Brian May unveils asteroid named after Freddie Mercury to mark his 70th birthday

A 'shooting star leaping through the sky’ has been named after Freddie Mercury to mark what would have been his 70th birthday today (5th September).

Published 5th Sep 2016



The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre granted the honour having previously given the green light to asteroids named after Bruce Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney.

Asteroid17473 was first discovered in 1991, the year of Freddie’s untimely death, and sits in an asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Measuring about two miles across, it cannot be seen with the naked eye from earth.

Freddie’s Queen bandmate and astrophysicist Dr Brian May announced the asteroid’s name at a party at Montreux Casino in aid of Mercury Phoenix Trust in Geneva, Switzerland last night where over 1,250 people had gathered to celebrate Freddie’s birthday.

Brian said: “I’m happy to be able to announce that the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center has today designated Asteroid 17473, discovered 1991, in Freddie’s name, timed to honour his 70th Birthday. Henceforth this object will be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury. Published in the September 4th announcements of the Minor Planet Center, operating out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), this announcement is to recognise Freddie’s outstanding influence in the world.

“I’m grateful to my dear friend Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute (active in the recent groundbreaking NASA Pluto mission and ESA’s Rosetta mission), for working on this idea, and making this happen.

“Where is Freddie’s Asteroid ? It’s in the main Asteroid Belt, out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is about 3 and a half km across. It has an albedo of about 0.3 – which means it only reflects about 30 per cent of the light that falls on it; like many asteroids, 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 … and that’s why it wasn’t discovered until 1991.

“We have a nice certificate of ‘adoption’ issued by the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center, which says:

“This name is in honour of Freddie Mercury, with the following citation:

‘Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara, 1946-1991) was a British songwriter, and the lead singer for the legendary rock group Queen. His distinctive sound and large vocal range were hallmarks of his performance style, and he is regarded as one of the greatest rock singers of all time.’

“Thanks to Marc Buie who provided the contact to the observer, and Brian Skiff from Lowell Observatory.

“Special thanks to Gareth Williams at the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center.

“And so - for its first appearance in public … Asteroid Freddiemercury !

“Happy Birthday Freddie !

“Bri”

PHOTO GALLERY: Freddie Mercury, a life in pictures