Thousands Of "Doctor Who" Fans Are Campaigning To Name A Planet "Gallifrey"

    The newly-discovered planet's current name HD 106906 b is a bit of a mouthful, after all.

    Dan Martin
    by Dan Martin

    BuzzFeed Staff

    The big twist in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary was that his home planet of Gallifrey was still out there.

    buzzfeed.com

    But now, a group of fans are taking in a step further. A petition has been launched to name the recently-discovered HD 106906 b "Gallilfrey" in honour of the show's 50 years. So far it has reached over 100,000 signatures.

    Like the "real" Gallifrey, HD 106906 b is confusing and seemingly impossible.

    google.co.uk

    Discovered earlier this year, the planet shouldn't exist according to current planet formation theories. It is 11 times the mass of Jupiter and orbits its star at 650 times the average Earth-sun distance. Its temperature is 2,700 Farenheit, much cooler than its host star, and emits most of its energy as infra-red, rather than visible, light.

    Doctor Who is legendary, award-winning, record-breaking and global, and this planet deserves deserves something special and supernatural as its name. How better to honour its existence than by dubbing it the home planet of our beloved time-travelling alien, the Doctor.

    You can sign the petition here and watch Sam's video below.

    View this video on YouTube
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