Astronomers Have Dedicated A New Lightning Bolt-Shaped Constellation To Bowie
It's near Mars, obviously.
It’s almost one week on since the death of music legend David Bowie, and the outpouring of tributes don’t appear to be slowing down. But amongst the music industry nods, interview montages and heartfelt obituaries are some more creative odes — like this lightning bolt-shaped star constellation astronomers have just named in honour of the ‘Starman’.
Teaming up with Belgian music station Studio Brussels, MIRA Public Observatory have registered seven stars that form the shape of a lightning bolt like the one on the cover of Aladdin Sane, Bowie’s sixth studio album. Fittingly, they’re in the vicinity of Mars.
Quite literally the most fitting tribute (screen shot from Stardust for Bowie).
“It was not easy to determine the appropriate stars,” Philippe Mollet from MIRA Public Observatory said in a statement. “Studio Brussels asked us to give Bowie a unique place in the galaxy. Referring to his various albums, we chose seven stars—Sigma Librae, Spica, Alpha Virginis, Zeta Centauri, SAA 204 132, and the Beta Sigma Octantis Trianguli Australis—in the vicinity of Mars.
“The constellation is a copy of the iconic Bowie lightning and was recorded at the exact time of his death.”
The constellation, which joins 88 others, is shown on the interactive Google Sky homage ‘Stardust for Bowie’, where fans can assign their favourite Bowie songs and leave personal messages inside the virtual star lines.
Looking around on Twitter on the day news of his death broke, seems like a whole lot of prophetic Bowie fans saw this coming.
We lost a star, but the night sky gained a constellation R.i.p David Bowie pic.twitter.com/MdAYjGZQqS
— HeatherHattrick (@heatherhattrick) January 11, 2016
i never thought david bowie would die ya know i just kinda thought he'd go on living forever and mb one day become a constellation
— Aleks (@alekskandic) January 11, 2016
If anyone deserved to become a constellation after they're through on earth, it was David Bowie. Smile at the stars tonight :) ⚡️
— Rachel Bergan (@rachelbergan_) January 12, 2016
Looked straight up. Overhead is Orion. And all I see in that constellation is David Bowie, and I realize all along, it was never Orion. ★★★
— lorna (@lorna) January 12, 2016
David Bowie is dead. In a just world, the sky would have a new constellation tonight. Like Orion, maybe, but thinner.
— Jay Welch (@welchjay) January 11, 2016
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Story h/t PSFK.