Scientists have named a newly discovered galaxy after Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo. The galaxy was labeled as CR7 (COSMOS Redshift 7). 30-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is also known as CR7 after his initials and jersey number. The newly found galaxy, labelled CR7, is three times brighter than the brightest distant galaxy known till now. This brightest galaxy was discovered in the early universe that contains the first generation of stars.
A team led by David Sobral, from the University of Lisbon in Portugal, and Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, has now used ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to peer back into the ancient Universe, to a period known as reionization, approximately 800 million years after the Big Bang. The team discovered and confirmed a number of surprisingly bright very young galaxies.
Tidbits
- CR is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Portugal national team.
- He is a forward and serves as captain for Portugal.
- By the age of 22, Ronaldo had received Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations.
- He is the first player to win four European Golden Shoe awards.
- His second given name, “Ronaldo”, was chosen after then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who was his father’s favourite actor.
