In 2016, Freddie Mercury would have been 70 years old. Brian May — who is an astrophysicist — decided to pay tribute to his friend by naming an asteroid after him. The same asteroid that was discovered in the year of Mercury’s death was then officially renamed. “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, time to honor his 70th Birthday. Henceforth this object will be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury,” May’s statement read, as reported by Rolling Stone.

The asteroid is “like a cinder in space, as May described, and was discovered in between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. It can be seen by using a telescope, and according to its orbit, it will never be closer than 350 million kilometers to the planet Earth. Astrophysics professor Chris Lintott also added that the asteroid is on a “slightly eccentric orbit about the sun, just as the man himself was” (via The Guardian). Joel Parker, the astronomer who issued the certificate, said, “It’s not quite traveling at the speed of light, but from an Earth perspective, this certainly has made a supersonic man out of him,” alluding to Queen’s song titled “Don’t Stop Me Now”.