What's your favourite planet and why?

[Museo]

Hello all

I'm a big fan of the Planet Suite by Gustav Holst and wondered which of the suites is your favourite.

Mine is Jupiter - bringer of Jollity - mainly because of the changes in tempo and because the hymn "I Vow to Thee My Country" is featured.

[ParryHotter]

Haven't heard in a while (need another CD), but I'd say Mars, my favorite piece in 5/4 time (feel free to enlighten me if its not )

[acc]

Mine's Neptune - just so eerie!

(By the way, did you hear that astronomers just decided that Holst's work was complete after all? )

[ParryHotter]

Mine's Neptune - just so eerie!

(By the way, did you hear that astronomers just decided that Holst's work was complete after all? )

That must have been their primary reasoning for deciding Pluto wasn't a planet!

[Museo]

Perhaps Holst was an astronomer in his spare time

It's a little sad that Pluto has now been downgraded to join Xena (or Eris as it is officially known) as one of the "Dwarf Planets". Perhaps that could be a whole new suite of music ?

[giovannimusica]

For all intents and purposes, Holst was into Astrology and only Astronomy as as a general appreciation like most everyone else has. If you really want to do Astronomy, a B.S. in Mathematical Physics will give you the springboard needed. From there an M.S. and then a Ph.D in Astronomy will set you up nicely. Be prepared to do lots of researching and publishing and above all, seeking grants for your research.

My favorite of the *Planets*? Saturn. Why? I like the thematic development and I also love to program it into an organ recital.

[acc]

It's a little sad that Pluto has now been downgraded to join Xena (or Eris as it is officially known) as one of the "Dwarf Planets". Perhaps that could be a whole new suite of music ?

The point is that astronomers suspect that Eris isn't the end of the story and that there are probably many, many other small celestial bodies revolving around the sun at even more remote orbits. So to be consistent, one would have to call either all or none of them "planets". They went for "none", which is probably the lesser evil (i.e. we won't have to update our books, atlases, and school manuals each time they discover yet another of these remote pieces of rock).

Coming back to music, Colin Matthews has composed a piece called Pluto intended to be played at the end of Holst's suite. But since astronomers have now defined Pluto and Charon to be twin dwarf planets, it would be interesting to translate this twinness into music.

[Museo]

But since astronomers have now defined Pluto and Charon to be twin dwarf planets, it would be interesting to translate this twinness into music.

Yes that is a piece of music that I would like to hear. Perhaps it would be like an unidentical twin or a rather schizophrenic musical suite.

I must admit to liking "Saturn " as well as it is quite mystical and sombre.

[SecondBass]

Actually there are many objects already identified within the known Solar System and further out, the most well-known of which is 2003 UB313 discovered by Mike Brown. Originally, it was called a planet but has been redefined along with Pluto, even though it is much larger. The Kuiper Belt, from the orbit of Neptune out, contains many objects of similar scale to Pluto but smaller - many of these are classified as Dwarves as well. Pluto is smaller than a number of moons, including our own.

I like Holst's Jupiter as well, but my favourite actual planet is the sadly neglected Neptune.

[acc]

Hi SecondBass!

the sadly neglected Neptune.

Sadly neglected? Why?

[SecondBass]

It's the planet that everybody forgets about. Mercury, the closest to the Sun; Venus, our twin planet and the Goddess of Love; Mars, the red planet and next door neighbour; Jupiter, big bugger and nearly a star; Saturn, with its cute rings and also pretty big; Uranus, sniggery name and cute rings; Pluto, Mickey Mouse's dog and the last stop before Proxima Centauri.

Neptune is just forgotten. It's a beautiful blue ice giant, and everybody thinks its a bit bigger than Pluto. It's now the outer planet in the Solar System so it should be bigging its part up.

[acc]

Oh, I thought you were talking about the mouvements of Holst's suite!

As for the planets themselves, I tend to think of the outer ones in pairs: Jupiter/Saturn and Uranus/Neptune, because each pair shows similarities in size, colours, and surface "texture".