Brian May (76), the guitarist of the legendary British rock band ‘Queen’, is pioneering a new career as an astrophysicist and is reportedly preparing the world’s first 3D asteroid atlas.
According to the British Guardian on the 23rd (local time), May recently co-authored a 3D asteroid atlas with Professor Dante Loretta of the University of Arizona, USA, ‘Bennu 3-D: Structure of an Asteroid’, which will be released soon.
Considered the first complete 3D asteroid map, the book includes images and data from the asteroid probe OSIRIS-REx, which is collecting samples from the asteroid Bennu and returning to Earth. Osiris-Rex was launched on September 6, 2016 to collect samples from the asteroid Benu, and is scheduled to return to Earth on September 24.
The atlas published by Professors May and Loretta will include undisclosed three-dimensional images of Bennu and analyzes that can reveal the origins of life, such as organic compounds. Along with 3D images, illustrations and maps, May also comes with a portable viewer called ‘Lite Owl’ designed to view images in 3D form.
May is the guitarist for Queen, who wrote many of their hits, including “We will rock you,” but is also an astrophysicist. After majoring in physics and mathematics at Imperial College London, England, he underwent a doctoral course in astrophysics from 1970 to 1974, but was unable to obtain a degree due to Queen’s activities. Then, with a thesis completed in 30 years, he received a doctorate in astrophysics in 2007. In 2019, a dedicated song was created and released in commemoration of the achievement of the US deep space probe ‘New Horizons’ reaching the farthest celestial body in human history.
Mei also participated in the Osiris-Rex mission and worked on converting the original images collected by Osiris-Rex into stereoscopic images. “Here is the result of the hard work of a team of top scientists and technicians,” May said. “Our goal was to deliver this remarkable portrait in a form that scientists and non-scientists alike can understand and enjoy.”
