The Frieza Saga in Akira Toriyama's classic anime series, Dragon Ball Z, is the greatest arc in the entirety of the series (okay, maybe it's tied with the Cell Saga), and one of the main reasons why it was memorable was its setting.
To honor the fictional green planet, Lou Earley started an online petition asking NASA to name one of its unnamed planets after Namek. By the time I'm writing this, the petition already has over 67,000 supporters and is only about 8,000 short from reaching its 75,000 goal.
Here's Earley's reasoning for the naming: "As a fan of Dragon Ball, Z/GT/Super, Planet Namek has been an icon throughout the stories of the famous anime series/manga series created by Akira Toriyama (Animated by Toei Animation). I have made this petition to get Kepler 22b an official name, which will be named after a very lavish planet. They look alike as well. I petition to change the name of Kepler 22b to "Namek"."
The planet, discovered by NASA scientists in 2011, is currently called Kepler 22b, and it's considered to be habitable for humans. However, it's light years away and our current technology doesn't allow us to travel that far.
In Toriyama's series, Planet Namek is the homeworld of the Namekians, a proud race of fighters. Piccolo, one of Goku's allies, is the most memorable Namekian in the series.
Namek was the central setting in the main battles during the Frieza Saga. With no cities or large populations to speak of and a lush and open world, Namek was ideal for the Z fighters to go fight the evil Frieza. This is where Goku went Super Saiyan for the first time. You can sign the petition at Change.org here.
Read: 51 Incredible Facts From The Dragon Ball Series
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