Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Suite for Orchestra, H 125, Op 32: Uranus - the Magician

If "they" are to be believed, for parts of January and February, we should be able to see 6-7 planets lined up in the night sky.

How many will equate to 'when' in the days ahead. 

No doubt, where you are in the world might matter too. I mean, I'm assuming. 

Pluto does not factor into this......because, well you know..........Pluto! 

On January 21 (I'm giving you a week to plan accordingly), the inhabitants of the Earth will be able to see six planets in the sky at the same time - Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn. Little known fact:  If you look down at your feet, you'll also be able to see Earth. 

It is noted that on February 28, the seven planets of the solar system - Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars - will line up in a single line. Astronomers call this phenomenon a great planetary conjunction. 

Only Uranus and Neptune will be visible through binoculars, the rest will not.

For me, Venus and Mars have been visible lately. Very much so, actually. I'd have looked more last night but fuck, it was cold.15° feels like 4°. But the full moon was amazing. Everything was so clear. 

Being clear is usually not on the agenda for celestial events in the 216, but I'm hoping in the coming weeks something works out. 

Here is some 4-1-1 for those who want to check this out. Consult your local "news" to see what is viewable in your area. 






Song by: Holst

5 comments:

Raybeard said...

We have a weekly radio classical music programme here called 'Record Review' in which a particular piece is chosen and illustrated by short recorded extracts from various artistes, conductors etc - and finally a verdict is offered as to which is the 'best' recorded version. Co-incidentally with the subject of your post here, this weekend gone the subject was Holst's 'The Planets' (the 'winner' being Sir Adrian Boult's final recording, when he was 90 at the end of the 1970s, just weeks before he actually died). But back to the actual planets as scientific entities, as against the astrological significance which the music represents, I almosr screamed at the radio when the presenter, talking of 'Neptune the Mystic' described that body as being the "coldest of the planets" ("as we ALL know" he said). Now of course we might ALL now know that it's the furthest of the (non-dwarf) planets, but you, as a fellow astronomy geek will know, that it's now been established that since Neptune seems to have some kind of internal heat-generating system which takes its 'surface' temp all the way up to something like MINUS(!)200 degrees - which is 'warmer' than Uranus by some 20 or 30 degrees, it's the latter planet that is actually even colder than Neptune.
Btw: The contrast between Venus the planet as thought of when Holst wrote his music reflecting peace and tranquillity, and what we now know about it's literally Hellish conditions (the most hostile of all the planets by far) makes listening to it as a bit of a challenge, having to put aside the actuality of its climate.




wcs said...

"Little known fact." LOL!

James Dwight Williamson said...

I think I saw the full moon last night

Travel said...

If they are all looking down on earth, I hope they are not shaking their heads in disbelief.

Ur-spo said...

I saw this (most of it anyway) on one of my evening walks. It is a comfort to see the planets