Science: Stellar Idea or Cosmic Scam?

A star by any other name is not so sweet to astronomers

Television's Johnny Carson has one. So does Actor Richard Burton. Pop Singers Barry Manilow and Engelbert Humperdinck have two apiece. The Queen Mother got one as an 80th-birthday gift. Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales, received a pair when they were married. What do these luminaries have in common? Along with thousands of lesser mortals, each has had his or her name appended to at least one star—of the heavenly kind—in what seems to be the most far-out fad since...

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