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Freddie Mercury Lives On—As An Asteroid

In honor of what would have been the Queen frontman's 70th Birthday.

Asteroid 17473 has been renamed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (IAU) "Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury"—in honor of what would have been the singer's 70th Birthday.

The asteroid was discovered in 1991—the year of Mercury's death—Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May made the announcement in a video at the Freddie For A Day 70th birthday party held at Montreux Casino in aid of Mercury Phoenix Trust.

“Henceforth this object will be known as 'Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.' This announcement is to recognize Freddie’s outstanding influence in the world," said May. "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."

“Singer Freddie Mercury sang, ‘I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky’ — and now that is even more true than ever before," said research astronomer Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute, one of the men behind the tribute.

"Even if you can't see Freddiemercury leaping through the sky, you can be sure he's there - 'floating around in ecstasy', as he might sing, for millennia to come."

h/t: Mashable

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