RIGA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Latvians have voted to name an exoplanet after an iconic cliff that once towered over the banks of the River Daugava and to give a befittingly fiery name to its star, the Latvian Astronomical Society informed Thursday.

In the solar system, all of the planets orbit around the Sun. Planets that orbit around other stars are called exoplanets.

Latvia has been given the opportunity to name a star and an exoplanet orbiting that star as part of the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) NameExoWorlds project marking the organization's 100th anniversary.

This past summer, Latvia was offered the possibility to choose names for the star HD 118203 and an exoplanet in its orbit. To complete this task, the University of Latvia organized an online poll between Sept. 6 and Oct. 7, in which citizens could select one of the 10 sets of names proposed by a special panel.

The names that received the highest number of votes were Liesma (meaning "flame" in Latvian) for the star and Staburags for the exoplanet. Staburags, a picturesque cliff on the River Daugava, which features in many works of Latvian literature and art, became submerged in the 1960s when a new hydropower plant was built on the river.

The IAU is expected to officially approve the names given by countries in the NameExoWorlds project in December 2019.

The Latvian Astronomical Society said that the star HD 118203 in the Ursa Major (Great Bear) constellation, also known as the Big Dipper, can be observed from Latvia all year round through a binocular or a small telescope. Enditem

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