An asteroid has been named after Freddie Mercury to mark what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday.

The Queen frontman who sang of ‘leaping through the sky’ like a shooting star in the hit Don’t Stop Me Now will have his name attached to Asteroid17473, which was discovered in 1991, the year of his death.

The honour was granted by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre, which has previously named asteroids after The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen.