star with the NSRT for the reason I cited above. I don't like making people feel bad about their purchase but I want to give people an honest answer about the ISR. I appologize to anyone who may be hurt to find out something that they didn't suspect.
If there is another company you have encountered that is selling stars in a similar fashion e-mail me. I'd like to keep up to date on what is out there.
There is no way to get a star or other astronomical object named after someone unless you happen to discover a new asteroid, in which case you can name it (but that's a real long shot for a amateur in the backyard). Assuming that the importance of naming a star is the shared sentiment between the giver and the receiver and not the officallity of the name, there is a simple way you can name a star for free.
Just go outside on a clear night, pick a constellation you are familiar with, and pick a bright star in the constellation. Now name that star what ever you want and share that with a friend. To you and yours that star will have that name.
Voila! You didn't spend a dime. You can see the star without the aid of a telescope which makes it much better for sharing with a loved one. And you get to pick out the star.
For about the same amount of money that the ISR charges to name a star, you can buy a loved one who is interested in Astronomy:
Good Luck and Clear Skies.
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