Uranian

 Evenings

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Urania, o'er her star-bespangled lyre,

With touch of majesty diffused her soul;

A thousand tones, that in the breast inspire,

Exalted feelings, o er the wires'gan roll—

How at the call of Jove the mist unfurled,

And o'er the swelling vault—the glowing sky,

The new-born stars hung out their lamps on high,

And rolled their mighty orbs to music's sweetest sound....

 

-James Percival

This is the 7th Planet

The poem is about Urania, the muse of astronomy, who just happens to share a like name with Ouranos, the god of the heavens. So it's a hymn to astronomy. The science of the ancients said there were five planets, and then came this one.

Like the others, Uranus could only be specualted about in the time of this Bonestell painting, and this time, no astronomers scamper up the cliffs of Titania.

It seems far. Very far away. The feeling of Solar System manifest destiny the human race feels may weaken at this point, for what does Uranus have aside from distance (twice as far from Earth as Saturn!) and melancoly?

Let's see.