We will rock you: Asteroid named after late singer Freddie Mercury
Mercury is now officially "a shooting star leaping through the sky" thanks to a new out-of-this-world honor.
Can anybody find me-teor somebody to love? An asteroid has been named after Freddie Mercury, the late, great songwriter and frontman of Queen, in honor of what would have been his 70th birthday.
The certificate of adoption from the International Astronomical Union.
In a video posted on the Queen YouTube channel Monday, former bandmate Brian May announced that Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury has been named in Mercury's honor and for his "outstanding influence in the world."
May, who launched his own VR viewer earlier this year, showed off a certificate of adoption and of the asteroid's official name from the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center.
The asteroid -- which was initially discovered in 1991 -- is almost 2 miles (3.21 kilometers) wide and can be found in the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars' orbits.
The asteroid only reflects one-third of the light that falls upon it, and because it shines from the 14th magnitude from Earth, you need a very powerful telescope to see it.
"It's just a dot of light," May said in the video, "but it's a very special dot of light and maybe one day we'll get there."