Asteroid Named After SOPHIE
A little over a year ago, pioneering art-pop performer and electronic producer SOPHIE died suddenly when she accidentally fell from a rooftop at in Athens, Greece. Now, Nylon reports that an asteroid has been named after her. The process reportedly began in February of last year when SOPHIE fan Christian Arroyo started a petition to dedicate the planet TOI-1338 b to the late pop star because it resembled the album art to SOPHIE’s studio debut, Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. “I am requesting that TOI-1338 b be named in honor of SOPHIE, in honor of a great LGBT+ influence,” wrote Arroyo. “I want her name to be remembered and her influence to continue to flourish for many years to come.”
The petition was endorsed by SOPHIE’s friend and collaborator Charli XCX. “There are so many memories, so many small details, so many different views and incredible feelings and stories,” she wrote last year. “It’s impossible to summarize the journey I went on with Sophie. Even the most insignificant things felt enormous. I can’t explain how I feel and I can’t encapsulate what a unique person she was in one small social media post. I will honor Sophie in my own time personally, in my grief, through my memories, through my work, through writing things only I will read.”
Now, the petition has amassed more than 95,000 signatures, and an asteroid 1980 RE1, discovered by Antonín Mrkos at the Kleť Observatory in the Czech Republic, has been named “Sophiexeon.” The International Astronomical Union announced the name in volume 3 of their WGSBN Bulliten, writing that SOPHIE’s “futuristic style changed the landscape of pop music in the early 21st century.”
Commenting on the development, Arroyo wrote on the original petition: “I was sadly not made aware of this naming until today, but we did it y’all! Sophie has influence[d] so many of us, and now she will forever be part of the cosmos. I thank every single one of you who signed and shared this petition.”