The iconic "Space Oddity" glam rocker David Bowie might someday soon have a constellation to call his own.
The MIRA Public Observatory, located in Belgium, teamed up with Studio Brussels, a local radio station, to pay a lasting, fitting tribute to the cultural icon by registering for a brand-new constellation to memorialize the musician.
According to the designs released by both MIRA and Studio Brussels, the Bowie-themed constellation is comprised of seven different stars and fashioned in the shape of the same face-painted lightning bolt that the rock star donned on the cover of his album "Aladdin Sane."
"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," said MIRA scientist Philippe Mollet, pointing out the numerous Bowie references in the designation — most pointedly its Mars-centric location, which colludes with the androgynous Bowie persona Ziggy Stardust, who came from the Red Planet.
In the case of the constellation, the precise picks for the constellation-composing stars have an additional meaning: all of them were "in the vicinity of Mars at the exact time of [Bowie's] death," added Mollet.
Via: Slashgear
Photo: Piano Piano! | Flickr
