"Rockstar" Asteroid Named After Freddie Mercury

By Jess F. - 06 Sep '16 09:23AM

Space rocks are often named after scientists or its discoverer but in celebration of Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday, a "rockstar" asteroid will be named after him and it will be called 'Freddiemercury."

The 3.5-kilometer wide asteroid known only by the name 17473 will now be called Freddiemercury, according to guitarist Brian May. The asteroid can be found on the other side of Mars half a billion kilometers away and is mainly composed of black rubble. Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne discovered the asteroid in 1991.

The Queen lead singer was given a "cosmic boost" last Sunday when the band's guitarist and astrophysicists Brian May announced that an asteroid would be named after the lead singer in honor of his 70th birthday.

The International Astronomical Union confirmed that one of the darkest asteroids in the Solar System would now be known as "Freddiemercury." The milestone was revealed by May during the "Freddie for a Day" party at the Montreux Casino on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, according to the Telegraph. The venue is near the Queen's old studio where the band recorded some of their most famous songs including Under Pressure and Who Wants to Live Forever.

The asteroid orbits the Sun at 20 kilometers per second and its elliptical orbit is always more than 350 million kilometers from Earth. An asteroid this distant from the planet poses no danger of impact to Earth.

"This is to recognize Freddie's outstanding influence in the world," Brian May, Queen's guitarist and astrophysicist said in a statement. "It's a dark object -- rather like a cinder in space. Viewed from the Earth it is more than 10,000 times fainter than you can see by eye, so you need a fair-sized telescope to see it," May added.

The International Astronomical Union attributed the decision to name an asteroid after singer Freddie Mercury to the singer's "distinctive sound" and his amazingly "large vocal range". These attributes are considered a benchmark in naming him one of the legendary rockstars on Earth.