Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
Yesterday would have marked Freddie Mercury’s 70th birthday – and what better way to celebrate the life of rock music's own cosmic force than a “shooting star leaping through the sky.”
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Queen guitarist Brian May announced by video that Freddie will have his own namesake asteroid through the International Astronomical Union (IAU), known as “Freddiemercury 17473.”
The asteroid was discovered in 1991 by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne, just around the time of Mercury’s untimely death on November 24, 1991. The asteroid can be found zipping at 20 kilometers (12 miles) per second in the asteroid belt of our Solar System between Mars and Jupiter. It’s estimated to be 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) across and only reflects around one-third of light that hits it
May explained in the video: "It's a dark object – like a cinder in space, as many asteroids are. From the Earth it shines at the 14th magnitude, which means you need a pretty decent telescope to see it."
"It's just a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light," he added.
As a proud holder of a PhD in astrophysics, May also has an asteroid named after him called asteroid 52665 Brianmay. Freddie has plenty of company in the club of famous personalities with asteroids named after them, including Frank Zappa, Bruce Springsteen, all six members of Monty Python, all four of the Beatles, David Bowie, and Douglas Adams.
You can catch a quick glimpse of this "rock star" in Brian May's video announcement below.
