17473 Freddiemercury

17473 Freddiemercury is a stony Massalian asteroid from the inner regions asteroid belt, approximately 3.4 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 21 March 1991, by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile, and later named in memory of Freddie Mercury.

Classification and orbit

Freddiemercury is a member of the Massalia family, a large family of stony S-type asteroids with low inclinations in the inner main belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.0–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 8 months. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic.
The body's observation arc begins 9 years prior to its official discovery observation, with its identification as at Crimea–Nauchnij in November 1982.

According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Freddiemercury measures 3.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.313.
As of 2017, the asteroid's exact composition, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.

On 4 September 2016, one day before what would have been Freddie Mercury's 70th birthday, the International Astronomical Union and the Minor Planet Center named the asteroid after Mercury, as it was discovered the same year as Mercury's death, and its provisional designation included his initials, FM. The approved naming was announced by Mercury's Queen bandmate Brian May at Montreux Casino to mark Mercury's 70th birthday.