SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Astronomy Lesson 1 :: Halloween Astronomy

sweetpinkpixie · 01-11-2015, 10:26 PM

Tapping his sundial watch to make sure it was still functioning, the astronomer gave a quick glance out the window which was soon followed by an approving nod before his attention was drawn back to the semi circle of desks.

SPOILER!!: quiet “Thinking Chair” types

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonea

Okay, the teacher finally had started to talk and… For a few minutes she wondered where he was talking about? Newton? That was a Muggle right? Hmm, Muggles were boring so she wasn’t really interested in that part of his story! But when he started to talk about… The pumpkins she frowned. She had absolutely NO idea how to answer his question! All what she knew was that the muggles made them to scare the dead away, ghosts and the undead… But that was rubbish, of course! The muggles were just stupid to believe in such a story but… More than that she didn’t knew about the pumpkins en Halloween and she absolutely didn’t knew what it all had to do with this lesson!

Shaking her head she didn’t spoke because she really had no idea WHAT to say! She only sat still, ready to make notes but… Also listening to what the others were saying, one eyebrow raised and a questioning look in her eyes…

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

Agatha turned her head to see who had ~~dared to~~ sat next to her and was actually glad it was Zander and not a stupider kid. She didn't return his small smile, though, but her expression wan't as harsh as before.

And her annoyance turned into a bored out face when professor Flamsteed said her face might stay that way. Then she facepalmed at his proton comment. What. Even.

The Gryffindor Head of House went on about himself, Astronomy, Astrology, old people and yadda yadda yadda, so Agatha looked out the window and watched as some leaves were blown around by the wind. Daydreaming. But then it was question time and all of her classmates started yapping and she actually listened to some of them. Halloween... season... full moon, stars... equinox? What? Season... cold, winter... equinox? Equinox? Equinox????

Oh, sweet Morgana, what a bunch of nerds. NERDS. Agatha had no time for that so she turned to look out the window again, resting her elbow on the desk and chin on the palm of her hand, not even bothering to do it in a discreet way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

His attention was mostly focused on the pumpkins (of course it was, this was Dima they were talking about), so the Ravenclaw barely even heard Professor Top Hat's question. All he could think about was the GOURDS. They were gonna carve them?!? Could they roast the seeds and make beautiful, glorious pies from their pulpy innards?

Astronomy? Who cared about Astronomy when they could be FEASTING?

Dima had his priorities straight, obviously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by feeheeheeny

...Stellar. Sophie giggled. Everything was always stellar with him, wasn't it?

Time and time again, it was weird to her that he welcomed them to call him Professor Airey, and though sometimes it was tempting since that's what Tobes called him, it was still just so... strange. He was a very important authority figure to her, and using his first name seemed... way too formal and almost rude. No, she could never do that. Never, ever.

So they'd be carving pumpkins, hmm? That was interesting. Though... slightly... less exciting than what she usually expected from Flamsteed's classes, but she assumed there was some kind of cool spin they would be putting on it. It wouldn't just be normal carving, would it? No. Couldn't be.

As the professor went on to explain the necessary differences between astronomy and astrology, Sophie became distracted by Tobes playing with his pumpkin. It wasn't like she really needed to hear that information anyway, so she welcomed the distraction and gave Tobes an amused look, only tuning back in when a question was posed. The connections between astronomy and Halloween? What kind of question was that? One that was welcoming bizarre answers, that was for sure, and Sophie tried to hide her amusement at many of her peers' very... creative answers.

TOBES' was her favorite, for sure, and when Flamsteed looked their way when Tobes was talking, Sophie just BEAMED and, when she caught the man's eye, she gave him an elated face that tried to communicate the sentiment of, THAT IS THE BEST ANSWER AND HOW EXCITING IS IT THAT TOBES IS BACK TO NORMAL AND ACTUALLY REALLY HAPPY? No answer of her own because she was ALL ABOUT DAT TOBES and was so happy to not be sharing concerned looks with Flamsteed over her Hufflepuff this term. Very, very relieved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Class had begun.

And at least one purpose for the pumpkins on their desk was explained as the professor began the lesson. Carving them...interesting. Put only once some connection was made in whatever topic was to be brought up today. Benny's ears pricked up at the sudden mention of a dragon but alas it was merely a turn of a phrase by Airey and was a disappointment in the long run.

As for the answer to the man's question, other classmates had been quick to answer, including Angel and Adi. And to be honest, as the fifth year listened, he couldn't think of a unique answer that wasn't already mentioned or alluded to. So he remained silent for this round. Plenty of time to participate since they had just begun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Er, yeah. Heather actually had no idea on this question. The only connection she could make in her head right now between Astronomy and Halloween was that a full moon on Halloween would make it easier for werewolves to blend in, thanks to the tradition of costumes. But somehow, she didn't think that that was what Professor Airey was looking for. So she kept silent and just listened to her classmates ideas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

As class oficially began, Janelle furiously took notes. She didn't want to miss any important information so she wrote as fast as she could. Then the professor posed the first question and she stopped to think. What did Astronomy have to do with Halloween? Well clearly something or he wouldn't have asked the question. She really had no idea so she had to think harder.

Janelle wasn't afraid to raise her hand, no matter how ridiculous her answer might seem. Unfortunately, her mind just wasn't coming up with anything ........yet anyway. Think Janelle think. Halloween..... Astronomy...... connection. Nothing. Well, she would keep writing and keep thinking. If something popped into her head in the meantime, she'd put her hand up.

Walking around, he gave small approving nods to the quiet thinkers, the attentive listeners, the doodlers - no...were any of them doodling? That wasn't allowed. Unless it was astronomy related doodles...then perhaps they would be forgiven.

No? No hands then. Alrighty then...let's look for a raised hand then, shall we?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schroyers

...
He looked at Aegis and raised an eyebrow. Was he supposed to be impressed? Cause he wasn't. "Professor? Anyone not in their Uniform has to go back?" He asked and tilted his head toward Aegis, he was also wearing a suit and Nemo didn't find it fair that this guy could get away with what Damien couldn't.
...

"Hogwarts robes must be worn at all times in my classroom," he nodded towards the Gryffindor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Abby listened to what the professor said and raised her hand and said "Halloween has to do with astronomy cause of the moon and stars" Abby wasn't sure if that was right but it was well worth a guess better than being silent

Well....yes...

Technically speaking, Miss Valentine was not wrong but also not correct either. "Yes, but I was looking for a more specific answer," he winked at the Ravenclaw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

...
Okaaaaaaaaay.... The brunette then stayed focus and ready for the lesson. And she didn't have any idea about the correlations between astronomy and October. She just randomly guessed "Maybe... we can visibly see Venus at Halloween night?" She spoke as she raised her hand. Well, it's just a guess so... She didn't hope that she was right.

"QUITE RIGHT, MISS RUSH!" Airey chirped with some dramatic pointing. While not the answer he had been looking for, it was still an important distinction to make and help illustrate how the universe was in constant motion. "Unlike last year when it was visible in the morning sky, this year Venus will be visible in the night sky to the south west. Definitely something to keep an eye out for. Stellar point."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel looked at the Professor and raised her hand, she had a feeling her sister was upset about something especially since she was staying away from her and the gang but she could find out later. "Is it because pumpkins are made better in the moonlight?" Angel wasn't 100% sure if she was right or not but it was worth a go at asking that, her sister had said the other thing she had thought about saying.

The astronomer pursed his lips slightly. "If you are referring to the theory of 'moon planting,' I regret to inform you that I am no expert on the subject." That, and he did not believe in the theories either. "Something you could perhaps ask Professor Millard about?"

Herbology and this suited astronut had never gotten along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

...
So raising his hand-- still in mid thought by the way-- he waited for his turn. "Um, is it because it falls on a full moon this year?" Actually. He had no idea if it was supposed to fall on a full moon this year.

Welp. It was a try, okay? He'd get the next one for sure.

"The moon will noooooooot quite be full come October 31st, missing true full moon status by a day," he winked at the prefect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

....
Someone must really not like Astrology if they go that in depth to tell the difference in the first class of the year. Would they get detention by thinking this was Astrology. But back to Halloween. "You can dress up as your favorite Astronomer on Halloween"

You can if you want. Nobody would stop you.

Well whatever Halloween was cool.

"That you certainly could," he nodded approvingly. Perhaps he should modify a few details for his plans to include that in the description. Hmm... "And who would your favorite be, Mr. Barrington?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talikins

....
As for the pumpkin, the others had beat her first thought to it. The equinox, it had to be that..but hey maybe a second guess or suggestion wouldn't hurt either way? "Professor, I'd say it's the equinox like everyone said or it could just be the fact that a pumpkin could represent a planet? You know like it's oval and all that." Lame, maybe..but hey what else was there to say?

"I would have stuck with your equinox nothing, Miss Campbell," he chuckled, giving her desk a few knocks with his knuckles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by iBeJenn

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"On Halloween, you can dress planets up as people and dress people up as planets and space and stuff." See, related to Astronomy. "Also the full moon is cool and sometimes it lands on Halloween and makes things super creepy. So. HA.

There was her smart answer. She then proceeded to lean back in her seat and let people admire her smartness.

Dress the planets up as....people.

He was willing to throw the Gryffindor a bone, just smile and nod. Smiiiiiiiiiiile and nod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

..

Just remembering something, Gabe raised his hand again...since staring at the pumpkin reminded him of Mars for whatever reason.

"I read that...in 2005, Mars began rotating especially close to Earth...and supposedly did for the following thirteen years." He'd also read accounts where people had mentioned it looking like a pumpkin in the sky......Maybe that's why he'd remembered. Pumpkins were important, yes. "When do you suppose that'll happen again, sir?"

...for his stargazing reasons.

Rotating close to Earth for...13 years?

Airey scratched his head and attempted to search the extensive library that was his brain for something about that. Hadn't been planning on speaking about Mars today, so that category was somewhat shut away at the moment. He could recall a hoax that had spread through the muggle media about Mars being so close to Earth that it would appear as large as the Moon - which would have been quite catastrophic - but nothing about the particular phenomena that Mr. Banner was inquiring about.

Was he sure he wasn't getting somewhat confused about the retrograde motion of Mars that occurred every two years?

The professor sort of just kept staring at the young man, huge invisible cartoon question mark appearing over his head and everything.

"Come again?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Oh, he was looking back now. Dot flashed her dimples at him before saluting. Hullo, Professor Starman. "I want to talk to you about life on the moon, sir. Maybe not now, 'cause apparently you are very busy. But soon. You and me."

So that was fun. Dot skipped to her seat as class started, and she was glad they were addressing the question of the pumpkins right off. She couldn't wait to do throw it out the window. SPEAKING OF WHICH... hand up. "Can we learn about gravity by throwing our pumpkins out the window?"

The cute smile...it was unnerving. Especially coming from a Slytherin. Still, he managed to return a nervous one himself and pursed his lips ever so slightly. Busy? Well, yes he was. Teaching a lesson as a matter of fact...

"Anytime, Miss Wojack. My office door is always open." Unless it was closed, in which case she would need to knock for it to open. He eyed the pumpkins and then the young lady again, slightly terrified that she had somehow read his deep desire to do just that only moments ago. "Not today, Miss Wojack. Not today."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buggy-Boo

Margo was trying to think of all the things she knew about Halloween. Besides the costumes, candies, and parties that went a lot with them. That clearly was not the right answer, Margo knew that much.

Raising her hand Margo gave a stand a it, however, true or false, this is what she knew or at least thought she knew. "It's the time of year that the veil between this world and the next is thinnest right? So that's why sprites and stuff can cross over during this time"

There that was what she knew!

The Hufflepuff first year received some dramatic finger pointing, although not what he was looking for as her response had nothing to do with the subject of astronomy, but everything to do with the Hogwarts ghosts. Who, in his humble opinion, he felt would just ham things up a bit come the holiday.

"That is one of the ancient beliefs that has passed down over the centuries, yes," he nodded...with some more finger pointing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

...
"Professor I think the moon changes can have something to do with it. I mean usually the full moon can happen and change creatures like werwolves and vampires. But I agree with Margo's answer as well." he smiled backing up his fellow puff.

The astronomer nodded, tapping his chin a few times with his index finger. "As I said to Mr. Adair a moment ago, the moon will not be full this Halloween, but you are correct in connecting moon cycles with the holiday. It can have quite a bit of influence on magical creatures." And supposedly people as well, but Airey had always considered that a feeble excuse to act crazy.

Excuse based on astrology. Sweet solstice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

...
"Kace already said it, sir. Werewolves. They um, they use the moon's cycles to detect when they're about to change and stuff." That was really all he had for this. And Kace had already given a brief example. No need to give Professor Flamsteed two answers that were similar to each other.

And someone else jumping on the werewolf train of thought. Again, not entirely incorrect due to the inclusion of moon phases - a part of astronomy - but not what he had been asking for. "True, but werewolves, as we know, are not exclusive to Halloween," he replied, tapping his nose with his index finger.

Precision of answer in relation to the question. Mmmmhmmm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

...
"WELL, Professor Airey," he began, talking quite fast as his eyes gleamed enthusiastically and he lowered his hand again. "Halloween is about all those scary sorts of things, right? And, well, I realised last year that space is so big and we're so little and THAT'S sort of terrifying. If I wanted to dress up for something for Halloween that I thought was the scariest thing ever, aside from Dementors that is, I'd go as the concept of the infinite size of the universe, or someone floating around lost in space. Space is AWESOME and brilliant, and fantamazing, and full of knowledge, but it's scary too. The trick is not to think about it." Toby was grinning, grinning, grinning so wide, it was impossible to see anything on his face other than a sort of pseudo-manic glee as he shifted the pumpkin's weight from one hand to the other. He was really quite cheerful about it all.

Sweet solstice, Mr. Tempus was really...er...bonding with that pumpkin. Was the Hufflepuff going to flip out and go all supernova when it came time to start drilling holes into the thing? Merlin, the Astronomy professor hoped not!

Airey was finding it somewhat hard to focus on what the boy was saying - having flash backs to a second year Miss Cambridge and her failed star appearing vividly in his mind - and honestly only half heard what Mr. Tempus was saying. "And the treat is that you have one stellar costume concept," he said, still half zoned out.

Get it? Trick is not to think about it...treat is...oh never mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsgisselx3

....
Raising his hand, Oliver waited to be called on and then said, "It's a trick question." Clearly. "Halloween has nothing to do with Astronomy and you just want us to carve pumpkins because it's October." So maybe that wasn't the best answer, but he thought it was really reasonable. Why else would they be carving pumpkins when he was soooo tired??? But just to make sure the professor didn't think he was being rude or anything, Ollie smiled and shrugged. He honestly just had no clue how they were connected and he wasn't paying attention to what any of the other students were saying to figure it out either. Oops.

Airey could stop himself and burst out laughing at the first year's answer. Funnily enough, he WOULD be the sort to do that sort of thing. Had in the past, sort of. Asking the entire class if they wanted ice cream only to be a complete buzz kill and agree that he did too and it was an awful pity that there was none.

Although he did not fancy thinking back on that term much. Merlin what a disaster that had been.

"I do enjoy the artistic endeavor that is pumpkin carving," he mused. "But I can assure you that there is a purpose and I am not pulling your legs anywhere."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

...
"All the scary stuff comes out on Halloween and also on full moons so its kind of like a full moon? Also spirits and things can fly and flying is kind of astronomy-ish, right?" It made sense to her, anyway.

How....cute? Or perhaps it was just an incredibly Hufflepuff answer. Not wishing to repeat himself again with the full moon clarification, the professor simply walked by her desk and gave it an encouraging pat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

...
Hand up, though more hesitantly than usual. "Did people happen upon the idea of the universe and planets and things during some halloween festivity? Like, did they see a bunch of pumpkins laying around in a circle and though OH GEEE, THAT COULD BE US?" Was he following?? Or was this too gnarly an idea? It wasn't his best, and he was sorely disappointed by it. Or maybe whoever discovered the universe was talking about it with friends at halloween and demonstrated the solar system by using said pumpkins. Yeah? OR... "Maybe a pumpkin gave them the idea that the earth is round and not flat?" ... more lame ideas, and all so very pumpkin-centric. THEY WERE DISTRACTING HIMMMMM.

Pumpkin pie would be nice right about now though.

Ah, Mr. Zeke. A young man who had moments of genius and more moments where his overly enthuastic imagination and creativity got the best of him. Spoiler alert, this was one of those latter moments.

"I am confident in saying that neither Kepler nor Galileo had their light bulb moments at a Halloween party. Nor were there any pumpkins involved."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles

....
He would have vocalized the question if rocket man hadn't asked one of his own. Without skipping a beat his hand when up. "Everyone learns Astronomy. Both Muggles and Wizards. And during Halloween its kind of that time when Muggles and Wizards can integrate without Muggles being none the wiser. So their connections are just how they bring the two separate worlds together."

Or.........hm.

That sorta sounded better in his head.

While on opposite sides of the galaxy from what the astronomer had been looking for, he was actually quite touched by the Ravenclaw's response. "That is a very perceptive and unusual response, Mr. Scabior. I quite like that." Double thumbs up to you, young man!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

...
The equinox. Right, that made sense. The Seven Sisters. Sure, that made sense as well. Somewhere in here one student must be thinking about pumpkin pies, but he couldn't place them. And what was on Oleander's mind? Hand up. "Perfect night for a picnic and some stargazing, I suppose. Bright skies and all." No kidding. He smirked, though. Who would picnic on Halloween?

BUT, he did have a question, "Don't the Pleiades become more visible during the entire month of November?" Which meant... after Halloween. And everyone knows November is the best month of the year, actually.

Well, Airey couldn't argue there. Actually, he could, because every night was the perfect night for stargazing. Wait, needed to qualify that. Every night where there was not a lot of cloud cover was the perfect night for stargazing.

But not the point. On to the boy's question.

"Yes, that is quite true. In fact, some refer to November as often called the month of the Pleiades due to the star cluster being visible from dusk until dawn."

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

....

OOOH. Question! What did Halloween have to do with Astronomy? Well, he didn't know they were related at all, but if he had to guess, "It's probably something about how winter's coming soon and Halloween's like a thing when people get ready?" he said, hand in the air. No? Something like that? "Or it's a good night for stargazing and the ceiling in the hall will look really cool?" Hand down.
....

The young man received two thumbs up for the mentioning of the transition from one season to another, but then quickly got distracted by thoughts of the ceiling in the Great Hall.

"I do enjoy the ceiling that time of year," he said, absently glancing upwards at the exceptionally ordinary ceiling of the Astronomy classroom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixStar

....
Why not take a stab at it? Her hand was in the air, and she waited to be called on. "Isn't one of the planets orange?" There was a point to this, there was. "Halloween is orange, a planet is orange... it works." Boom, Astronomy. Heh.

Orange?

"Well, Mars is a reddish orange and Saturn has orange bands around it due to the ammonium hydrosulfide clouds...and you'll actually be able to see Saturn on Halloween this year in the night sky..." he mumbled, tapping his head as he thought.

SPOILER!!: end of seasons & cross-quarter day & solstices & equinoxes & Pleiades ….OH MY!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ringo

As Dylan sat listening, he gave a thoughtful look at the professor's question. Hmm. He didn't know much about Halloween having to do with the stars or anything. The fifth year suddenly raised his hand when something popped into his head. "Halloween takes place at the end of a season?" He suggested. Who knows, that could do with the stars. Maybe something changed as the fall season turned into winter? He didn't quite know, just a guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Bad lunch? Adi blinked, taking a moment as he wondered what the Astronomer was on about. Ohh! His mood was showing. Heh. "Everything's bad, Professor,'' he replied solemnly. Solemn did not suit him but right now, he didn't feel like being bouncy.

While he was seated and watching AJ greet the man, Adi could see Flamsteed's eyes darting to him and AJ. No doubt he was figuring out something was wrong between the couple.
...........................

Thank mercy the class was starting, yeah? Adi forced himself to hang on to every word being spoken by Flamsteed. Oh yes! The pumpkins... he had not thought one bit as to why there were pumpkins in the class. Carving them made a lot of sense though. Yep. Especially since Halloween was coming up in a few weeks time.

"Halloween is the day midway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter solstice,'' the Hufflepuff gave his response, his hand in the air. Was that right? Or had he gotten some part of his answer mixed up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Class was starting now, so Kate tore her eyes away from the mysterious pumpkin in front of her and looked toward the professor. All she could think of when she first looked at him was lint and suits. She still wondered what the deal was with those two things, but she planned to just wonder than until she heard somebody else mention it. No way was she going to ask!

She blinked as she listened to the professor tell the difference between Astronomy and Astrology. Whaaaaaat? He lost her at pretty much word one, but in the end, that didn't really seem to matter. They were off on a different subject now. Sooo, Halloween and Astronomy. "Is it because Halloween is not quite winter yet but getting a little too cold for the autumn?" she asked, raising her hand. Her birthday was October 30, and she was never able to have a swimming party but couldn't quite call things a 'Winter Wonderland' yet either. It had always bothered her that her birthday fell kind of in the middle of everything instead of in the thick of things. "Halloween is kind of in the middle of the two seasons." Like her birthday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

Bedazzled by his gangly good looks?

Evie continued staring at him, slightly more mortified now. ".... No..?" Drawing her eyes away from the gangly professor (the only word in his accusing statement that seemed to ring true for Evie), the Ravenclaw looked around at the other students as they filed in. That was probably safer.

A few moments later, she heard the professor's voice raise and she turned her attention back to him as the lesson began. She quickly got out her notebook and quill. They were talking about pumpkins and Halloween and how they related with astronomy in ancient times... Evie knew that she had studied this before at home, but it had just been brief. She rattled her brain and rose her hand. "Doesn't it have something to do with the equinox..?" That was all she could remember.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabben

*Ooo Noah knew the answer to this. His dad bored him with it every year at Halloween. His hand shot up into the air as he answered the question.*
"Halloween derived from ancient Celtic cross-quarter day. A cross-quarter day is a day more or less midway between an equinox and a solstice. Halloween is approximately midway point between the autumn equinox and winter solstice."

*See dad, he paid attention sometimes. It was funny how things seemed to float into his brain when he thought he wasn't paying attention.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinn-O-Bun

Carving pumpkins?! YEEEEEEEES! He did love to do that. But he had to sit through class first. Ugh. He put his head on his arms and watched the professor Thank Merlin for that because Astrology seemed silly to him. When you're born telling you how you behave. PFFFFFFT.

James rose his hand at the question, "Halloween is related to the equinox and solstice it's like the halfway mark or something."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

Gabriel had the grace to blush...or, actually, that wasn't grace. He wouldn't have been himself if he wasn't blushy and flushy about one thing or another. Smiling just a little at the professor's teasing, Gabe began pulling out materials: notebook and quill....along with keeping a hand on the pumpkin.

Completely normal. Yes, he was.

When they officially began, Flamsteed when through the customary introduction phase of presenting Astronomy. He always added really neat facts here and there and though he wasn't writing it all down, Gabe would remember. Like the bit about Isaac Newton. Gabe was an Albert Einstein guy himself...but Newton was up there on his list of favorite Scientists/heroes, for sure.

These questions about Halloween and space, though. There were a few things that came to mind...as far as significance went...but since Flamsteed had specifically mentioned 'ancient times'/before modern equipment, this wouldn't be about the 2003 Halloween Solar Storm...

"It's the midway point of the Autumnal Equinox."...Also, he'd read you could see certain star clusters (like Pleiades) at midnight every Halloween. Of course, he hadn't personally seen this, so couldn't say whether or not that was true..."...and one of four traditional cross-quarter days."

See?! No stuttering at all. Progress.

SPOILER!!: Astronomy notebook!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

More people were coming in, and Lux smiled and waved at them all. D'aww Eden was playing with her hair. How cute. She thought her new friend was joining her, but Eden opted to sit somewhere else. Oh well. The seat SHOULD have been Bay's anyway but he had GRADUATED and LEFT. Pout.

Professor Flamsteed started class just then, so that was a nice distractions from sads because they were going to discuss Halloween, which was an interesting holiday. She had actually read up on it, so the answer to the first question wasn't too hard if she remembered the information correctly. Raising her hand, she gave the best response that she could. "I think Halloween is a cross-quarter day which means that it falls more-or-less between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. I believe this was done intentionally, but I'm not positive." Ancient people tended to be keen observers of the sky, so she was pretty sure it was done on purpose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fire_faerie

o__________O Was he... was he scared of her or something?! Bambi wasn't scary! Did she have some gigantic spot on her face that broke out in the last hour?! What had that face been?? After making sure her face was indeed devoid of anything horrendous, Bambi stared at the Astronomy professor for the remainder of the waiting time until class started.

And then she continued to look at him because class started. So yeah. Just a lot of looking at you, weird Astronomy professor. Professor Airey Flamsteed. Who, er, clearly saw it super important to stress that Astronomy and Astrology were not the same thing. ... Kids here didn't know that?! Alarmed, Bambi looked around at the students' faces. No one looked too particularly guilty. Hmm.

Anyways, never mind. Moving on to the pumpkins and astronomical significance of Halloween. Fun! She raised her hand and spoke. "Like people have already said it's the cross quarter day which means it's the half point between the equinox in autumn and the winter solstice. The Celts celebrated that day as the end of summer, called, er, sow-in? It's spelled s-a-m-h-a-i-n, I'm not sure how you actually say it. The actual quarter cross day is somewhere between November 5th and 8th, I think," she said, and paused for a second to collect her thoughts.

Because thoughts she had. Bambi knew a lot of random points of information and Halloween happened to be something she'd researched. "There's a constellation called the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades, which the Celts believed was a window into the supernatural world and when it's almost directly overhead at midnight, the highest it goes, it's the cross quarter day," she said. She loved this kind of stuff. Weird historical facts that just never made it into History of Magic and therefore never got ruined by boring, monotonous teachers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suziella

Bleu was just about to call out to Dylan when the Professor started class. She would have to talk to him later if they did an activity.

She thought long and hard about her answer. She had read it somewhere before but she couldn't quite remember. She quietly raised her hand and once she was called on replied, "Isn't Halloween the mid-point between the Autumn equinox and Winter solstice? I can't remember the term for it though." She was thinking so hard her brows furrowed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

Puck was sitting there listening to everyone discuss why Halloween was special when really, wasn’t it obvious? Halloween was Samhain right? Or it used to be. She carefully raised her hand and glanced at Professor Flamsteed, the salute was not unnoticed…after all Professor Flamsteed was cool.

“Isn’t Halloween originally an astronomical holiday in and of itself? With it being originally the Celtic and Druidic celebration of Samhain which was…basically a way to celebrate the midway point between a solstice and an equinox?” She asked after all it wasn’t hard to learn things if you read about them…or if you had a crazypants aunt who was into all things Pagan.

“If I remember correctly there are four Cross-Quarter days being Groundhog Day, May Day, Lammas Day, and Halloween.” She offered with a grin on her face…take that Ravenclaw she knew what she was talking about right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

Oh no… it was a question she wasn't prepared for. What did Halloween have to do with Astronomy? Certainly being at the end of October there were some associations related to change of month, moon cycles, season changes etc. but what did it specifically have to do with Halloween? Zhenya had no idea, which always made her panic because she was a SIXTH year, she should know SOMETHING! But nothing was coming. She took a breath in, raised her hand and waited to be called.

"Professor, does Halloween, being at the end of October, have anything to do with the days becoming shorter from then on?" She almost crawled under the table then and there. Imagine… and sixth year being POSITIVELY GHASTLY at a subject. Obviously people had stronger and weaker subjects, but Zhenya wanted to be better at Astronomy. And here she was with the LAMEST answer in Astronomy history.

But… it was all she had.

Quote:

Originally Posted by griffin

Did she just earn points for helping Kyroh get lint off his back? You could earn points for that? She should help people with the lint roller more often. There were definitely some people who weren't using it properly or didn't use it at all. If she survived this astronomy lesson, she would consider helping people who had no idea what to do with a lint roller.

Class was starting now. Halloween. Maybe she would survive this lesson. It didn't look too bad. "Halloween is one of the cross-quarter days, halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice." Should she say more? "The ancient Celts had a festival to mark the beginning of winter."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Cilla raised her hand.

"I believe something called Samhain which was a an early form of Halloween happened when some constellation called the Seven Sisters aka the Pleiades star cluster culminated at midnight."

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy

Hady gave a warm smile towards the Professor along with a quick salute in return to the one he had given her. She always had fun in his classes and was sure this one would be the same.

Straighten up in her seat she listened quietly as he explained that they would be carving the pumpkins today. Awesomeness! She always enjoyed that back home when she was younger. Her and her parents would carve pumpkins together every year. Hady was sure though that they wouldn't be doing it the muggle way of course.

As for the question given she took only a moment to think before her hand went up into the air. "Professor, doesn't a group of stars get to their highest peak on Halloween night?" She couldn't recall the name of the stars but she remembered her father telling her about it once before when she was younger and had asked why they celebrated Halloween with costumes and such things.

Mr. Callaghan was on the right track, just one more key phrase could have earned the Hufflepuff a desk jump...but alas. Airey did nod towards the boy, encouraging him to say more when he saw the hand of Mr. Rehman go up. Well, the boy had said that he was in a bad mood...so there was nothing like a jovial leap of a professor on to your desk to lift ones spirits, right?

Right.

"YEEEEES!" Airey exclaimed as his feet left the floor and he landed on the Hufflepuff prefect's desk. A 10 point landing, by the way. "And excellent start. Yes. YES! What else?" Rapidly eager eyes darted around for the next raised hand which happened to belong to Miss Addison. "Precisely, Miss Addision, and we have a term for that sort of day that falls in the middle of two seasons..." he nodded, something that Mr. Rehman had just touched base on as well, as his eyes darted around as if daring someone to say the words he longed to hear so he could leap to the next desk. WHO WOULD IT BE WHO WOULD IT BEEEEEEEEEE?

AHA!

Leaping over several desks, including a Miss Shacklebolt's who was apparently NOT bewildered by his gangly good looks, until he arrived at Mr. Gardner's seat and pointed at the young man directly between the eyes as he hunched over. Forgive him, some of you, for the temporarily unfortunate (or fortunate?) view.

"CROSS-QUARTER DAAAAAAAAAY!" he said, arms reaching up towards the ceiling in a PRAISE BE TO THE UNIVERSE sort of way. "These days, class, these cross-quarter days were considered to be the beginnings of the seasons by the Celts, as well as many other cultures to this day. As many of you have mentioned, these days fall midway between the solstices and equinoxes."

He gave his wand a flick towards the blackboard to make a large chart appear. It was not his preferred scientific based chart, but would do for now as they were discussing the basics and focusing on how the ancient peoples viewed the motion of the universe.

source: Keith C. Heidorn

"For those of you familiar with Celtic symbolism," he continued, to which he was vaguely familiar with and thus if they wanted further information they should seek the library. "You'll notice some striking similarities with this chart." Just as an FYI because he was moving on. "For those of you looking for a more detailed version of this," he continued, conjuring a to scale 3D replica of things between himself and the semicircle of desks. "This ought to do the trick." AND IT WAS A TREAT TOO! HAR HAR HAR.

source: NASA

"The terminology for solstice, equinox, and cross-quarter day can be found in your textbook," he noted, giving them a moment to flip to the index to familiarize themselves with them before he continued. "Now, as Miss Fleming explained ever so concisely, Halloween is a cross-quarter day which means it's the half point between the equinox in autumn and the winter solstice." To quote the young Ravenclaw exactly. He would not be going into details about solstices and equinoxes today, seeing as it was a term covered recently, so first years and transfers should be well advised to read their textbook and check the notes of older students. Although he felt the charts summarized things relatively well.

"As several of you mentioned as well, this was also a time of year where the Celts celebrated the summer's end as the observed the transition from the light part of the year to dark, meaning the days were becoming shorter as Miss Burton pointed out. They called this festival Samhain and, as Miss Greyvson pointed out, other cross-quarter days were named differently and have equivalents to some American holidays. The term Samhain means just that, 'summer's end' and it was believed that on this day spirits would return and cause havoc and mischief...and not in the manner you all may be accustomed to Peeves causing. We're talking acts with terrifying consequences from dying crops to luring mortals to their doom. "

Lovely stuff, really.

"Ghostly powers aside...well, not really ASIDE but we will pause that discussion for now and take a closer look at the night sky on all Hallow's Eve," he looked down at his own feet and chuckled nervously. Ah yes, he ought to...you know...jump down from the desk now. Ahem. Feet back planted on the floor of the classroom, he tucked both arms behind his back as he walked around the floating 3D representation he had conjured minutes earlier and, with a flick of his wand, banished it. With another wave, an explosion of bright white dots erupted from his wand and began to swirl around the classroom, tangling in students' hair here and there, before settling into place and creating the night sky on October 31, 2085 - with them standing right in the middle of it all. Even the classroom seemed to darken as though it were night.

night sky above Hogwarts - October 31, 2085
approximately 11:59 pm

"Pleaides has already been mentioned, but what else can we expect to see?" he asked as he walked around, idly poking at a star as he passed - only to have his finger go right through each of them. "I am primarily thinking of constellations, but your answers are not limited to those." So, show of hands?

OOC: don't worry about repeating answers - or stating something obvious like 'the moon'. Plus just mention ONE thing though to give everyone a chance <3

Class will continue sometime tomorrow, but at least 24 hours from the time of this post depending on activity

01-11-2015, 10:26 PM	#102 (permalink)
sweetpinkpixie SSRPG Admin Gladrags Mod Quibbler Mod Minister for Magic Alley Proprietor Sea Serpent Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Paths Posts: 41,291 Hogwarts RPG Name: Professor Cox Ravenclaw Graduated Hogwarts RPG Name: CJ Miller Gryffindor Third Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nyle Harden Hufflepuff Sixth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Iris Harden Ravenclaw Sixth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Calliope Barrington Slytherin Fifth Year Ministry Department Head: Charles Hollingberry Minister's Office Ministry Department Head: Airey Flamsteed Mysteries Diagon Alley Proprietor: Victor García Massey Ollivanders x12 x12	rearranges things thanks everyone again for their patience <33 astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK \| & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf Tapping his sundial watch to make sure it was still functioning, the astronomer gave a quick glance out the window which was soon followed by an approving nod before his attention was drawn back to the semi circle of desks. SPOILER!!: quiet “Thinking Chair” types Quote: Originally Posted by Sonea Okay, the teacher finally had started to talk and… For a few minutes she wondered where he was talking about? Newton? That was a Muggle right? Hmm, Muggles were boring so she wasn’t really interested in that part of his story! But when he started to talk about… The pumpkins she frowned. She had absolutely NO idea how to answer his question! All what she knew was that the muggles made them to scare the dead away, ghosts and the undead… But that was rubbish, of course! The muggles were just stupid to believe in such a story but… More than that she didn’t knew about the pumpkins en Halloween and she absolutely didn’t knew what it all had to do with this lesson! Shaking her head she didn’t spoke because she really had no idea WHAT to say! She only sat still, ready to make notes but… Also listening to what the others were saying, one eyebrow raised and a questioning look in her eyes… Quote: Originally Posted by Hey Ju Agatha turned her head to see who had ~~dared to~~ sat next to her and was actually glad it was Zander and not a stupider kid. She didn't return his small smile, though, but her expression wan't as harsh as before. And her annoyance turned into a bored out face when professor Flamsteed said her face might stay that way. Then she facepalmed at his proton comment. What. Even. The Gryffindor Head of House went on about himself, Astronomy, Astrology, old people and yadda yadda yadda, so Agatha looked out the window and watched as some leaves were blown around by the wind. Daydreaming. But then it was question time and all of her classmates started yapping and she actually listened to some of them. Halloween... season... full moon, stars... equinox? What? Season... cold, winter... equinox? Equinox? Equinox???? Oh, sweet Morgana, what a bunch of nerds. NERDS. Agatha had no time for that so she turned to look out the window again, resting her elbow on the desk and chin on the palm of her hand, not even bothering to do it in a discreet way. Quote: Originally Posted by lemon His attention was mostly focused on the pumpkins (of course it was, this was Dima they were talking about), so the Ravenclaw barely even heard Professor Top Hat's question. All he could think about was the GOURDS. They were gonna carve them?!? Could they roast the seeds and make beautiful, glorious pies from their pulpy innards? Astronomy? Who cared about Astronomy when they could be FEASTING? Dima had his priorities straight, obviously. Quote: Originally Posted by feeheeheeny ...Stellar. Sophie giggled. Everything was always stellar with him, wasn't it? Time and time again, it was weird to her that he welcomed them to call him Professor Airey, and though sometimes it was tempting since that's what Tobes called him, it was still just so... strange. He was a very important authority figure to her, and using his first name seemed... way too formal and almost rude. No, she could never do that. Never, ever. So they'd be carving pumpkins, hmm? That was interesting. Though... slightly... less exciting than what she usually expected from Flamsteed's classes, but she assumed there was some kind of cool spin they would be putting on it. It wouldn't just be normal carving, would it? No. Couldn't be. As the professor went on to explain the necessary differences between astronomy and astrology, Sophie became distracted by Tobes playing with his pumpkin. It wasn't like she really needed to hear that information anyway, so she welcomed the distraction and gave Tobes an amused look, only tuning back in when a question was posed. The connections between astronomy and Halloween? What kind of question was that? One that was welcoming bizarre answers, that was for sure, and Sophie tried to hide her amusement at many of her peers' very... creative answers. TOBES' was her favorite, for sure, and when Flamsteed looked their way when Tobes was talking, Sophie just BEAMED and, when she caught the man's eye, she gave him an elated face that tried to communicate the sentiment of, THAT IS THE BEST ANSWER AND HOW EXCITING IS IT THAT TOBES IS BACK TO NORMAL AND ACTUALLY REALLY HAPPY? No answer of her own because she was ALL ABOUT DAT TOBES and was so happy to not be sharing concerned looks with Flamsteed over her Hufflepuff this term. Very, very relieved. Quote: Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline Class had begun. And at least one purpose for the pumpkins on their desk was explained as the professor began the lesson. Carving them...interesting. Put only once some connection was made in whatever topic was to be brought up today. Benny's ears pricked up at the sudden mention of a dragon but alas it was merely a turn of a phrase by Airey and was a disappointment in the long run. As for the answer to the man's question, other classmates had been quick to answer, including Angel and Adi. And to be honest, as the fifth year listened, he couldn't think of a unique answer that wasn't already mentioned or alluded to. So he remained silent for this round. Plenty of time to participate since they had just begun. Quote: Originally Posted by lazykitty Er, yeah. Heather actually had no idea on this question. The only connection she could make in her head right now between Astronomy and Halloween was that a full moon on Halloween would make it easier for werewolves to blend in, thanks to the tradition of costumes. But somehow, she didn't think that that was what Professor Airey was looking for. So she kept silent and just listened to her classmates ideas. Quote: Originally Posted by Daydreamer11 As class oficially began, Janelle furiously took notes. She didn't want to miss any important information so she wrote as fast as she could. Then the professor posed the first question and she stopped to think. What did Astronomy have to do with Halloween? Well clearly something or he wouldn't have asked the question. She really had no idea so she had to think harder. Janelle wasn't afraid to raise her hand, no matter how ridiculous her answer might seem. Unfortunately, her mind just wasn't coming up with anything ........yet anyway. Think Janelle think. Halloween..... Astronomy...... connection. Nothing. Well, she would keep writing and keep thinking. If something popped into her head in the meantime, she'd put her hand up. Walking around, he gave small approving nods to the quiet thinkers, the attentive listeners, the doodlers - no...were any of them doodling? That wasn't allowed. Unless it was astronomy related doodles...then perhaps they would be forgiven. No? No hands then. Alrighty then...let's look for a raised hand then, shall we? Quote: Originally Posted by Schroyers ... He looked at Aegis and raised an eyebrow. Was he supposed to be impressed? Cause he wasn't. "Professor? Anyone not in their Uniform has to go back?" He asked and tilted his head toward Aegis, he was also wearing a suit and Nemo didn't find it fair that this guy could get away with what Damien couldn't. ... "*Hogwarts robes* must be worn at all times in my classroom," he nodded towards the Gryffindor. Quote: Originally Posted by Saz Hale Abby listened to what the professor said and raised her hand and said "Halloween has to do with astronomy cause of the moon and stars" Abby wasn't sure if that was right but it was well worth a guess better than being silent Well....yes... Technically speaking, Miss Valentine was not wrong but also not correct either. "Yes, but I was looking for a more specific answer," he winked at the Ravenclaw. Quote: Originally Posted by RandomRaven ... Okaaaaaaaaay.... The brunette then stayed focus and ready for the lesson. And she didn't have any idea about the correlations between astronomy and October. She just randomly guessed "Maybe... we can visibly see Venus at Halloween night?" She spoke as she raised her hand. Well, it's just a guess so... She didn't hope that she was right. "QUITE RIGHT, MISS RUSH!" Airey chirped with some dramatic pointing. While not the answer he had been looking for, it was still an important distinction to make and help illustrate how the universe was in constant motion. "Unlike last year when it was visible in the morning sky, this year Venus will be visible in the night sky to the south west. Definitely something to keep an eye out for. Stellar point." Quote: Originally Posted by Harry174 Angel looked at the Professor and raised her hand, she had a feeling her sister was upset about something especially since she was staying away from her and the gang but she could find out later. "Is it because pumpkins are made better in the moonlight?" Angel wasn't 100% sure if she was right or not but it was worth a go at asking that, her sister had said the other thing she had thought about saying. The astronomer pursed his lips slightly. "If you are referring to the theory of 'moon planting,' I regret to inform you that I am no expert on the subject." That, and he did not believe in the theories either. "Something you could perhaps ask Professor Millard about?" Herbology and this suited astronut had never gotten along. Quote: Originally Posted by ArianaBlack ... So raising his hand-- still in mid thought by the way-- he waited for his turn. "Um, is it because it falls on a full moon this year?" Actually. He had no idea if it was supposed to fall on a full moon this year. Welp. It was a try, okay? He'd get the next one for sure. "The moon will noooooooot quite be full come October 31st, missing true full moon status by a day," he winked at the prefect. Quote: Originally Posted by Meizzner .... Someone must really not like Astrology if they go that in depth to tell the difference in the first class of the year. Would they get detention by thinking this was Astrology. But back to Halloween. "You can dress up as your favorite Astronomer on Halloween" You can if you want. Nobody would stop you. Well whatever Halloween was cool. "That you certainly could," he nodded approvingly. Perhaps he should modify a few details for his plans to include that in the description. Hmm... "And who would your favorite be, Mr. Barrington?" Quote: Originally Posted by Talikins .... As for the pumpkin, the others had beat her first thought to it. The equinox, it had to be that..but hey maybe a second guess or suggestion wouldn't hurt either way? "Professor, I'd say it's the equinox like everyone said or it could just be the fact that a pumpkin could represent a planet? You know like it's oval and all that." Lame, maybe..but hey what else was there to say? "I would have stuck with your equinox nothing, Miss Campbell," he chuckled, giving her desk a few knocks with his knuckles. Quote: Originally Posted by iBeJenn ... "On Halloween, you can dress planets up as people and dress people up as planets and space and stuff." See, related to Astronomy. "Also the full moon is cool and sometimes it lands on Halloween and makes things super creepy.** So. HA. There was her smart answer. She then proceeded to lean back in her seat and let people admire her smartness. Dress the planets up as....people. He was willing to throw the Gryffindor a bone, just smile and nod. Smiiiiiiiiiiile and nod. Quote: Originally Posted by Govoni .. Just remembering something, Gabe raised his hand again...since staring at the pumpkin reminded him of Mars for whatever reason. "I read that...in 2005, Mars began rotating especially close to Earth...and supposedly did for the following thirteen years." He'd also read accounts where people had mentioned it looking like a pumpkin in the sky......Maybe that's why he'd remembered. Pumpkins were important, yes. "When do you suppose that'll happen again, sir?" ...for his stargazing reasons. Rotating close to Earth for...13 years? Airey scratched his head and attempted to search the extensive library that was his brain for something about that. Hadn't been planning on speaking about Mars today, so that category was somewhat shut away at the moment. He could recall a hoax that had spread through the muggle media about Mars being so close to Earth that it would appear as large as the Moon - which would have been quite catastrophic - but nothing about the particular phenomena that Mr. Banner was inquiring about. Was he sure he wasn't getting somewhat confused about the retrograde motion of Mars that occurred every two years? The professor sort of just kept staring at the young man, huge invisible cartoon question mark appearing over his head and everything. "Come again?" Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin Oh, he was looking back now. Dot flashed her dimples at him before saluting. Hullo, Professor Starman. "I want to talk to you about life on the moon, sir. Maybe not now, 'cause apparently you are very busy. But soon. You and me." So that was fun. Dot skipped to her seat as class started, and she was glad they were addressing the question of the pumpkins right off. She couldn't wait to do throw it out the window. SPEAKING OF WHICH... hand up. "Can we learn about gravity by throwing our pumpkins out the window?" The cute smile...it was unnerving. Especially coming from a Slytherin. Still, he managed to return a nervous one himself and pursed his lips ever so slightly. Busy? Well, yes he was. Teaching a lesson as a matter of fact... "Anytime, Miss Wojack. My office door is always open." Unless it was closed, in which case she would need to knock for it to open. He eyed the pumpkins and then the young lady again, slightly terrified that she had somehow read his deep desire to do just that only moments ago. "Not today, Miss Wojack. Not today." Quote: Originally Posted by Buggy-Boo Margo was trying to think of all the things she knew about Halloween. Besides the costumes, candies, and parties that went a lot with them. That clearly was not the right answer, Margo knew that much. Raising her hand Margo gave a stand a it, however, true or false, this is what she knew or at least thought she knew. "It's the time of year that the veil between this world and the next is thinnest right? So that's why sprites and stuff can cross over during this time" There that was what she knew! The Hufflepuff first year received some dramatic finger pointing, although not what he was looking for as her response had nothing to do with the subject of astronomy, but everything to do with the Hogwarts ghosts. Who, in his humble opinion, he felt would just ham things up a bit come the holiday. "That is one of the ancient beliefs that has passed down over the centuries, yes," he nodded...with some more finger pointing. Quote: Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin ... "Professor I think the moon changes can have something to do with it. I mean usually the full moon can happen and change creatures like werwolves and vampires. But I agree with Margo's answer as well." he smiled backing up his fellow puff. The astronomer nodded, tapping his chin a few times with his index finger. "As I said to Mr. Adair a moment ago, the moon will not be full this Halloween, but you are correct in connecting moon cycles with the holiday. It can have quite a bit of influence on magical creatures." And supposedly people as well, but Airey had always considered that a feeble excuse to act crazy. Excuse based on astrology. Sweet solstice. Quote: Originally Posted by Team ronmione ... "Kace already said it, sir. Werewolves. They um, they use the moon's cycles to detect when they're about to change and stuff." That was really all he had for this. And Kace had already given a brief example. No need to give Professor Flamsteed two answers that were similar to each other. And someone else jumping on the werewolf train of thought. Again, not entirely incorrect due to the inclusion of moon phases - a part of astronomy - but not what he had been asking for. "True, but werewolves, as we know, are not exclusive to Halloween," he replied, tapping his nose with his index finger. Precision of answer in relation to the question. Mmmmhmmm. Quote: Originally Posted by Felixir ... "WELL, Professor Airey," he began, talking quite fast as his eyes gleamed enthusiastically and he lowered his hand again. "Halloween is about all those scary sorts of things, right? And, well, I realised last year that space is so big and we're so little and THAT'S sort of terrifying. If I wanted to dress up for something for Halloween that I thought was the scariest thing ever, aside from Dementors that is, I'd go as the concept of the infinite size of the universe, or someone floating around lost in space. Space is AWESOME and brilliant, and fantamazing, and full of knowledge, but it's scary too. The trick is not to think about it." Toby was grinning, grinning, grinning so wide, it was impossible to see anything on his face other than a sort of pseudo-manic glee as he shifted the pumpkin's weight from one hand to the other. He was really quite cheerful about it all. Sweet solstice, Mr. Tempus was really...er...bonding with that pumpkin. Was the Hufflepuff going to flip out and go all supernova when it came time to start drilling holes into the thing? Merlin, the Astronomy professor hoped not! Airey was finding it somewhat hard to focus on what the boy was saying - having flash backs to a second year Miss Cambridge and her failed star appearing vividly in his mind - and honestly only half heard what Mr. Tempus was saying. "And the treat is that you have one stellar costume concept," he said, still half zoned out. Get it? Trick is not to think about it...treat is...oh never mind. Quote: Originally Posted by itsgisselx3 .... Raising his hand, Oliver waited to be called on and then said, "It's a trick question." Clearly. "Halloween has nothing to do with Astronomy and you just want us to carve pumpkins because it's October." So maybe that wasn't the best answer, but he thought it was really reasonable. Why else would they be carving pumpkins when he was soooo tired??? But just to make sure the professor didn't think he was being rude or anything, Ollie smiled and shrugged. He honestly just had no clue how they were connected and he wasn't paying attention to what any of the other students were saying to figure it out either. Oops. Airey could stop himself and burst out laughing at the first year's answer. Funnily enough, he WOULD be the sort to do that sort of thing. Had in the past, sort of. Asking the entire class if they wanted ice cream only to be a complete buzz kill and agree that he did too and it was an awful pity that there was none. Although he did not fancy thinking back on that term much. Merlin what a disaster that had been. "I do enjoy the artistic endeavor that is pumpkin carving," he mused. "But I can assure you that there is a purpose and I am not pulling your legs anywhere." Quote: Originally Posted by Sararara ... "All the scary stuff comes out on Halloween and also on full moons so its kind of like a full moon? Also spirits and things can fly and flying is kind of astronomy-ish, right?" It made sense to her, anyway. How....cute? Or perhaps it was just an incredibly Hufflepuff answer. Not wishing to repeat himself again with the full moon clarification, the professor simply walked by her desk and gave it an encouraging pat. Quote: Originally Posted by Hera ... Hand up, though more hesitantly than usual. "Did people happen upon the idea of the universe and planets and things during some halloween festivity? Like, did they see a bunch of pumpkins laying around in a circle and though OH GEEE, THAT COULD BE US?" Was he following?? Or was this too gnarly an idea? It wasn't his best, and he was sorely disappointed by it. Or maybe whoever discovered the universe was talking about it with friends at halloween and demonstrated the solar system by using said pumpkins. Yeah? OR... "Maybe a pumpkin gave them the idea that the earth is round and not flat?" ... more lame ideas, and all so very pumpkin-centric. THEY WERE DISTRACTING HIMMMMM. Pumpkin pie would be nice right about now though. Ah, Mr. Zeke. A young man who had moments of genius and more moments where his overly enthuastic imagination and creativity got the best of him. Spoiler alert, this was one of those latter moments. "I am confident in saying that neither Kepler nor Galileo had their light bulb moments at a Halloween party. Nor were there any pumpkins involved." Quote: Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles .... He would have vocalized the question if rocket man hadn't asked one of his own. Without skipping a beat his hand when up. "Everyone learns Astronomy. Both Muggles and Wizards. And during Halloween its kind of that time when Muggles and Wizards can integrate without Muggles being none the wiser. So their connections are just how they bring the two separate worlds together." Or.........hm. That sorta sounded better in his head. While on opposite sides of the galaxy from what the astronomer had been looking for, he was actually quite touched by the Ravenclaw's response. "That is a very perceptive and unusual response, Mr. Scabior. I quite like that." Double thumbs up to you, young man! Quote: Originally Posted by Lockhartian ... The equinox. Right, that made sense. The Seven Sisters. Sure, that made sense as well. Somewhere in here one student must be thinking about pumpkin pies, but he couldn't place them. And what was on Oleander's mind? Hand up. "Perfect night for a picnic and some stargazing, I suppose. Bright skies and all." No kidding. He smirked, though. Who would picnic on Halloween? BUT, he did have a question, "Don't the Pleiades become more visible during the entire month of November?" Which meant... after Halloween. And everyone knows November is the best month of the year, actually. Well, Airey couldn't argue there. Actually, he could, because every night was the perfect night for stargazing. Wait, needed to qualify that. Every night where there was not a lot of cloud cover was the perfect night for stargazing. But not the point. On to the boy's question. "Yes, that is quite true. In fact, some refer to November as often called the month of the Pleiades due to the star cluster being visible from dusk until dawn." Quote: Originally Posted by laurange .... OOOH. Question! What did Halloween have to do with Astronomy? Well, he didn't know they were related at all, but if he had to guess, "It's probably something about how winter's coming soon and Halloween's like a thing when people get ready?" he said, hand in the air. No? Something like that? "Or it's a good night for stargazing and the ceiling in the hall will look really cool?" Hand down. .... The young man received two thumbs up for the mentioning of the transition from one season to another, but then quickly got distracted by thoughts of the ceiling in the Great Hall. "I do enjoy the ceiling that time of year," he said, absently glancing upwards at the exceptionally ordinary ceiling of the Astronomy classroom. Quote: Originally Posted by PhoenixStar .... Why not take a stab at it? Her hand was in the air, and she waited to be called on. "Isn't one of the planets orange?" There was a point to this, there was. "Halloween is orange, a planet is orange... it works." Boom, Astronomy. Heh. Orange? "Well, Mars is a reddish orange and Saturn has orange bands around it due to the ammonium hydrosulfide clouds...and you'll actually be able to see Saturn on Halloween this year in the night sky..." he mumbled, tapping his head as he thought. SPOILER!!: end of seasons & cross-quarter day & solstices & equinoxes & Pleiades ….OH MY! Quote: Originally Posted by Ringo As Dylan sat listening, he gave a thoughtful look at the professor's question. Hmm. He didn't know much about Halloween having to do with the stars or anything. The fifth year suddenly raised his hand when something popped into his head. "Halloween takes place at the end of a season?" He suggested. Who knows, that could do with the stars. Maybe something changed as the fall season turned into winter? He didn't quite know, just a guess. Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Bad lunch? Adi blinked, taking a moment as he wondered what the Astronomer was on about. Ohh! His mood was showing. Heh. "Everything's bad, Professor,'' he replied solemnly. Solemn did not suit him but right now, he didn't feel like being bouncy. While he was seated and watching AJ greet the man, Adi could see Flamsteed's eyes darting to him and AJ. No doubt he was figuring out something was wrong between the couple. ........................... Thank mercy the class was starting, yeah? Adi forced himself to hang on to every word being spoken by Flamsteed. Oh yes! The pumpkins... he had not thought one bit as to why there were pumpkins in the class. Carving them made a lot of sense though. Yep. Especially since Halloween was coming up in a few weeks time. "Halloween is the day midway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter solstice,'' the Hufflepuff gave his response, his hand in the air. Was that right? Or had he gotten some part of his answer mixed up? Quote: Originally Posted by Anna Banana Class was starting now, so Kate tore her eyes away from the mysterious pumpkin in front of her and looked toward the professor. All she could think of when she first looked at him was lint and suits. She still wondered what the deal was with those two things, but she planned to just wonder than until she heard somebody else mention it. No way was she going to ask! She blinked as she listened to the professor tell the difference between Astronomy and Astrology. Whaaaaaat? He lost her at pretty much word one, but in the end, that didn't really seem to matter. They were off on a different subject now. Sooo, Halloween and Astronomy. "Is it because Halloween is not quite winter yet but getting a little too cold for the autumn?" she asked, raising her hand. Her birthday was October 30, and she was never able to have a swimming party but couldn't quite call things a 'Winter Wonderland' yet either. It had always bothered her that her birthday fell kind of in the middle of everything instead of in the thick of things. "Halloween is kind of in the middle of the two seasons." Like her birthday. Quote: Originally Posted by sarahlooo Bedazzled by his gangly good looks? Evie continued staring at him, slightly more mortified now. ".... No..?" Drawing her eyes away from the gangly professor (the only word in his accusing statement that seemed to ring true for Evie), the Ravenclaw looked around at the other students as they filed in. That was probably safer. A few moments later, she heard the professor's voice raise and she turned her attention back to him as the lesson began. She quickly got out her notebook and quill. They were talking about pumpkins and Halloween and how they related with astronomy in ancient times... Evie knew that she had studied this before at home, but it had just been brief. She rattled her brain and rose her hand. "Doesn't it have something to do with the equinox..?" That was all she could remember. Quote: Originally Posted by Gabben Ooo Noah knew the answer to this. His dad bored him with it every year at Halloween. His hand shot up into the air as he answered the question. "Halloween derived from ancient Celtic cross-quarter day. A cross-quarter day is a day more or less midway between an equinox and a solstice. Halloween is approximately midway point between the autumn equinox and winter solstice." See dad, he paid attention sometimes. It was funny how things seemed to float into his brain when he thought he wasn't paying attention. Quote: Originally Posted by Cinn-O-Bun Carving pumpkins?! YEEEEEEEES! He did love to do that. But he had to sit through class first. Ugh. He put his head on his arms and watched the professor Thank Merlin for that because Astrology seemed silly to him. When you're born telling you how you behave. PFFFFFFT. James rose his hand at the question, "Halloween is related to the equinox and solstice it's like the halfway mark or something." Quote: Originally Posted by Govoni Gabriel had the grace to blush...or, actually, that wasn't grace. He wouldn't have been himself if he wasn't blushy and flushy about one thing or another. Smiling just a little at the professor's teasing, Gabe began pulling out materials: notebook and quill....along with keeping a hand on the pumpkin. Completely normal. Yes, he was. When they officially began, Flamsteed when through the customary introduction phase of presenting Astronomy. He always added really neat facts here and there and though he wasn't writing it all down, Gabe would remember. Like the bit about Isaac Newton. Gabe was an Albert Einstein guy himself...but Newton was up there on his list of favorite Scientists/heroes, for sure. These questions about Halloween and space, though. There were a few things that came to mind...as far as significance went...but since Flamsteed had specifically mentioned 'ancient times'/before modern equipment, this wouldn't be about the 2003 Halloween Solar Storm... "It's the midway point of the Autumnal Equinox."...Also, he'd read you could see certain star clusters (like Pleiades) at midnight every Halloween. Of course, he hadn't personally seen this, so couldn't say whether or not that was true..."...and one of four traditional cross-quarter days." See?! No stuttering at all. Progress. SPOILER!!: Astronomy notebook! Gabriel P. Banner Ravenclaw Sixth Year October 3rd, 2085 Astronomy Tower Astronomy Lesson 1: ?? PUMPKINS! What is the relationship between Halloween and Space? Halloween Solar Storm Midway point of the Autumnal Equinox Traditional “cross-quarter day" Quote: Originally Posted by Squishy More people were coming in, and Lux smiled and waved at them all. D'aww Eden was playing with her hair. How cute. She thought her new friend was joining her, but Eden opted to sit somewhere else. Oh well. The seat SHOULD have been Bay's anyway but he had GRADUATED and LEFT. Pout. Professor Flamsteed started class just then, so that was a nice distractions from sads because they were going to discuss Halloween, which was an interesting holiday. She had actually read up on it, so the answer to the first question wasn't too hard if she remembered the information correctly. Raising her hand, she gave the best response that she could. "I think Halloween is a cross-quarter day which means that it falls more-or-less between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. I believe this was done intentionally, but I'm not positive." Ancient people tended to be keen observers of the sky, so she was pretty sure it was done on purpose. Quote: Originally Posted by fire_faerie o__________O Was he... was he scared of her or something?! Bambi wasn't scary! Did she have some gigantic spot on her face that broke out in the last hour?! What had that face been?? After making sure her face was indeed devoid of anything horrendous, Bambi stared at the Astronomy professor for the remainder of the waiting time until class started. And then she continued to look at him because class started. So yeah. Just a lot of looking at you, weird Astronomy professor. Professor Airey Flamsteed. Who, er, clearly saw it super important to stress that Astronomy and Astrology were not the same thing. ... Kids here didn't know that?! Alarmed, Bambi looked around at the students' faces. No one looked too particularly guilty. Hmm. Anyways, never mind. Moving on to the pumpkins and astronomical significance of Halloween. Fun! She raised her hand and spoke. "Like people have already said it's the cross quarter day which means it's the half point between the equinox in autumn and the winter solstice. The Celts celebrated that day as the end of summer, called, er, sow-in? It's spelled s-a-m-h-a-i-n, I'm not sure how you actually say it. The actual quarter cross day is somewhere between November 5th and 8th, I think," she said, and paused for a second to collect her thoughts. Because thoughts she had. Bambi knew a lot of random points of information and Halloween happened to be something she'd researched. "There's a constellation called the Seven Sisters, or Pleiades, which the Celts believed was a window into the supernatural world and when it's almost directly overhead at midnight, the highest it goes, it's the cross quarter day," she said. She loved this kind of stuff. Weird historical facts that just never made it into History of Magic and therefore never got ruined by boring, monotonous teachers. Quote: Originally Posted by Suziella Bleu was just about to call out to Dylan when the Professor started class. She would have to talk to him later if they did an activity. She thought long and hard about her answer. She had read it somewhere before but she couldn't quite remember. She quietly raised her hand and once she was called on replied, "Isn't Halloween the mid-point between the Autumn equinox and Winter solstice? I can't remember the term for it though." She was thinking so hard her brows furrowed. Quote: Originally Posted by Optimist Puck was sitting there listening to everyone discuss why Halloween was special when really, wasn’t it obvious? Halloween was Samhain right? Or it used to be. She carefully raised her hand and glanced at Professor Flamsteed, the salute was not unnoticed…after all Professor Flamsteed was cool. “Isn’t Halloween originally an astronomical holiday in and of itself? With it being originally the Celtic and Druidic celebration of Samhain which was…basically a way to celebrate the midway point between a solstice and an equinox?” She asked after all it wasn’t hard to learn things if you read about them…or if you had a crazypants aunt who was into all things Pagan. “If I remember correctly there are four Cross-Quarter days being Groundhog Day, May Day, Lammas Day, and Halloween.” She offered with a grin on her face…take that Ravenclaw she knew what she was talking about right? Quote: Originally Posted by Jessiqua Oh no… it was a question she wasn't prepared for. What did Halloween have to do with Astronomy? Certainly being at the end of October there were some associations related to change of month, moon cycles, season changes etc. but what did it specifically have to do with Halloween? Zhenya had no idea, which always made her panic because she was a SIXTH year, she should know SOMETHING! But nothing was coming. She took a breath in, raised her hand and waited to be called. "Professor, does Halloween, being at the end of October, have anything to do with the days becoming shorter from then on?" She almost crawled under the table then and there. Imagine… and sixth year being POSITIVELY GHASTLY at a subject. Obviously people had stronger and weaker subjects, but Zhenya wanted to be better at Astronomy. And here she was with the LAMEST answer in Astronomy history. But… it was all she had. Quote: Originally Posted by griffin Did she just earn points for helping Kyroh get lint off his back? You could earn points for that? She should help people with the lint roller more often. There were definitely some people who weren't using it properly or didn't use it at all. If she survived this astronomy lesson, she would consider helping people who had no idea what to do with a lint roller. Class was starting now. Halloween. Maybe she would survive this lesson. It didn't look too bad. "Halloween is one of the cross-quarter days, halfway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice." Should she say more? "The ancient Celts had a festival to mark the beginning of winter." Quote: Originally Posted by Ginevra Cilla raised her hand. "I believe something called Samhain which was a an early form of Halloween happened when some constellation called the Seven Sisters aka the Pleiades star cluster culminated at midnight." Quote: Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy Hady gave a warm smile towards the Professor along with a quick salute in return to the one he had given her. She always had fun in his classes and was sure this one would be the same. Straighten up in her seat she listened quietly as he explained that they would be carving the pumpkins today. Awesomeness! She always enjoyed that back home when she was younger. Her and her parents would carve pumpkins together every year. Hady was sure though that they wouldn't be doing it the muggle way of course. As for the question given she took only a moment to think before her hand went up into the air. "Professor, doesn't a group of stars get to their highest peak on Halloween night?" She couldn't recall the name of the stars but she remembered her father telling her about it once before when she was younger and had asked why they celebrated Halloween with costumes and such things. Mr. Callaghan was on the right track, just one more key phrase could have earned the Hufflepuff a desk jump...but alas. Airey did nod towards the boy, encouraging him to say more when he saw the hand of Mr. Rehman go up. Well, the boy had said that he was in a bad mood...so there was nothing like a jovial leap of a professor on to your desk to lift ones spirits, right? Right. "YEEEEES!" Airey exclaimed as his feet left the floor and he landed on the Hufflepuff prefect's desk. A 10 point landing, by the way. "And excellent start. Yes. YES! What else?" Rapidly eager eyes darted around for the next raised hand which happened to belong to Miss Addison. "Precisely, Miss Addision, and we have a term for that sort of day that falls in the middle of two seasons..." he nodded, something that Mr. Rehman had just touched base on as well, as his eyes darted around as if daring someone to say the words he longed to hear so he could leap to the next desk. WHO WOULD IT BE WHO WOULD IT BEEEEEEEEEE? AHA! Leaping over several desks, including a Miss Shacklebolt's who was apparently NOT bewildered by his gangly good looks, until he arrived at Mr. Gardner's seat and pointed at the young man directly between the eyes as he hunched over. Forgive him, some of you, for the temporarily unfortunate (or fortunate?) view. "CROSS-QUARTER DAAAAAAAAAY!" he said, arms reaching up towards the ceiling in a PRAISE BE TO THE UNIVERSE sort of way. "These days, class, these cross-quarter days were considered to be the beginnings of the seasons by the Celts, as well as many other cultures to this day. As many of you have mentioned, these days fall midway between the solstices and equinoxes." He gave his wand a flick towards the blackboard to make a large chart appear. It was not his preferred scientific based chart, but would do for now as they were discussing the basics and focusing on how the ancient peoples viewed the motion of the universe. source: Keith C. Heidorn "For those of you familiar with Celtic symbolism," he continued, to which he was vaguely familiar with and thus if they wanted further information they should seek the library. "You'll notice some striking similarities with this chart." Just as an FYI because he was moving on. "For those of you looking for a more detailed version of this," he continued, conjuring a to scale 3D replica of things between himself and the semicircle of desks. "This ought to do the trick." AND IT WAS A TREAT TOO! HAR HAR HAR. source: NASA "The terminology for solstice, equinox, and cross-quarter day can be found in your textbook," he noted, giving them a moment to flip to the index to familiarize themselves with them before he continued. "Now, as Miss Fleming explained ever so concisely, Halloween is a cross-quarter day which means it's the half point between the equinox in autumn and the winter solstice." To quote the young Ravenclaw exactly. He would not be going into details about solstices and equinoxes today, seeing as it was a term covered recently, so first years and transfers should be well advised to read their textbook and check the notes of older students. Although he felt the charts summarized things relatively well. "As several of you mentioned as well, this was also a time of year where the Celts celebrated the summer's end as the observed the transition from the light part of the year to dark, meaning the days were becoming shorter as Miss Burton pointed out. They called this festival Samhain and, as Miss Greyvson pointed out, other cross-quarter days were named differently and have equivalents to some American holidays. The term Samhain means just that, 'summer's end' and it was believed that on this day spirits would return and cause havoc and mischief...and not in the manner you all may be accustomed to Peeves causing. We're talking acts with terrifying consequences from dying crops to luring mortals to their doom. " Lovely stuff, really. "Ghostly powers aside...well, not really ASIDE but we will pause that discussion for now and take a closer look at the night sky on all Hallow's Eve," he looked down at his own feet and chuckled nervously. Ah yes, he ought to...you know...jump down from the desk now. Ahem. Feet back planted on the floor of the classroom, he tucked both arms behind his back as he walked around the floating 3D representation he had conjured minutes earlier and, with a flick of his wand, banished it. With another wave, an explosion of bright white dots erupted from his wand and began to swirl around the classroom, tangling in students' hair here and there, before settling into place and creating the night sky on October 31, 2085 - with them standing right in the middle of it all. Even the classroom seemed to darken as though it were night. night sky above Hogwarts - October 31, 2085 approximately 11:59 pm "Pleaides has already been mentioned, but what else can we expect to see?" he asked as he walked around, idly poking at a star as he passed - only to have his finger go right through each of them. "I am primarily thinking of constellations, but your answers are not limited to those." So, show of hands? OOC: don't worry about repeating answers - or stating something obvious like 'the moon'. Plus just mention ONE thing though to give everyone a chance <3 Class will continue sometime tomorrow, but at least 24 hours from the time of this post depending on activity __________________ We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back......................................... But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass..................................... The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like Last edited by sweetpinkpixie; 01-11-2015 at 10:32 PM.