Queen fans launch petition to rename planet Mercury after Freddie Mercury

Some Queen fans have launched an effort to convince the United Nations to officially change the name of the planet Mercury to 'Planet Freddie Mercury.'

Greatest Hits Radio host Simon Ross launched the effort last month to honor "the greatest frontman of all time, someone who has never been properly recognised for his positive inspiration of multiple generations, other worldly voice, electrifying stage presence, and most importantly the ability via the universal power of music to unite people!"

This week (October 4 - 10) is World Space Week. Friday marks one year since the release of the Freddie Mercury solo compilation Never Boring.

"We want to honour Freddie's incredible contribution to the world by making him a household name across the galaxy, not just Earth," said GHR host Pat Sharp.

The effort to rename planet Mercury comes after GHR listeners voted Freddie's six-minute masterpiece "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen's greatest song.

Freddie's former band released its Live Around the World album with Adam Lambert this past Friday.

Check out the petition HERE.

Born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5, 1946, Freddie legally changed his name around the same time he co-founded Queen with Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor.

In 2018, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody became the highest-grossing music biopic of all-time and won four Academy Awards.

The planet Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest one to the Sun. Though it is now named for the ancient Greek god Hermes, historians say the Sumerians knew of it at least 5,000 years ago. It is believed that ancient Greek astronomers were first to determine that Mercury orbited the Sun, not the Earth.

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission