To mark what would have been Freddie Mercury‘s 70th birthday, Queen guitarist and actual astrophysicist Brian May announced that an asteroid orbiting around Mars and Jupiter has been named after the singer.

“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 honor his 70th Birthday,” May said in a statement. “Henceforth this object will be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.”

Not content with the Queen singer sharing his last name with a planet, May teamed with the International Astronomical Union to reveal Mercury’s asteroid at a Montreux, Switzerland celebration for Mercury, who died in November 1991, roughly around the time Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne first discovered the asteroid.

As The Guardian notes, Freddiemercury swings around the sun at 20 kilometers per second at a slightly elliptical orbit that never comes closer than 350 million kilometers to Earth; because of its course, Freddiemercury promises to never threaten Earth with impact.

“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,” May continued. “It’s like a cinder in space as many of these asteroids are,” said May. “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 and maybe one day we’ll get there.”

May is also the recipient of his own Asteroid Brianmay.

Southwest Research Institute Joel Parker added, “Singer Freddie Mercury sang, ‘I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky’ – and now that is even more true than ever before… 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.”</s>Freddie Mercury has had an asteroid named after him to mark what would be his 70th birthday.

Asteroid 17473 - which was discovered in 1991, the same year that Mercury died - has been renamed Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury to honour the late Queen frontman.

It is in the main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and is around 3.5km across. When viewed from the Earth it is more than 10,000 times fainter than you can see by eye.

Brian May announced the news via a video message to a gathering of 1,250 fans at Montreux Casino in Switzerland for the Freddie For A Day 70th birthday party, and told fans that his bandmate would have been “happy” with the honour.

“Happy birthday Freddie,” he said. “Thank you all you folks who have come here to celebrate the FFAD and to honour Freddie in this way, keeping his memory alive. I’m sure he would be very happy to see all of this.”

The certificate was issued by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the Minor Planet Centre.

Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute said: "Freddie Mercury sang, 'I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky' - and now that is even more true than ever before.

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

The asteroid naming comes days after May unveiled an English Heritage blue plaque at Mercury’s childhood home in Feltham, west London.

Follow @StandardEnts and like us on Facebook for more entertainment news.</s>A shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger has been named after the man who sang those very lyrics.

Freddie Mercury would have celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday, and to mark the occasion a shooting star has been named after the Queen lead singer.

Guitarist Brian May revealed the asteroid, which is in Jupiter's orbit, has been named 'Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.'

Freddie Mercury was born on 5 Septemer in 1946. Mercury was only 45 when he died from bronchial pneumonia, a complication from his battle with AIDS. He wrote and performed hits including 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and 'We Are The Champions' with Queen, releasing over a dozen studio albums between 1973 and 1991.

The asteroid was discovered in 1991, the year Mercury died.

The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre, part of Harvard University in Boston, has officially designated the asteroid 'Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.'

May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, says the newly named asteroid was 'just a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light' and recognizes Mercury's musical and performing talents.'

Queen guitarist Brian May says an asteroid in Jupiter's orbit has been named after the band's late frontman Freddie Mercury (pictured) on what would have been his 70th birthday. May said the honour marked 'Freddie's outstanding influence in the world'

The asteroid was discovered in 1991, the year Mercury died. Asteroid names are governed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and published by the Minor Planet Center. When an asteroid is initially discovered it is given a ‘provisional designation’ until enough measurements have been made that its orbit is accurately determined. The asteroid in question was discovered in 1991 and was given the provisional designation ‘1991 FM3’. It has been observed and its position and orbit measured over 1,100 times, and it was given the number 17473. It is 2.2 miles (3.5km) across and has a low albedo, which means less than a third of the light that hits it is reflected.

In a video announcement that was first shown at the Freddie Mercury 70th Birthday Party in Montreux, Switzerland, May explained the reasons behind the decision.

May said the honour marked 'Freddie's outstanding influence in the world.

'And so - for its first appearance in public - Asteroid Freddiemercury - happy birthday Freddie!'

The asteroid is 2.2 miles (3.5km) across and has a low albedo, 0.3, which means less than a third of the light that hits it is reflected.

'It's like a cinder in the sky, which many of these objects are,' May said.

While issuing the certificate of designation, Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute said the asteroid was a celebration for a 'charismatic singer'.

'Freddie Mercury sang, "I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky" - and now that is even more true than ever before,' he said.

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

Earlier this week May unveiled an English Heritage blue plaque at the childhood home of his former bandmate.

Brian May also unveiled a British Heritage blue plaque at 22 Gladstone Avenue in Feltham, West London to honour Freddie Mercury earlier this week. Mercury died in 1991, but May said he could feel his presence when he revealed the memorial at the terraced house (pictured)</s>Brian May announces the news that an asteroid is to be named after his former Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury to mark the occasion of his 70th birthday on 5 September. Mercury died in 1991 at the age of 45 due to Aids complications, but remains a British rock icon. The asteroid is to be called ‘FreddieMercury 17473’ and was first discovered in the year of Mercury’s death</s>LONDON — Queen guitarist Brian May says an asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit has been named after the band’s late frontman Freddie Mercury on what would have been his 70th birthday.

May says the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre has designated an asteroid discovered in 1991, the year of Mercury’s death, as “Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.”

May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, says the newly named asteroid is “just a dot of light, but it’s a very special dot of light” and recognizes Mercury’s musical and performing talents.

Mercury, born Sept. 5, 1946, wrote and performed hits including “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are The Champions” with Queen, releasing over a dozen studio albums between 1973 and 1991.</s>An asteroid, originally discovered in 1991, was yesterday named in honour of Freddie Mercury to mark the 70th anniversary of the Queen singer’s birth.

Brian May, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, announced the honour at a celebration marking the flamboyant singer’s birthday in Montreux, Switzerland.

Meanwhile Queen fans around the world, including Matt Lucas and James Bay, recreated his famous sing-alongs (sampled here).

May 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. This announcement is to recognise Freddie’s outstanding influence in the world.”

May said the object, which has been awarded a formal certificate of adoption, could be found in “the main Asteroid Belt, out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is about 3 and a half km across.”

The musician added: “It has an albedo (measure of reflectivity) 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.”

Issuing the Certificate of Designation, Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute, said: “Singer Freddie Mercury sang, ‘I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky’ – and now that is even more true than ever before.

“In celebration of his 70th birthday, an asteroid has been named Freddiemercury in honor of the charismatic singer for the band Queen.”

Asteroid names are governed by the International Astronomical Union and published by the Minor Planet Center.

When an asteroid is initially discovered it is given a “provisional designation” until enough measurements have been made that its orbit is accurately determined.

At that point, it is given a number and is eligible to receive a name.

May, who attained a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and is a co-founder of the awareness campaign Asteroid Day, was previously honoured with his own rocky body.

Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after the rock star in 2008, on the suggestion of the late Sir Patrick Moore.

May, whose PhD was titled, A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, asked earlier this year: “Why do we want to rendezvous with an asteroid? Well we need to know what would happen if one of those asteroids hit the earth.”

Other famous figures to have asteroids named in their honour include Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.</s>Late last night on Sunday, September 4th, Brian May from rock and roll band Queen unveiled ‘Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury’ designated in Freddie’s honor at the Freddie For A Day 70th birthday party held at Montreux Casino in aid of Mercury Phoenix Trust. Over 1,250 fans had gathered to celebrate.

“Published in the September 4th announcements of the Minor Planet Center, operating out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), this announcement is to recognize 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 kilometers 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 fairly-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 honor 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.’

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“Thanks to Marc Buie who provided the contact to the observer, and Brian Skiff from Lowell Observatory, and special thanks to Gareth Williams at the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.

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

In issuing the Certificate of Designation, Joel Parker of the Southwest Research Institute said the following:

“Singer Freddie Mercury sang, ‘I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky’ – and now that is even more true than ever before. Today in celebration of his 70th birthday, an asteroid has been named Freddiemercury in honor of the charismatic singer for the band Queen.

 Asteroid names are governed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and published by the Minor Planet Center. When an asteroid is initially discovered it is given a ‘provisional designation’ until enough measurements have been made that its orbit is accurately determined. At that point, it is given a number and is eligible to get a name as well. In this case, the asteroid in question was discovered in 1991 and was given the provisional designation ‘1991 FM3’. It has been observed and its position and orbit measured over 1,100 times, and it was given the number 17473. When a proposal to name an asteroid after Freddie Mercury was received by the Minor Planet Center, the IAU group selected this asteroid partly due to the ‘FM’ in the designation.

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“The name approved by the IAU is the formal and official name forever to be associated with this asteroid; so, any scientific papers in the future that study this asteroid will refer to it as ‘17473 Freddiemercury’.

“But 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.”

Be A Champion: Click To Share The News – Photo by Queen</s>Queen guitarist Brian May says an asteroid in Jupiter's orbit has been named after the band's late frontman Freddie Mercury on what would have been his 70th birthday.

May says the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre has designated an asteroid discovered in 1991, the year of Mercury's death, as "Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury".

May, who has a doctorate in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, says the newly-named asteroid is "just a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light" and recognises Mercury's "outstanding influence in the world".

May announced the naming in a statement on his website.

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May had a "nice certificate of 'adoption'" of the asteroid, which read: "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."

The asteroid, measuring about three and a half kilometres in diameter, sat between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is about three and a half km across.

It was discovered in 1991.

The asteroid reflected only about 30 per cent of the light that hit it, and a "fair-sized telescope" was needed to view it from Earth.

Mercury, born September 5, 1946, wrote and performed hits including Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are The Champions with Queen, releasing over a dozen studio albums between 1973 and 1991.</s>An asteroid has been named after Freddie Mercury to celebrate what would have been his 70th birthday.

The space rock, previously named Asteroid 17473 upon its discovery in 1991, will now be known as Asteroid Freddiemercury 17473, Queen guitarist Brian May has announced .

“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," he said.

It is located between Jupiter and Mars in a major Asteroid Belt, and only reflects around 30% of light falling on it. In order to see it, you'd need a pretty powerful telescope.

It will honour the flamboyant singer's "outstanding influence in the world", May added.

"It's just a dot of light," he said, "but it's a very special dot of light."

Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5th 1946, is fondly remembered as one of music's most talented vocalists.
• Amazing unreleased photos of Freddie Mercury to celebrate what would have been his 70th birthday

During the '70s and '80s he thrilled the world with his glamorous outfits, extraordinary writing talent and four-octave vocal range.

He died in 1991 aged 45 due to complications from AIDS.

Queen's Greatest Hits , released in 1981 remains the best-selling album of all time in the UK, beating off competition from the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , and Michael Jackson's Thriller .

In 2011 Google paid homage to the late singer with a lengthy Google Doodle on what would have been his 65th birthday.

Controversial actor Sacha Baron Cohen was due to star as Mercury in a biopic of his life, but later walked away from the project citing a disagreement with an unidentified member of Queen as the reason.

“I understand it, they are a band. They want to protect their legacy as a band. They want it to be about Queen, and I fully understand that," he said.

“The problem is, and I think it's with any biopic, and I fully understand why Queen wanted to do this, if you're in control of your writer of your life story, why wouldn't you depict yourself as great as possible?'</s>Celebrations to mark Freddie Mercury’s 70th birthday received a cosmic boost on Sunday night as Brian May, Queen’s lead guitarist, announced that an asteroid nearly half a billion kilometres away had been named after the late singer.

In a move that links one of the most dazzling stars in history to one of the darker rocks in the solar system the International Astronomical Union confirmed that asteroid 17473, a 3.5km-wide ball of black rubble on the other side of Mars, shall henceforth be known as “Freddiemercury”

May, who has a PhD in astrophysics and an asteroid named after him already, revealed the name by video message to more than 1200 guests at the “Freddie for a Day” party at the Montreux Casino on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Behind the venue is the band’s former studio where Queen recorded a host of songs, from Under Pressure with David Bowie to Who Wants To Live Forever?

Discovered in 1991 by the Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne, the freshly-named asteroid swings around the sun at 20km per second. Its slightly elliptical orbit never comes closer than 350 million kilometres to Earth, meaning that the heavenly body called Freddiemercury poses no imminent danger to the planet.

The space rock reflects only one third of the sunlight that falls on it and at such distance can only be seen with a telescope. “It’s like a cinder in space as many of these asteroids are,” said May. “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 and maybe one day we’ll get there.”

Chris Lintott, professor of astrophysics at Oxford and presenter of The Sky at Night said: “I think it’s wonderful to name an asteroid after Freddie Mercury. He joins a list including all the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Bowie and, weirdly, the band Yes. Pleasingly, it’s on a slightly eccentric orbit about the sun, just as the man himself was.”

The list of famous names given to asteroids goes on and on. Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov, Douglas Adams and Bruce Springsteen all have space rocks named after them, as do the characters Don Quixote, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.

Another member of the asteroid club is Monica Grady, the Open University professor of planetary science, who lends her name to asteroid 4731. “It’s very appropriate that the King of Rock (or Queen of rock?) is remembered this way, with his very own piece of rock memorabilia,” she said.

Freddie’s sister, Kashmira Cooke, was due to attend the Montreux party hosted by his former personal assistant and cook Peter “Phoebe” Freestone. Guests were encouraged to wear yellow costumes for the night and dined on some of the star’s favourite dishes, including Louisianna chicken and onion tart.

Addressing the party, May thanked Joel Parker, astronomer and director at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, for almost single-handedly ensuring the asteroid was named after the Queen singer in time for the celebrations. “I’m honoured to have been part of getting the name officially recognised in time for Freddie’s 70th birthday,” Parker told the Guardian. “It’s wonderful that Brian May is also an astronomer, connecting the Earth-based Freddie to the cosmos-based Freddie.”

Parker said that anyone who wanted to catch a glimpse of Freddiemercury would need a telescope as it is only one ten thousandth of the brightness that the naked eye can see in a dark sky. “It’s not quite traveling at the speed of light,” Parker said. “But from an Earth perspective, this certainly has made a supersonic man out of him.”
An asteroid is named in honour of Freddie Mercury on what would have been his 70th birthday.