00:02Hi folks, it's Brian here. On video I'm afraid, sadly I can't be with you in person, but I have
00:09a special announcement and a special presentation to make for Freddy in honour of his 17th birthday.
00:17The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre, which operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has deemed it their duty
00:29and their pleasure to name an asteroid after Freddy.
00:33It will be called Asteroid Freddy Mercury, all one word, 17473, and it was discovered in 1991, and this is
00:46to honour Freddy's 17th birthday.
00:49And this announcement will be published on September the 4th, the day of his birthday, by the IAU, the International
00:57Astronomical Union.
01:00I'd like to say thanks to my dear friend, Joel Parker, of NASA, who made this happen, really almost single
01:07-handedly.
01:10He's the man who was part of the Pluto mission and the Rosetta mission recently, those wonderful NASA missions which
01:16we've all been following very avidly.
01:19Yeah, where's Freddy's asteroid? Well, it's out in the main asteroid belt, beyond the orbit of Mars and inside the
01:27orbit of Jupiter.
01:28It's about 3.5 kilometres across. It has an albedo of about 0.3, which means it only reflects about
01:37one-third of the light which falls upon it.
01:39So it's a dark object, it's like a cinder in space, as many of these asteroids are.
01:45From the Earth, it shines at the 14th magnitude, which means you have to have a pretty decent telescope to
01:51see it.
01:51But it's just a dot of light, but it's a very special dot of light.
01:57And maybe one day we'll get there.
01:59We have a nice certificate of assignation here, which is going to be presented at this moment.
02:04I'll just show you what it looks like.
02:06To commemorate the naming of the asteroid, Freddie Mercury.
02:10And it has a citation on it, which reads as follows.
02:15Freddie Mercury, Farrokh Bulsara, 1946 to 1991, was a distinguished British songwriter and the lead singer for the legendary rock
02:27group Queen.
02:28His incredible vocal range and distinctive sound and performance style made him one of the most well-known icons of
02:37rock music.
02:37And he's regarded as one of the greatest rock singers of all time.
02:45It only remains for me to say, happy birthday, Freddie.
02:50And thank you, thank you all you folks who have come here to celebrate the FFAD and honour Freddie in
02:57this way.
02:58Keeping his memory alive.
03:01And I'm sure he would be very, very happy to see all this.
03:04God bless you.
03:06See you soon.
03:08Just one more thing.
03:10We have a little movie of the asteroid, Freddie Mercury, moving against the star background.
03:17It's only going to be a little tiny dot of light, but a very important dot of light.
03:21And I have to really thank Mark Bowie, who I think may be here, who provided the contact to the
03:26observer who took these photographs.
03:28And Mark also together put these frames together to make this little animation.
03:33So ladies and gentlemen, for its first appearance in public, asteroid, Freddie Mercury.
03:38I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity.
03:47I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva.
03:51I'm going to go, go, go, go, there's no stopping me.
03:56I'm burning through the sky.
03:59200 degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit.
04:04I'm trying to get the speed of light.
04:06I want to make a supersonic man out of you.
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