Post by Evelyn Moore on Jul 13, 2012 10:23:11 GMT -5
Notes and Definitions
Maximum brilliance (a stellar magnitude of –4.4, or 15 times the brightest star) When a celestial body reaches it's maximum brilliance, the oject is at it's brightest. I.E. July 12, 2012, Venus reached it Maximum brilliance as we see it from Earth at dawn, in it's Crescent Phase.
The Pleiades Star cluster: also known as the Seven Sisters.
Logfile
Shatan wandered into the room trying to hold all his astronomy equipment, he had no idea what the globe thing did but he was attempting to clutch it under his arm with several scrolls of parchment... "Fricken how do people carry this stuff..." He mumbled, every other student had worked it out by now but he was one of the less coordinated ones. Shatan eventually managed to place his stuff on the nearest table he could find and sat down. From here Shatan made a mediocre effort to organize his things... Meaning he pushed his stuff to the side to make a space.
Charlotte Storm had all of her various scrolls and parchments fitted inside of her muggle-style backpack. She was able to fit it all in easily, even without 'extension' charms. She smiled and went to one of the front desks, and got out her charts, her text book, a journal for logging possible observation points in her telescope, and her muggle pen. She liked quills, yes, but sometimes a pen was easier. She was glad she wasn't sleepy yet.
Olivia Torsson took a long time to finally find the classroom, which was tiny and remote at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Panting, she tripped into the room and collapsed into a seat, tossing her bag on to a table which clanked with the delicate instruments she brought for class. Jumping a bit, she pulled the shiny star globe thingamabob out, the compass and telescope. Nothing was broken, thankfully, and after realizing that, Olivia settled herself into the chair, sleepy but still ready for class.
Bronwyn Tudor was looking prim and proper in her uniform. Tiny form swam in black robes, silver and green tie tight around her neck, socks pulled up to her knees. The young Slytherin entered the classroom a few minutes before the start of class, unable to handle the humiliation of arriving late. Blue eyes rolled at the muttering of one boy struggling to carry all his stuff. "Probably with magic." The girl mumbled back, English heavily weighed down in her Welsh accent. Although despite this comment, she herself had a book bag slung over her left shoulder. Taking a seat as far away from others as was possible, the young perfectionist took out parchment, quill, and ink bottle. The parchment was smoothed several times before she unstopped the ink bottle and dipped the quill in, tapping it against the side of the glass bottle before she dared to set the tip on paper and neatly write out her name. One wayward ink drop and she would be forced to rewrite the whole thing.
Lara Rockford entered the room with a little black bag, her telescope stuck out of the top. She sat with the other Ravenclaws, nodding to Olivia. Lara enjoyed Astronomy but wished she was in Transfiguration, instead. She leaned back in her seat, thinking about Quidditch. I'll have to get myself that new bat, she thought fondly. Picturing a nice, sturdy thing...
Evelyn Moore stood at the front of the classroom in the Astronomy Tower, hands folded behind her back. She was adorned in her usual robes. Black velvet with a silvery chain around the waist, a crystal star dangling at knee length. She warmly at the students as they all filed in. She nodded to the first, a Slytherin. Eve made a note to award her points for arriving early. some as they sat and bit her lip as one student's Astroglobe theatoned to fall to the floor. Eve was excited. The first Astronomy Class of the year. She assumed her position at the front of the room when all the students were seated and chatting quietly. "Ok, everyone." she said in a soft, tired voice. "Welcome to the Astronomy tower." She lifted her chin and gazed from one student's face to another. "I hope you all located the Classroom free of strife. I ask that you all please take out your Astronomy Supplies and Textbooks. If you don't have any supplies of your own, you may each take one from the Supply Table." She gestured to the back door gracefully, "When you are ready, line up at the door located at the back of the Class." Eve was wearing a full grin now, "We will be Observing outside tonight."
Shatan gave a half appreciative half awkward smile at the Slytherin as he could not tell if she was helping him or insulting him. The Hufflepuff gathered the least encombering things; Mostly textbooks, starwheels and paper what not. The Astroglobe was left untouched as he figured it wasn't going to be used. He picked up his telescope and compass getting back into the position of being unable to hold everything... He really should have brought it along in a bag. An attempt at entusiasm would force another awkward smile at all the things he had...
Charlotte Storm grabbed her parchments and charts and books and stood up. She was so excited! She followed the Professor and other students out to go to the observation platform. She was so eager to get back to learning about the stars and being able to read in to their mysteries and their beauty!
Bronwyn Tudor would have much rather preferred to sit and listen to a lecture, but alas, it was not to be so. With an inaudbile sigh, the second year reached into her bag, pulling out the necessary supplies and placing them on the table. Standing up, Bronwyn lifted the objects into her arms, holding the textbook and compass tight to her chest, the astroglobe clutched tightly in one hand, telescope tucked between the top of her textbook and her chin. There was definitely a less precarious way to carry everything, but Bronwyn didn't bother to take the time to figure that way out, instead following behind her classmates at a distance of at least a metre as they shuffled outside.
Olivia Torsson looked around, mildly confused. Were we using the supplies in the classroom, going outside with the supplies, or not using the supplies at all? She stared at Bronwyn, who was wallflowering on the other side of the room. Grimacing, Olivia snatched up everything she took out and stuffed it back into the rucksack which she hitched over her arm. At least, if they were dismissed right after going outside, she didn't have to go back inside and repacked. Shooting a customary glare at Bronwyn, she skidded towards the balcony door and bounced on her heels, waiting.
Lara Rockford grinned at Professor Moore, sticking her overly long wand behind her ear. Lara was in her O.W.L. year for Astronomy and knew all too well that it often rained at Hogwart's, and tonight it was clear as could be! Moore's speech during the first class of the year was always the same. She was content to completely tune it out and absentmindedly stood, picking up her bag and following her Ravenclaw classmates.
Evelyn Moore waited for the students beside the back door. She was clearly excited, bouncing up and down slightly on her toes, not unlike one of her students. She had feared the weather would not be permitting tonight, but it was in fact, perfect for Observing. When the students were ready she lead them out onto the Oberseving deck. Eve never forgot the first time she'd seen the sky at Hogwart's. Muggle's electric lighting completely drowned out the Stars and Eve could hardly bear the power of the view of the Sky from this tower. The tripods for the telescopes were all set up and ready to go. "There is no seating plan," she called to everyone, striding down the balcony. When she felt she'd reached a reasonable distance, she turned on her heel. "Everyone, sit where you like. And partners are optional!" She said, in a positive and peppy, but hoarse voice.
Bronwyn Tudor caught the grimace that her presence formed on Olivia's face, and the subsequent glare. The Slytherin's expression didn't change at all, her own perpetual glare greeting Olivia as they trekked outside. Not one to blatantly start something...sometimes, Bronwyn didn't say anything to her brawling partner. At least for now she'd be a relatively good student, she had yet to receive a detention this year! Once outside, Bronwyn instinctively took the last telescope on the roof as far away from her peers as possible.
Shatan did lag behind just a bit, apparently he had ran back to grab something he dropped. The fifth year moved to the last space available which obviously wasnt necessarily the best to set up his telescope. Shatan had a sinking thought, perhaps he had accidently joined a girls only class as he didn't see aa nother guy out on the decking area and it was just what he needed to get more douchebagery from the Slytherins... Regardless Shatan did his best to stablize his tri-pod in order to not have his telescope fall over like last year, not that he couldnt repair the glass it was just a bit embaressing.
Olivia Torsson ran over to one of the tripods in the middle of the balcony. It'd probably be easier to see things when there was nothing to the left, right, or front. She laid her atlas and writing things out in front of her, then started to shuffle the things around. When they were in an order Olivia thought looked nice, the girl started fiddling with her telescope, which was swaying alarmingly with her rough handling of it.
Charlotte Storm went to one of the telescopes and, after taking a seat and setting up her things, she looked around. "I don't mind sharing, if anyone needs or wants to have a partner," she told her classmates before she opened up her chart journal up to a clean page and poised her pen for writing.
Lara Rockford sat beside the telescope at the end. She chose not to partner with anyone. She would often end up arguing which constellation was which and she never seemed to agree. She laid out her compass and star chart, peeking occasionally into her telescope, which was bewitched into a fish eye. You could see the entire sky from one horizon to the other, like a great circle. Lara leaned back, flipping through her Guide to Astrology, reading up on her Horoscope, Capricorn, before things got started.
Evelyn Moore waited patiently for her students to sort themselves out, pacing slowly back and forth. She gazed occasionally up at the sky, staring at it a while longingly for a few moments before she turned to her students and smiled. She repeated the process until she saw that her students had broken off into their pairs (or had chosen to to pair up) and said, "All right!" Suddenly Eve was alive. The any soft or hoarseness that had been present before was gone, she spoke loudly and clearly. "Tonight is a very special night." she announced in a loud clear voice. She gestured to the Western Horizon, where nothing spectacular seemed to be happening. Moore definately thought so. "Tonight, just below the edge of the horizon..." she paused looking at at her students, "Venus will be at it's Maximum Brilliance. Remember this definition," she said, tapping her lip with a black polished fingernail. "Maximum Brilliance is when a celestial object maximum brightness! It's a bright as it can get!" She sighed sadly, "Unfortunately, it wont be visable until early this morning.' After a pause she said, "Ten points will be awarded to the student who wakes up early and tells me what Constellation it is beside." She chirped. The assignment should be easy enough. "But we are in luck! There are three Planets visable tonight! Uranus, Neptune and our favorite Kuiper Belt Object-" she said it as if it were some hilarious joke, "Pluto!" She returned to pacing, as now she seemed to have so much energy she did not know what to do with it, "Your job tonight will be to look through your telescopes and get familliar with the sky. Make it your friend! The first one who can tell me what constellation Neptune is nearest to, will receive Five points!"
Olivia Torsson's hand shot into the air, immediately chanting out what she thought was the answer. "Venus is part of the constellation Ursa Major, which also contains the constellation, the Big Dipper." Glancing back towards the map, her hand shot up again and she bounced along to her words: "Neptune is beside Aquarius!"
Shatan poked his head into the telescope and peered at the planets and squinted, he could never really read the night sky but Shatan did his best to work it out. "Is it near Pleiades?" He asked making a wild guess at the small cluster, he wasnt very good at remember which one is what all he knew was Orion was the one that looked like a stick figure he drew once. A stick figure with a belt.
Bronwyn Tudor set up her telescope and laid out her star chart, placing the compass next to it. She rolled her eyes at the girl who offered to partner up. It was probably a ploy to get someone to help her so she wouldn't fail...or so she wouldn't fail alone. The students were still as pathetic as ever, not even summer holidays and a werewolf attack could change that, unfortunately. Upon hearing the term that they were strictly instructed to remember, Bronwyn quickly reached for the parchment she had so neatly written her name on earlier. She began scrawling out the word and the definition in neat handwriting when a drop of black ink marred her page. "eff." The youngster muttered as she crumpled up the piece of parchment and took out another, taking more time to write out the term and its definition to avoid any ink getting in the wrong spot. Once satisfied with what she had written, finally took the time to look through her telescope just as Olivia provided the answer. The girl frowned as she glanced between the sky that she saw in her telescope and the one on paper. Connect the dots in the sky? This was not her strong suit. Well she could appreciate the beauty of the stars, connecting the dots of constellations was a different matter altogether.
Charlotte Storm raised her hand upward. "I know this doesn't have much to do with the class on hand, but, I know a story from Muggle traditions about how the 'Big Dipper' got in to the sky," she offered. She was writing all the proper points down, of course, and taking notes as always, but she thought that folklore was a good thing to have on hand when discussing stars. Many constellations had legends and tales around them, after all.
(00:27:42) Evelyn Moore laughed comically at the little Ravenclaw girl, "Venus is one of our Solar System's planets, but it is the third brightest object in the entire night sky!" she said, approaching the student. Eve knew the students who had signed up by name, this must be Olivia, "But you are right about Neptune, Ms Torsson It is, indeed beside Aquarius. Five points to Ravenclaw." She turned to Shantan and nodded to him as well, "Venus will be South East of Pleiades in the morning. Five points to Hufflepuff." She winked at him approvingly and Eve continued on Shantan's earlier point. "The Pleiades Star cluster is also known as the Seven Sisters-- take note of that please.". She heard Bronwyn curse, but ignored it. The girl had been attempting to copy the definition and she wasn't going to punish her for that. She threw away the mental note to award her five points, however. Eve took a moment and stood by the older Ravenclaw, "We would love to hear it before the end of class!" She went on, continuing to instruct the class. "Who can tell me now, where to find Pluto tonight?"
Shatan earned points for his house, perhaps this class wasnt so hard for him this year... Ah well.. Shatan squinted through his telescope and got nothing from here, ah well.. He was eccstatic that he got five points yay! The student peered at the sky with nothing, how on earth did the ancient civilizations even see pictures out of these? He should really study more for this subject.
Olivia Torsson's hand flew back into the air, looking rather demented. "Pluto is in Sagittarius tonight." She almost poked her eye out checking it again and barked out from behind her telescope, and looked confused for a moment. "Sagittarius really doesn't look like an archer, um...It's in the teapot asterism of Sagittarius."
Evelyn Moore blinked at the second year, surprised at her getting it right the second time. Eve just smiled, though and nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Torsson. But please, raise your hand and wait for me to call upon you." Striding further down the row of telescopes, she hummed. These students were doing very well and she was relieved. She was terribly anxious of the class being too difficult. Next week, when all the planets and stars have all shifted, it would get even more interesting. She signed happily, "All right students, we will locate three more stars before I dismiss the class." she assumed it was nearing eleven o'clock and the students all were likely to have class in the morning. "There are three stars in the "Summer Triangle", which is still visable now. They are Vega, Altair and Deneb. Please, each of you write down which constellation they are found in and hand them in to me when you are ready. You will require your Star Chart in A Wizarding Guide to the Sky: Atlases."
Olivia Torsson pulled out her atlas and flicked through it, unfolding the constellation map and scoured it. She pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and ink, and scribbled out the constellations: Vega is found in Lyra, Altair is found in Aquila, and Deneb is found in Cygnus. Thinking for a moment, she drew pictures of the three constellations, connected them with line and doodled cartoon versions of a lyre, an eagle, and a swan. She hummed, and handed the parchment to Professor Moore and returned to her seat.
Lara Rockford looks to her friend Olivia, deeply impressed. Lara had no idea she was so talented in the subject. Lara peered with one eye closed through her telescope trying to locate Vega... Oh... what does the darn thing look like again? She examined at the Star Chart and then looked through her telescope and then back again, and again. Odd. She couldn't find a darn thing! "Dammit." Lara hissed to herself, scratching her fore head. Oooh there it is! she thought, excitedly. Beside the Constellation Lyra. One down two to go, she sighed. Man, she was really gunna have to do that extra credit assignment for Venus.
Shatan wrote down in a doodley manner... Uhh... 'Altair is in Aquila, Deneb in Cygnus and Vega is in Hercules!' The young man picked a triangle and did his best in hoping he was correct. But hope is rarely that good when it comes to classes. He needed an easy class to go to, like Divination he could make stuff up in that lesson.
Lara Rockford was very tempted to peek at Olivia's drawing before she'd passed it in, but knew that Moore didn't miss anything that went on in the Classroom, even if Lara had looked up on more than one occasion and found the Professor's head bobbing sleepily as she nodded off at Breakfast: Eve did not permit cheating. Only her famous 'pairs' could share work. She hastily scribbled and image of Vega beside Lyra, and Deneb in Cygnus. Altair, however was completele mislabelled. Lara passed it in to Eve with a, "Here you go miss!" Before returning to her seat.
Evelyn Moore accepted the first essay complete and as expected, it came from Olivia. She smiled to the student and said to her directly, "Good job today in class, Olivia." she'd said directly to her, she wore a serious expression when she gave the complement. She accepted the assignments of the others and nodded to them. She eyed her students and saw Bronwyn who had not spoken during the entire class. Eve sighed, defeated, "5 Points to Slytherin for Ms. Tudor's punctuality." Now desparate to track some Celestial bodies, herself, she called out to her class, "All right everyone, wonderfull job tonight." She clapped her hands together, that had gone fairly well. "It was a pleasure to teach you all and I hope you will all arrive as punctually Monday as you have today. Class Dismissed." Eve her wand in the air and the classroom door opened with a squeeeak, "Do be careful not to trip on the stair well on the way out. It is quite dark."
Maximum brilliance (a stellar magnitude of –4.4, or 15 times the brightest star) When a celestial body reaches it's maximum brilliance, the oject is at it's brightest. I.E. July 12, 2012, Venus reached it Maximum brilliance as we see it from Earth at dawn, in it's Crescent Phase.
The Pleiades Star cluster: also known as the Seven Sisters.
Logfile
Shatan wandered into the room trying to hold all his astronomy equipment, he had no idea what the globe thing did but he was attempting to clutch it under his arm with several scrolls of parchment... "Fricken how do people carry this stuff..." He mumbled, every other student had worked it out by now but he was one of the less coordinated ones. Shatan eventually managed to place his stuff on the nearest table he could find and sat down. From here Shatan made a mediocre effort to organize his things... Meaning he pushed his stuff to the side to make a space.
Charlotte Storm had all of her various scrolls and parchments fitted inside of her muggle-style backpack. She was able to fit it all in easily, even without 'extension' charms. She smiled and went to one of the front desks, and got out her charts, her text book, a journal for logging possible observation points in her telescope, and her muggle pen. She liked quills, yes, but sometimes a pen was easier. She was glad she wasn't sleepy yet.
Olivia Torsson took a long time to finally find the classroom, which was tiny and remote at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Panting, she tripped into the room and collapsed into a seat, tossing her bag on to a table which clanked with the delicate instruments she brought for class. Jumping a bit, she pulled the shiny star globe thingamabob out, the compass and telescope. Nothing was broken, thankfully, and after realizing that, Olivia settled herself into the chair, sleepy but still ready for class.
Bronwyn Tudor was looking prim and proper in her uniform. Tiny form swam in black robes, silver and green tie tight around her neck, socks pulled up to her knees. The young Slytherin entered the classroom a few minutes before the start of class, unable to handle the humiliation of arriving late. Blue eyes rolled at the muttering of one boy struggling to carry all his stuff. "Probably with magic." The girl mumbled back, English heavily weighed down in her Welsh accent. Although despite this comment, she herself had a book bag slung over her left shoulder. Taking a seat as far away from others as was possible, the young perfectionist took out parchment, quill, and ink bottle. The parchment was smoothed several times before she unstopped the ink bottle and dipped the quill in, tapping it against the side of the glass bottle before she dared to set the tip on paper and neatly write out her name. One wayward ink drop and she would be forced to rewrite the whole thing.
Lara Rockford entered the room with a little black bag, her telescope stuck out of the top. She sat with the other Ravenclaws, nodding to Olivia. Lara enjoyed Astronomy but wished she was in Transfiguration, instead. She leaned back in her seat, thinking about Quidditch. I'll have to get myself that new bat, she thought fondly. Picturing a nice, sturdy thing...
Evelyn Moore stood at the front of the classroom in the Astronomy Tower, hands folded behind her back. She was adorned in her usual robes. Black velvet with a silvery chain around the waist, a crystal star dangling at knee length. She warmly at the students as they all filed in. She nodded to the first, a Slytherin. Eve made a note to award her points for arriving early. some as they sat and bit her lip as one student's Astroglobe theatoned to fall to the floor. Eve was excited. The first Astronomy Class of the year. She assumed her position at the front of the room when all the students were seated and chatting quietly. "Ok, everyone." she said in a soft, tired voice. "Welcome to the Astronomy tower." She lifted her chin and gazed from one student's face to another. "I hope you all located the Classroom free of strife. I ask that you all please take out your Astronomy Supplies and Textbooks. If you don't have any supplies of your own, you may each take one from the Supply Table." She gestured to the back door gracefully, "When you are ready, line up at the door located at the back of the Class." Eve was wearing a full grin now, "We will be Observing outside tonight."
Shatan gave a half appreciative half awkward smile at the Slytherin as he could not tell if she was helping him or insulting him. The Hufflepuff gathered the least encombering things; Mostly textbooks, starwheels and paper what not. The Astroglobe was left untouched as he figured it wasn't going to be used. He picked up his telescope and compass getting back into the position of being unable to hold everything... He really should have brought it along in a bag. An attempt at entusiasm would force another awkward smile at all the things he had...
Charlotte Storm grabbed her parchments and charts and books and stood up. She was so excited! She followed the Professor and other students out to go to the observation platform. She was so eager to get back to learning about the stars and being able to read in to their mysteries and their beauty!
Bronwyn Tudor would have much rather preferred to sit and listen to a lecture, but alas, it was not to be so. With an inaudbile sigh, the second year reached into her bag, pulling out the necessary supplies and placing them on the table. Standing up, Bronwyn lifted the objects into her arms, holding the textbook and compass tight to her chest, the astroglobe clutched tightly in one hand, telescope tucked between the top of her textbook and her chin. There was definitely a less precarious way to carry everything, but Bronwyn didn't bother to take the time to figure that way out, instead following behind her classmates at a distance of at least a metre as they shuffled outside.
Olivia Torsson looked around, mildly confused. Were we using the supplies in the classroom, going outside with the supplies, or not using the supplies at all? She stared at Bronwyn, who was wallflowering on the other side of the room. Grimacing, Olivia snatched up everything she took out and stuffed it back into the rucksack which she hitched over her arm. At least, if they were dismissed right after going outside, she didn't have to go back inside and repacked. Shooting a customary glare at Bronwyn, she skidded towards the balcony door and bounced on her heels, waiting.
Lara Rockford grinned at Professor Moore, sticking her overly long wand behind her ear. Lara was in her O.W.L. year for Astronomy and knew all too well that it often rained at Hogwart's, and tonight it was clear as could be! Moore's speech during the first class of the year was always the same. She was content to completely tune it out and absentmindedly stood, picking up her bag and following her Ravenclaw classmates.
Evelyn Moore waited for the students beside the back door. She was clearly excited, bouncing up and down slightly on her toes, not unlike one of her students. She had feared the weather would not be permitting tonight, but it was in fact, perfect for Observing. When the students were ready she lead them out onto the Oberseving deck. Eve never forgot the first time she'd seen the sky at Hogwart's. Muggle's electric lighting completely drowned out the Stars and Eve could hardly bear the power of the view of the Sky from this tower. The tripods for the telescopes were all set up and ready to go. "There is no seating plan," she called to everyone, striding down the balcony. When she felt she'd reached a reasonable distance, she turned on her heel. "Everyone, sit where you like. And partners are optional!" She said, in a positive and peppy, but hoarse voice.
Bronwyn Tudor caught the grimace that her presence formed on Olivia's face, and the subsequent glare. The Slytherin's expression didn't change at all, her own perpetual glare greeting Olivia as they trekked outside. Not one to blatantly start something...sometimes, Bronwyn didn't say anything to her brawling partner. At least for now she'd be a relatively good student, she had yet to receive a detention this year! Once outside, Bronwyn instinctively took the last telescope on the roof as far away from her peers as possible.
Shatan did lag behind just a bit, apparently he had ran back to grab something he dropped. The fifth year moved to the last space available which obviously wasnt necessarily the best to set up his telescope. Shatan had a sinking thought, perhaps he had accidently joined a girls only class as he didn't see aa nother guy out on the decking area and it was just what he needed to get more douchebagery from the Slytherins... Regardless Shatan did his best to stablize his tri-pod in order to not have his telescope fall over like last year, not that he couldnt repair the glass it was just a bit embaressing.
Olivia Torsson ran over to one of the tripods in the middle of the balcony. It'd probably be easier to see things when there was nothing to the left, right, or front. She laid her atlas and writing things out in front of her, then started to shuffle the things around. When they were in an order Olivia thought looked nice, the girl started fiddling with her telescope, which was swaying alarmingly with her rough handling of it.
Charlotte Storm went to one of the telescopes and, after taking a seat and setting up her things, she looked around. "I don't mind sharing, if anyone needs or wants to have a partner," she told her classmates before she opened up her chart journal up to a clean page and poised her pen for writing.
Lara Rockford sat beside the telescope at the end. She chose not to partner with anyone. She would often end up arguing which constellation was which and she never seemed to agree. She laid out her compass and star chart, peeking occasionally into her telescope, which was bewitched into a fish eye. You could see the entire sky from one horizon to the other, like a great circle. Lara leaned back, flipping through her Guide to Astrology, reading up on her Horoscope, Capricorn, before things got started.
Evelyn Moore waited patiently for her students to sort themselves out, pacing slowly back and forth. She gazed occasionally up at the sky, staring at it a while longingly for a few moments before she turned to her students and smiled. She repeated the process until she saw that her students had broken off into their pairs (or had chosen to to pair up) and said, "All right!" Suddenly Eve was alive. The any soft or hoarseness that had been present before was gone, she spoke loudly and clearly. "Tonight is a very special night." she announced in a loud clear voice. She gestured to the Western Horizon, where nothing spectacular seemed to be happening. Moore definately thought so. "Tonight, just below the edge of the horizon..." she paused looking at at her students, "Venus will be at it's Maximum Brilliance. Remember this definition," she said, tapping her lip with a black polished fingernail. "Maximum Brilliance is when a celestial object maximum brightness! It's a bright as it can get!" She sighed sadly, "Unfortunately, it wont be visable until early this morning.' After a pause she said, "Ten points will be awarded to the student who wakes up early and tells me what Constellation it is beside." She chirped. The assignment should be easy enough. "But we are in luck! There are three Planets visable tonight! Uranus, Neptune and our favorite Kuiper Belt Object-" she said it as if it were some hilarious joke, "Pluto!" She returned to pacing, as now she seemed to have so much energy she did not know what to do with it, "Your job tonight will be to look through your telescopes and get familliar with the sky. Make it your friend! The first one who can tell me what constellation Neptune is nearest to, will receive Five points!"
Olivia Torsson's hand shot into the air, immediately chanting out what she thought was the answer. "Venus is part of the constellation Ursa Major, which also contains the constellation, the Big Dipper." Glancing back towards the map, her hand shot up again and she bounced along to her words: "Neptune is beside Aquarius!"
Shatan poked his head into the telescope and peered at the planets and squinted, he could never really read the night sky but Shatan did his best to work it out. "Is it near Pleiades?" He asked making a wild guess at the small cluster, he wasnt very good at remember which one is what all he knew was Orion was the one that looked like a stick figure he drew once. A stick figure with a belt.
Bronwyn Tudor set up her telescope and laid out her star chart, placing the compass next to it. She rolled her eyes at the girl who offered to partner up. It was probably a ploy to get someone to help her so she wouldn't fail...or so she wouldn't fail alone. The students were still as pathetic as ever, not even summer holidays and a werewolf attack could change that, unfortunately. Upon hearing the term that they were strictly instructed to remember, Bronwyn quickly reached for the parchment she had so neatly written her name on earlier. She began scrawling out the word and the definition in neat handwriting when a drop of black ink marred her page. "eff." The youngster muttered as she crumpled up the piece of parchment and took out another, taking more time to write out the term and its definition to avoid any ink getting in the wrong spot. Once satisfied with what she had written, finally took the time to look through her telescope just as Olivia provided the answer. The girl frowned as she glanced between the sky that she saw in her telescope and the one on paper. Connect the dots in the sky? This was not her strong suit. Well she could appreciate the beauty of the stars, connecting the dots of constellations was a different matter altogether.
Charlotte Storm raised her hand upward. "I know this doesn't have much to do with the class on hand, but, I know a story from Muggle traditions about how the 'Big Dipper' got in to the sky," she offered. She was writing all the proper points down, of course, and taking notes as always, but she thought that folklore was a good thing to have on hand when discussing stars. Many constellations had legends and tales around them, after all.
(00:27:42) Evelyn Moore laughed comically at the little Ravenclaw girl, "Venus is one of our Solar System's planets, but it is the third brightest object in the entire night sky!" she said, approaching the student. Eve knew the students who had signed up by name, this must be Olivia, "But you are right about Neptune, Ms Torsson It is, indeed beside Aquarius. Five points to Ravenclaw." She turned to Shantan and nodded to him as well, "Venus will be South East of Pleiades in the morning. Five points to Hufflepuff." She winked at him approvingly and Eve continued on Shantan's earlier point. "The Pleiades Star cluster is also known as the Seven Sisters-- take note of that please.". She heard Bronwyn curse, but ignored it. The girl had been attempting to copy the definition and she wasn't going to punish her for that. She threw away the mental note to award her five points, however. Eve took a moment and stood by the older Ravenclaw, "We would love to hear it before the end of class!" She went on, continuing to instruct the class. "Who can tell me now, where to find Pluto tonight?"
Shatan earned points for his house, perhaps this class wasnt so hard for him this year... Ah well.. Shatan squinted through his telescope and got nothing from here, ah well.. He was eccstatic that he got five points yay! The student peered at the sky with nothing, how on earth did the ancient civilizations even see pictures out of these? He should really study more for this subject.
Olivia Torsson's hand flew back into the air, looking rather demented. "Pluto is in Sagittarius tonight." She almost poked her eye out checking it again and barked out from behind her telescope, and looked confused for a moment. "Sagittarius really doesn't look like an archer, um...It's in the teapot asterism of Sagittarius."
Evelyn Moore blinked at the second year, surprised at her getting it right the second time. Eve just smiled, though and nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Torsson. But please, raise your hand and wait for me to call upon you." Striding further down the row of telescopes, she hummed. These students were doing very well and she was relieved. She was terribly anxious of the class being too difficult. Next week, when all the planets and stars have all shifted, it would get even more interesting. She signed happily, "All right students, we will locate three more stars before I dismiss the class." she assumed it was nearing eleven o'clock and the students all were likely to have class in the morning. "There are three stars in the "Summer Triangle", which is still visable now. They are Vega, Altair and Deneb. Please, each of you write down which constellation they are found in and hand them in to me when you are ready. You will require your Star Chart in A Wizarding Guide to the Sky: Atlases."
Olivia Torsson pulled out her atlas and flicked through it, unfolding the constellation map and scoured it. She pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and ink, and scribbled out the constellations: Vega is found in Lyra, Altair is found in Aquila, and Deneb is found in Cygnus. Thinking for a moment, she drew pictures of the three constellations, connected them with line and doodled cartoon versions of a lyre, an eagle, and a swan. She hummed, and handed the parchment to Professor Moore and returned to her seat.
Lara Rockford looks to her friend Olivia, deeply impressed. Lara had no idea she was so talented in the subject. Lara peered with one eye closed through her telescope trying to locate Vega... Oh... what does the darn thing look like again? She examined at the Star Chart and then looked through her telescope and then back again, and again. Odd. She couldn't find a darn thing! "Dammit." Lara hissed to herself, scratching her fore head. Oooh there it is! she thought, excitedly. Beside the Constellation Lyra. One down two to go, she sighed. Man, she was really gunna have to do that extra credit assignment for Venus.
Shatan wrote down in a doodley manner... Uhh... 'Altair is in Aquila, Deneb in Cygnus and Vega is in Hercules!' The young man picked a triangle and did his best in hoping he was correct. But hope is rarely that good when it comes to classes. He needed an easy class to go to, like Divination he could make stuff up in that lesson.
Lara Rockford was very tempted to peek at Olivia's drawing before she'd passed it in, but knew that Moore didn't miss anything that went on in the Classroom, even if Lara had looked up on more than one occasion and found the Professor's head bobbing sleepily as she nodded off at Breakfast: Eve did not permit cheating. Only her famous 'pairs' could share work. She hastily scribbled and image of Vega beside Lyra, and Deneb in Cygnus. Altair, however was completele mislabelled. Lara passed it in to Eve with a, "Here you go miss!" Before returning to her seat.
Evelyn Moore accepted the first essay complete and as expected, it came from Olivia. She smiled to the student and said to her directly, "Good job today in class, Olivia." she'd said directly to her, she wore a serious expression when she gave the complement. She accepted the assignments of the others and nodded to them. She eyed her students and saw Bronwyn who had not spoken during the entire class. Eve sighed, defeated, "5 Points to Slytherin for Ms. Tudor's punctuality." Now desparate to track some Celestial bodies, herself, she called out to her class, "All right everyone, wonderfull job tonight." She clapped her hands together, that had gone fairly well. "It was a pleasure to teach you all and I hope you will all arrive as punctually Monday as you have today. Class Dismissed." Eve her wand in the air and the classroom door opened with a squeeeak, "Do be careful not to trip on the stair well on the way out. It is quite dark."
