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A Star Certificate was a dedication available to purchase from the Star Registration Board on Earth which allowed the buyer to name a star whatever they wanted. Alan Budd’s purchase of a certificate naming a star after his then-girlfriend Belinda Chandra led to the naming of Miss Belinda Chandra and the planet Missbelindachandra One after the certificate was brought there thousands of years before it was bought.
Star Certificates were printed on mostly-orange paper, with green and blue highlights and a central compass insignia. “Star Certificate” was written across the top of the certificate, above the compass. Below the compass, in the green section of the certificate, was the name given to the star the certificate had been issued for, beneath “THIS STAR HAS BEEN NAMED”. The star’s astronomical information, including its constellation, declination and right ascension, and visibility on the date it was dedicated, was listed in the lower left corner. To the right of the astronomical information were two cream-coloured boxes including the name of the person who had dedicated the star’s name and the date of dedication. (Star Certificate)
HISTORY
In 2008, Alan Budd’s purchased a certificate naming a star in Orion “Miss Belinda Chandra” after his then-girlfriend, Belinda Chandra, for her birthday. Belinda was weirded out by Alan having used “Miss”, but kept the certificate even though she broke up with Alan shortly thereafter. (The Robot Revolution), Star Certificate)
On 24 May 2025, Belinda was abducted from her home in London by robots from the planet Missbelindachandra One, which orbited the star named for her, on the basis that as the star’s namesake she was also the planet’s queen. They took the certificate with them, with a corner torn off when the certificate was removed from its frame.
The Fifteenth Doctor, investigating as he sought to rescue Belinda, discovered that the robots and their AI Generator had in their possession the same certificate, which had been sent three thousand years into the past – the certificate had the same corner damage. He suspected the effects of the same item existing twice in the same time zone could explain a time fracture which had caused Belinda to skip over six months of time while she was being transported to Missbelindachandra One.
When Belinda and the Doctor discovered the “AI Generator” was in fact Alan Budd, who had in his possession the future version of the certificate, The Doctor slipped Belinda the past version of the certificate, which Belinda used to defeat Alan by touching the past and future certificates together. The Doctor used his Time Lord nature to save Belinda from the blowback.
The Doctor then took Belinda’s certificate and stored it for safekeeping in the TARDIS, hoping to determine how the certificate had arrived on Missbelindachandra One in the past.
Later, when The Doctor attempted to return Belinda to Earth, the TARDIS was unable to land on 24 May due to an unknown interference. As the ship dematerialised, Belinda’s Star Certificate – having been re-framed with the torn-off corner – was seen drifting in orbit alongside debris from Earth, including a black taxi, a pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and a calendar for May 2025. (The Robot Revolution)