Mon Feb 28, 2022 HOLST’S “THE PLANETS”
On February 27th, in the year 1919, Gustav Holst's suite, "The Planets," was first publicly performed: it featured theme music for seven planets of the solar system (Pluto wasn’t included as it wouldn’t be discovered for another 11 years.) And Holst was certainly no astronomer – his knowledge of the subject was limited. Holst did dabble in mythology, and in writing the music for “The Planets,” he anthropomorphized them. That is, he gave these worlds human characteristics. So the music for Mercury, which takes only 88 days to go around the sun, is a lively, fast-paced vivace tempo, as would befit the Olympian messenger of the gods. On the other hand the music for Saturn, which revolves about the sun only once every 29 years, is adagio, or slow and stately. Mars is allegro, a loud, militant march, while Venus is a beautiful adagio-andante-animato, and Jupiter, the king of planets, is a majestic allegro giocoso!
Tue Mar 1, 2022 LEO’S RETURN
March, it’s said, comes in like a lion. This is meant to refer to the changeable weather of the new month, as cold winter air meets the warm breezes of spring. But there’s also an astronomical connection. Look south this evening and there you will find the bright stars of winter, in constellations such as Orion the Hunter, Taurus the Bull, the Big and Little Dogs, Auriga the Charioteer, and the Gemini, all marked by bright stars. Now look toward the east. Not much there. But toward the eastern horizon, you'll find another star called Regulus, and it represents the heart of the constellation Leo the Lion. Leo is the first of our springtime constellations. The Lion always comes into our eastern evening sky when March begins.
Wed Mar 2, 2022 CANOPUS
If you're outside after sunset tonight, or on any clear evening this month, you should notice a bright star-like object low in the southern sky. It hovers there near the horizon, and at first you might think it was an airplane's landing light. If you've been watching too much TV, you might even think it was a UFO. This particular UFO is easy to identify - It's the star Canopus, second brightest star of the night sky. Canopus, an important star for navigators, is in the constellation of Carina the keel; it marks the rudder of the famous mythological ship Argo, which carried Jason and his crew in search of the Golden Fleece. Folks in the Northern U.S. cannot see this star - the earth blocks it from view. Only at southerly latitudes like Florida can Canopus be seen.
Thu Mar 3, 2022 AURIGA THE CHARIOTEER
High in the northern sky this evening there is a somewhat obscure constellation called Auriga, the Charioteer, in legend and myth, an early king of Athens, and the inventor of the chariot. Now if you're good at imagining constellation shapes, you'll immediately see Auriga in all his glory - a man, driving a chariot, while holding on to a whip in one hand, and a bunch of small goats in the other. But if you have that kind of imagination, then I probably didn't have to tell you all that. For the rest of us, Auriga looks like a pentagon shape - a five-sided figure of stars, marked by a bright yellow star - Capella, the head of the charioteer. Look for the goat kids also, a few tiny bright stars just to the south of Capella.
Fri Mar 4, 2022 PLANETARIUM SHOW: THE PLANETS
Tonight, March 4th, and tomorrow afternoon, March 5th, Indian River State College’s Hallstrom Planetarium will present, “The Planets,” narrated by Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway from “Star Trek: Voyager.” You would need a starship to cover the distances we travel in this 40-minute program – all the way from the earth, beyond Saturn, beyond Pluto to the region of comets in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, as much as five trillion miles from home. And then we go to the stars, searching for other solar systems. If skies are clear tonight, the Treasure Coast Astronomical Society will be outside the Planetarium, giving folks telescopic views of the Orion.
