Our space mission is coming to an end but we have one final stop before we make our way back home, we're off to Uranus. 🚀 Hop onboard and let's uncover the musical planet Holst called 'The Magician'.

Missed our previous space adventures? Click here to travel to Mars, here for Jupiter, or why not give Saturn a visit here!

Uranus, the Magician ⚗️

• Scientists call Uranus an ice giant because it’s mostly made up of flowing icy materials above a solid core. Some of these materials are gases that you might have heard of before, like methane, hydrogen and helium, but they are so cold that most of them have turned solid.
• Uranus spins in the opposite direction to Earth, and on it’s side!
• One day on Uranus lasts just over 17 earth hours and a year is 84 Earth years – that’s a long time to wait for a birthday cake! 🎂

See what our friend Alastair Bruce from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh have to say about Uranus below:

Listen 🎧

Close your eyes and have a listen to Holst’s music for Uranus. While you are listening, have a think...

• What characters can you hear in the music?
• Can you name different characters for different sections of the music?
• Perhaps you imagine these characters going on a journey, just like our journey through the solar system.
• Some of the music is triumphant, some is a bit scary, we even think there’s some cheekiness in there – what do you think?

Saturn performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, many other recordings are available online through platforms such as YouTube and Spotify.

Activity 💫

• Imagine your characters coming to life, how would they move?
• Think about how they hold their head up, how they move their feet, how their arms swing when they walk.
• Do they travel high, low, or in the middle?
• Perhaps they spin like a planet!
• Can you create a dance to the music, moving between the different characters when the music changes?

Please share your creations!

We would love to see what you have been inspired to create, please email us on info@sco.org.uk