The Transit of Venus
This duet by Julia Usher, for Bb Soprano Saxophone and Bb Clarinet, has been written for the ensemble Gemini, and will be premiered at St Botolph's Church, Colchester when Gemini lead the Colchester New Music Day on May 27th, 2009.
On the 24th November 1639, in the small Lancashire village of Much Hoole, a nineteen-year-old astronomer set up a wooden telescope and made a series of observations of the Sun. Jeremiah Horrocks had concluded that if Johannes Kepler was correct in his mathematical models of the Solar System, the planet Venus would pass across the face of the Sun in the late afternoon that day. He was able to watch this event for 30 minutes, and to document it.
After this observation, Jeremiah Horrocks was able to improve his telescope, and predict in great detail the orbit of the planet Venus around the Sun, and also that of the moon around the Earth. He worked out that the transits of Venus would be visible only every 120 years, with a further transit within 8 years of each occurrence. The last was in 2004, and the next one will be in 2012.
There is a memorial window to Jeremiah Horrocks in St. Michael's Church, Much Hoole.
On the 24th November 1639, in the small Lancashire village of Much Hoole, a nineteen-year-old astronomer set up a wooden telescope and made a series of observations of the Sun. Jeremiah Horrocks had concluded that if Johannes Kepler was correct in his mathematical models of the Solar System, the planet Venus would pass across the face of the Sun in the late afternoon that day. He was able to watch this event for 30 minutes, and to document it.
After this observation, Jeremiah Horrocks was able to improve his telescope, and predict in great detail the orbit of the planet Venus around the Sun, and also that of the moon around the Earth. He worked out that the transits of Venus would be visible only every 120 years, with a further transit within 8 years of each occurrence. The last was in 2004, and the next one will be in 2012.
There is a memorial window to Jeremiah Horrocks in St. Michael's Church, Much Hoole.
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