Yesterday, your news feed and social media profiles were probably flooded with references to Freddie Mercury. If you’re wondering why, it’s because it marked the 70th anniversary of his birth. We lost him far too soon, but his legacy remains untouched. Now, his name will join the stars, though technically it’s an asteroid. The International Astronomical Union has decided that asteroid 17473 will now be officially known as “17473 Freddiemercury”.
There’s a line in ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ that goes: “I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity.” Translations never do justice to that gem, but every word came from Freddie’s hand, mind, and heart. It even leans a bit sci-fi, which we don’t mind at all. Yesterday marked 70 years since Freddie Mercury’s birth. The cold, logical history books will tell you that Farrokh Bulsara came into the world on September 5, 1946, in what was then the Sultanate of Zanzibar, now Tanzania. But to us, he will always be Freddie Mercury—talented, eccentric, extravagant, dynamic… and now the owner of an asteroid.
That’s right: Brian May himself announced via Queen’s official channel and his personal YouTube channel that the International Astronomical Union decided to change the designation of asteroid 17473 so it will be known around the globe as “17473 Freddiemercury”. The asteroid itself is about 3.4 kilometers in diameter and was discovered on March 21, 1991, by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne at the La Silla Observatory. 17473 Freddiemercury is part of the asteroid belt, and its current elliptical orbit—traveling at about 20 kilometers per second—doesn’t allow it to come closer than 350 million kilometers to Earth. Its surface reflects only 30 percent of the light it receives, so it can only be seen as a point of light, but now it’s a very special point of light, as Brian put it in the video.
From a technical standpoint, Freddie Mercury is the second member of Queen to be honored with an asteroid, as we also have “52665 Brianmay”, an asteroid first observed in January 1998. Of course, fans of Freddie and Queen were quick to remind everyone that he already owns a planet, regardless of what a certain Roman god might think or say.
Source: Rolling Stone
