Asteroid Freddie Mercury

Asteroid 17473 was renamed Asteroid Freddie Mercury yesterday by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Freddie Mercury is 2.2 miles across and sails between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter at a speed of 12.5 miles per second. With a good telescope, it’s visible as a faint dot of light.

Asteroid Freddie Mercury
Asteroid Freddie Mercury

And if you listen very, very closely, you might hear this as it passes:

More here from the Guardian newspaper.