An Asteroid Named in Honor of SOPHIE. “Now she will forever be part of the cosmos”08.02.2022

Last year, fans of the signer organized a petition calling for newly discovered exoplanet to be named in honor of the artist. The decision has just been made.

January 30 marked the first anniversary of SOPHIE’s death. News of her tragic passing shocked the music industry—the artist was an LGBTQ+ icon and still had a lot to say musically, as evidenced by her Grammy nominated album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides, which explored and showcased a new, transgressive, and exaggerated face of pop music.

SOPHIE, or Sophie Xeon, died after falling off a roof she climbed up on to watch the full moon. Soon after her death, a fan of the artist, Christian Arroyo, launched an online petition addressed to NASA—he wanted the recently discovered exoplanet TOI 1338 b to be named after the Scottish artist. Given its pastel pink color, the astronomical object bears a strong resemblance to the cover of Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides.

Today, nearly a year after the artist’s untimely death, the dream has been made reality—in a way. Although the aforementioned TOI 1338 b exoplanet was finally given a different name, SOPHIE still found her way into the cosmos—in a recent bulletin, the Working Group of the International Astronomical Union, which is tasked with christening the lesser astronomical objects, revealed that the artist’s name would be given to the asteroid 1980 RE1. First discovered in 1980 by Antonín Mrkos working at the Kleť Observatory, the asteroid would from here on out be known as Sophiexeon. Why that particular object? No one knows for sure, but the artist’s fans are nevertheless satisfied with the choice.

“I was sadly not made aware of this naming until today, but we did it y'all! Sophie has influencecd 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,” wrote Christian Arroyo, the original author of the petition.

The petition drew 95,216 signatures, including Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek, SOPHIE’s erstwhile musical collaborators.