Asteroid Named After Queen's Freddie Mercury

(Classic Rock) An asteroid has been named after late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre decided to name the celestial object after the singer to mark what would have been his 70th birthday on Monday (September 5).

Queen guitarist Brian May delivered a video message revealing the announcement, which also contains a brief video of AsteroidFreddieMercury17473 moving through space. Watch it below.

May says: "Where's Freddie's asteroid? Well, it's out in the main Asteroid Belt beyond the orbit of Mars and inside the orbit of Jupiter. It's about 3.5km across and it only reflects about a third of the light which falls upon it, so it's a dark object - it's like a cinder in space. It's a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light.

"Happy birthday, Freddie. I'm sure he would have been very happy to see this." here.

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