Receive your star certificate by email within 30 minutes!

For just $10, the Pale Blue Dot project allows you to adopt a star from a non-profit organization and support scientific research on the stars that you actually adopt! Since 2009, NASA's Kepler space telescope has been searching for Earth-like planets around more than 150,000 distant Sun-like stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. When you adopt one of these stars through the Pale Blue Dot project, 100% of your donation supports the analysis that will allow astronomers to determine the physical size of the planets that are discovered, through the research efforts of the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC), a large international collaboration of scientists.


To adopt a star and support scientific research, follow the three steps below.

Step 1: Make a donation: Click one of the buttons below to make a $10 donation. You will receive an email from the Pale Blue Dot project within 15 minutes, and 100% of your donation will support scientific research. You can optionally complete the process in one step by also selecting a star number and filling in the "Designation" (e.g., Stephen Colbert, 5318008). For Google Wallet, fill in the designation before clicking the button. For Paypal, enter the designation after you login.

Step 2: Select a star: You can select any star that has not already been adopted. If you want the brightest star available, just check the box on the form below (skip to step 3). If you want two stars together or a star with a specific color, browse the stars using the Google Sky plugin (click on the green marker to see the star number). If you want the star to commemorate a special date, select by number in the text catalog (e.g., search for "021413" under "Star #").

Step 3: Adopt the star: Fill in the form below with: (1) the email address from your donation, (2) the name you want on the certificate, and (3) the KIC number of the star you want (or check the box for the brightest available). You will receive an email with your star certificate within 15 minutes. Your star adoption will be recorded in the text catalog and added to the placemark in Google Sky. If you adopt a star where a planet is found, you will be featured on a special section of our website.