Science and Aesthetics

It is interesting to me that much of the debate surrounding the Ptolemaic, Copernican and Tychonic systems revolved around aesthetic considerations.  For instance, in the Copernican system, "we discover a marvelous symmetry of the universe, and an established harmonious linkage between the motion of the spheres and their size, as can be found in no other way" (Crowe 132).  While Brahe himself clearly disagrees with Copernicus' system on the basis of the three principles that he sets forth, he couldn't help but attribute "a greater elegance to the Copernican system and admitted that it 'does not at all offend against mathematical principles'" (140).  

I suppose that this sort of premium that was placed on elegance and harmony may have originated with the Platonic notion of the harmony of the spheres.  Meanwhile, I find myself wondering how much of an influence aesthetic considerations have today with regard to the formulation of hypotheses and general modes of scientific thought.