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Asteroid named after Freddie Mercury in honour of singer's 70th birthday

By
Melody Lau

To mark what would have been Freddie Mercury’s 70th birthday on Sept. 5, an asteroid has been named after the Queen frontman. Queen guitarist Brian May recently announced, at the “Freddie for a Day” party in Switzerland, that the International Astronomical Union officially named an asteroid on the other side of Mars “Freddiemercury.”

“It’s like a cinder in space as many of these asteroids are,” May, who also has an asteroid named after him, said. “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.”

Mercury joins a long list of musicians who have had asteroids named after them, including David Bowie, Frank Zappa and all members of the Beatles.

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