Freddy Mercury got an Asteroid

[Green Baron]

 

 

Brian May announced that the IAU has named an asteroid after Freddy Mercury, who would have had his 70. birthday on the 4th of september.

Don't stop him :-)

 

[Just Jim]

OMG!!!  Awesome!!!  And Freddie's birthday was the day after mine??? 

Double awesome!!!!    

Spoiler

 

 

[Dman979]

3 hours ago, Just Jim said:

OMG!!!  Awesome!!!  And Freddie's birthday was the day after mine??? 

Double awesome!!!!    

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Be careful what you put online...

And Happy Birthday!

[Green Baron]

4 hours ago, Just Jim said:

OMG!!!  Awesome!!!  And Freddie's birthday was the day after mine??? 

Double awesome!!!!    

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Combobulations ! And a day before mine ;-)

"I like Jazz"

Edited September 6, 2016 by Green Baron

[LordFerret]

That's pretty cool, yay Freddie. If the IAU can do that, then they'd better get working, because there's a ton of other stars (artists) just as deserving. Lord knows, we've enough asteroids.

[Green Man]

That choked me up a bit. What a fun way to celebrate the life and career of an artist. Deacon, Taylor and May should also have their names bestowed on asteroids in the same region because, you know, Queen Rocks!

[Green Baron]

May is actually astrophysicist.

Naming asteroids after real persons (f.e. Leonhard Nimoy) instead of mythical figures is a good thing to attract peoples attention. While i agree for a band like Queen i fear a little about inflation of naming, asteroids with the names of "parishilton" or "hulkhogan" would surely attract some attention but also tear the thing down into the banal (in my eyes) ...

I hope the company stays somewhat exclusive :-)

 

[LordFerret]

Just think of all the $$$$$ the IAU could rake in doing so. Already there are a number of companies out there using the old Tycho catalog, allowing people to assign names to stars, and then giving them an 'official' certificate showing the name and location of "their star". This is of course a novelty only, as the name is never truly registered with (or recognized by) any authority (IAU). My uncle did this for his grandchildren (just for fun), and we had a good time using Celestia finding the kids stars - and showing their relationship and distance from Earth.

[TARDISES]

As a bonus, the provisional designation of the asteroid was 1991 FM₃. Which is the initials and the year he died - Sure, it might not be as fitting as what name 2001 DA₄₂ got (The number here isn't significant to the namesake, unlike that one), but that's still pretty close.

[Rade Krman]

But, why? He already got a planet!