Name a Galaxy
with Windowpane Observatory
Our name a galaxy packages include free telescope time at Windowpane Observatory, Extraterrestrial Planet Finder Kit, Hubble Space Telescope Slide Show, in addition to a framable certificate, star chart and personal letter from a real astronomer. Packages start at $20.
What do you get from the free name a galaxy web site? A database listing and computer-generated certificate that you print from your own computer.
NameYourGalaxy.com is the new galaxy naming home of Windowpane Observatory. In 1998 we began raising money for our observatory by allowing folks to name a galaxy. Similar to naming a wild dolphin or adopting a stretch of highway, the galaxy naming was a powerful fundraiser for our astronomical research facility and a compelling way for the observatory to educate the public.
Included in our name a galaxy package, which includes a galaxy certificate, full color star chart and scientific profile of the owner's galaxy, is a free visit to the observatory and 2 hours of viewing time at our 1/2 meter F4.5 telescope. The telescope is powerful enough to reveal the red spot of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the full color of the Orion nebula, the lanes of dark dust in the Andromeda galaxy, and the pale green color of the grave of an exploded star - the Ring Nebula.
The public broadly supported our efforts by naming galaxies for as little as a $20 donation. Galaxies could be registered on our web site www.wpo.net. In 2004, we experienced a sudden decline in galaxy registrations. At that time, a 'free' galaxy naming web site appeared on the web, owned and operated by a computer programmer who has nothing to do with astronomy, who is not a scientist or a researcher, and who does maintain or staff an astronomical observatory.
At that name a galaxy web site, folks could name a galaxy out of the galactic catalog and instantly see their name associated with the NGC number of the galaxy. Not only was no donation requested, the name a galaxy web site proprietor mocked and criticized the fees we charged. We ask, however, is his criticism valid? We offer more than $100 worth of materials and telescope time for only $20. Our competitor offered, for free, a computer-generated certificate that must be printed at one's own expense.
Our "fee" that he criticized is a donation towards the operation of our scientific facility and the cost of astronomical research that we conduct there. Unlike our competitor, we offer a free phone call with one of our astronomers, we answer astronomical questions by e-mail, and more importantly, we using the galaxy naming as a science teaching tool.
The "free" name a galaxy web site gives a person nothing but an automated program that publishes the information they type into a web page form. But, there's a catch. The free name a galaxy web site requires a person to supply a name and e-mail address, even though all that is ever emailed is a retrieval code that is unnecessary to the process. Why is this? One can suspect that the free name a galaxy web site is operated by a spammer who is collecting e-mail addresses and reselling them to a third party, who then sends out spam email about anything from vitamins to Viagra, investment scams to child porn.
The free name a galaxy web site operator claims that he has no intention to sell e-mail addresses. What is his intention, then? Why would he steal our name a galaxy concept and create a free galaxy naming web site? If he's not harvesting e-mail addresses for spammers, then perhaps he's just mean. Perhaps he's a creationist who doesn't believe in science or has some other nefarious agenda. Our telephone number is proudly published on our web site, but his is not. So it is impossible to call this guy and ask him what he is up to.
In any case, this is all to say that "you get what you pay for". And "there is no such thing as free lunch". If you are looking to name a galaxy and are also looking to learn about the cosmos, then give us a call directly on our astronomy hotline 505-463-8360. We are willing to bet that you will have a learning experience of astronomical proportions even before you choose to make a contribution to our scientific facility. There are no other name a star or name a galaxy companies that are actual scientific research facilities. Call us and in less than 5 minutes you will be convinced that you are getting real galaxies from real astronomers.
