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Warm rays of the September afternoon sun leak into the Astronomy classroom as you enter. The desks are arranged in their usual semi circle to help created a more personal environment. Professor Flamsteed's desk is positioned in the “front” of the classroom with a large red velvet bag resembling that of a certain North Pole dwelling fellow's on top of it. On the blackboard is a magically enlarged poster that surely you have seen by now. Professor Flamsteed is not standing anywhere near his desk, nor the bag, but by one of the large open windows looking out at the Black Lake. Try to take a peek into the bag if you want, but at your own risk
So come on in and find your seat. Oh, and don’t forget to use the lint roller on the small table outside of the classroom next to the sign that reads, "Not to be used as a brush for your hair."
⌦Lesson Progression
▸ See what happened when you look inside the bag? Just ask Miss Wheatborn
▸ question 1 :: what are the differences between a plant and a star?
▸ question 2 :: what star is closest to earth? Oh, and you can all have lime green beards if you want
▸ question 3 :: what iS thing thiiiiiiiiiiiiiing?
▸ mini activity :: label the parts of the sun
▸ question 4 :: what myths do you know that involve the sun?
▸ myth buster! :: the truth behind Icarus & activity instructions
OOC: Opening this thread up two hours early because something came up and I might not be here at the scheduled 9 am time Please be sure you are familiar with Professor Flamsteed's rules BEFORE you post in this lesson. We will know if you haven't read them! All SnitchSeeker site rules apply.
This lesson has officially started! Please do not announce your character arriving late and just pretend like they have been in class all along. You are free to jump in any time and should use the lesson progression links to keep up.
This had just become the best lesson ever...or it would be if they were all going to get jaw breakers. Being a muggleborn the site of what was in Professor Airey's hand was nothing new. Special because mommy didn't let her have candy often., but nothing new. Jaw breakers were in fact one of her absolute favorites. This Professor was COOL.
People were too fats for her today though and before she could raise her hand to answer him many had beat her to it. Awww maaan. But no feeling down, no no. Because Mr Professor had just told them they'd ALL be getting jawbreakers.
HAPPINESS. Candy meant happiness.
Aaand back to watching the Star dude because she could worry about her own jawbreaker later. Swwwiiish. She watched as he cut the candy in half. Wooooow. She'd never seen it split like that. Ohhh and would you look at that picture on the board.
In amazement and awe Abbi watched each person get up and scribble something. She had a fact though which meant a SHOOT up of a hand. "The core, middle part thingy is the hottest part in the whole sun...I think." Seeeee she knew SOME things.
Puff by day, snake by night | Mj's bestie | Always UP to Something...
Well everyone seemed to have hit the labeling already so Minerva just sat listening for a bit to all the information. What did she know about the sun. It was round, it was hot, planets revolved around it. Really was there anything else she knew. Opening her text book she flipped through the pages. There had to be something she could add to this discussion, right?
She looked at the sun in the front of the class and randomly picked something. Let's try Corona, flipping to that part of her book she skimmed what it said and put up her hand. "Professor the book says that the Corona extends millions of kilometers which can be seen best during a solar eclipse."
Placing her hand back down she sat back in her chair shutting her book again. Well hopefully that was an alright fact, because the blonde really didn't know much else. She would have to spend some extra time on this subject again this term it seemed.
urine trouble | Pat's Strong Confident Other Half | Pees Like a Champion Unicorn Racehorse
They were all going to get jawbreakers? REALLY? Was the man serious?
AWESOME. With HUGE capital letters. Which could also be used to describe the song Flamsteed had been singing along to before.
A big grin spread across the Hufflepuff's face as he sat up a little, his eyes on the Professor. He was paying attention. Yeah. Jawbreakers can represent the sun. That note, right there, was going into his set of notes. It could be useful one day, yeah? He bent his head again and scribbled it down before looking up again.
... The sun. They had to label it which... since he had spent so long internally fanboying over the idea of jawbreakers, the labels were already full. Okay... he's just give an explanation then? Putting his quill between his teeth, the boy started riffling through the pages of the textbook until he reached the page about the sun. Sun... sun... parts of the sun. Occasionally, his eyes shot up to the board and the label before looking back down again. Maybe he could talk about one that hadn't been talked about? Maybe?
Deciding on one and rearranging the words into a form he could understand in his brain, Alec raised his hand in the air. "Professor? The convective... convection zone has convection current in it, hence the name," he started, looked between the man and the diagram, "The hot gas becomes less dense and rises towards the surface and the cool gas... becomes more dense, I guess, and falls towards the..." He paused and checked the textbook quickly. "... base of the convective zone."
He took a deep breath and let it out again, sitting back as he did so. There. That was enough, right?
There were a lot of people going up there and doing the labelling thing, but Tobias decided just to sit back for this part, but he DID have some input, so he raised his hand. "That middle part is the hottest thing and you shouldn't touch it."
...............
Speaking of the middle part.
"Why is the middle blue?" Did blue mean hot? Tobias thought blue meant cold. Was his entire life a LIE?!
Three years at a private muggle school WAAAAASTEEEEED.
[/drama llama]
Unless it was just there to look pretty.
__________________
Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Chocolate!
Okay, the sound of science was becoming increasingly less awesome because of all this clicking going on by Mr. Stark and his tongue. Did he know that clicking noise was EXTREMELY rude in some cultures? The astronomer had learned this due to some international events he had been required to attend as Astronomer Royal.
"Mr. Stark, that is quite enough of the tongue clicking," Airey said, the slightest hint of agitation in his voice.
And now he was going to get down to real business. Removing his wand, Airey levitated the massive candy into the air, enlarged it so it was easier to see, and gave his wand another flick to cause it to rotate slowly. "Now, you will all need to use your imagination and think outside the box for this, but when I look at the surface of a jawbreaker I see sunspots and solar flares. When I cut it in half..." he said as he gave his wand a quick downwards slash to sever the jawbreaker perfectly in half. "...I see thermal based diagrams of the layers of the sun."
The professor then gave the blackboard another tap and revealed just that, a diagram of the sun. Did they see how similar they looked? Airey found the similarities to be rather uncanny. Just like black holes and ice cream cones - which took on an ENTIRELY new meaning thanks to the events of last term.
SPOILER!!: the chart
"Now, as you can see the parts of the sun are not labeled. I would like to ask for volunteers to come up and fill in the missing information for us. Just ONE please. If the part of the sun you know has already been filled in, you can state a fact about it instead. You MAY use your textbooks to assist you." This was a RARE thing for him to ask, but he wanted to help those students who may be at a disadvantage participate. This information was not something he expected first years to know, for example.
OOC: You do NOT and should not wait for Professor Flamsteed to call on your character to come up to the board as a volunteer and can just pretend that he did. Likewise, no one get all dslkjfdjfsllkssfdj BUT MY CHARACTER ALREADY WROTE THAT PART ON THE BOARD if someone RPs the action after you. Just take a deep breath and relax knowing that you had speedier fingers and luck on timing <3
If your character chooses to state a fact, try to keep your brief and do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT just copy paste from Wikipedia or another website. I will know Make sure you use your character's own voice when answering, please and thank you.
Class will resume either before I go to bed (in approximately 8 hours) or once I wake up depending on your posts
Smirk.
It seemed that Glitter Trousers was nice and agitated now, yeah? Sort of made Ascanius proud of himself, although technically he wasn't really doing anything. Smirky smirk. S'just a light little click, a nervous habit if you will from Ascanius anxiety, which he actually had. At least, that was how he was going to couch it if Flamstead tried to come at him about it.
Although, when Glitter Trousers turned to actually LOOK at him, Ascanius put on the most casual face he could muster and just stared at the man. Ahem.
Click, click, click. Nervous tick, yeah?
When he tried to move on with the lesson, Ascanius looked up at the board and rolled his eyes for the thirteenth time that lesson. This was easy stuff. Nothing you wouldn't find in the simplest of books on the SOLAR system, aka the SUN system. Yeah, he wasn't an idiot. Just 'cause he wasn't answering didn't mean he didn't know.
So when people started to shout out answers and race to the board, Ascanius just leaned back and watched it all. He wanted to comment that the sun was a G2 star, which meant that it was like a medium sized star in comparison to others but he didn't. He also wanted to state that since the sun was made of gas and not any SOLID material the fact that Flamstead wanted them to name parts wasn't exactly right. Can't have a part of its technically not a solid. Maybe sections would have been more apt.
It was a jawbreaker!! Yes, a jawbreaker. Not a Mountain Troll eyeball. Although, that would have been much more fun...and squishy. Now he needed to label the parts. "Wait, the sun had parts?" he mumbled to himself. He had only ever thought of the sun as a giant ball of fire in the sky. Not something that had layers.
Asher got up from his chair and made his way to the diagram. Just as he arrived, he realized that he should have looked in his book before going to the front. Not having any idea what the layers were called, he stood there, looking quite confused. Seeing that most of the parts had already been labeled by his classmates, he decided to give a fact about one of the layers.
He reached his hand out and pointed at the outer most layer. "That part is the outside. It's hot. Yes, hot and usually looks yellow from Earth. I suppose it looks the same color from other planets as well." He spun around on his heels and trotted back to his desk.
Nigel just did not have the energy to rush to the board to point something out about the sun. Nigel wanted to talk about Pluto. The Prefect felt sorry for Pluto. It was a planet and now it is not a planet. Just like that.
Plus Nine is a pretty nice number.
Though pointing out the obvious about the Sun would be fun. Like the Sun is hot and you can see it in the sky. But no. Nigel moved around in his seat getting comfortable.
__________________
-------------------------------------Be a pineapple: Stand tall,
-----------------------------------------wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside.
Dani's Citrus Duck Spawn | Mama Giraffe | Lemon PATch | Pushed the Red Button
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie
And speaking of oddness.....
"Everything alright, Miss Fischer?" Was she regretting asking for a beard? Maybe she should braid it or something?
Itch. Itchhh. "Can you do that flicky thing with your wand again, prof?" Like that thing that got this beard off? Please?
As for facts and labeling, Alice was much too preoccupied with her beard issues to offer anything to the class. But she COULD ask questions. "You know how Cact.. Mo, I mean.. was talking about how planets are made from stars, professor?" Which had actually been her answer. Ahem. "D'you think the Sun could ever become a planet one day?"
Was that even possible?
She scratched thoughtfully at her uncomfortable batch of green facial hair and pondered it.
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and so i took an axe to a mended fence.___________________.______._________________ __________________________________..____this is why we can't have nice things, darling.
There was a moment, probably around the middle of Airey's explanation about this topic that Lottie considered daydreaming. Obviously about something else, not the sun. But she was supposed to keep on listening, it's just... the man kept making it harder at every single mention of the SUN.
That was ALL she could hear. Granted, the focus was on this particular star today, she'd rather go back to the North Star even the Death Star any minute now.
Willing her mind to focus on the closest star to Earth for a moment - tough task, by the way - she knew that if she stood up to write a name of any of the layers she'd end up laughing at the board, so, she didn't stand, she remained seated... and was starting to get annoyed by that tongue clicking, Ascanius Stark. Though, it served as a distraction, so she just smirked.
HAND UP! We have a little something to say in relation to the sun, "Well, the sunspots, solar flares, or any kind of solar activity... are brought to you by the sun's magnetic field."Nod, nod, of course. Hey! Fun fact! Electric power and radio stuff gets affected by this solar activity thing, did ya know? Sometimes even MAGIC. Merlin, can we go now? Sigh.
Made of Awesome | Ern-la the Best-wa | TZ's Apogee
Mo stuck his tongue out at Alice. Politely, though, and when the professor wasn't looking. Friendly ol' face-making, for calling him Cactus in front of the professor and all that. And for making disgruntled faces at him.
Since all the blanks were filled in, all Mo could do was offer a fact. HMMM. "The photosphere, which is that outer layer, is super hot. Like... 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit hot. And it's the outermost of the layers, even, so that means the core is... well, super DUPER hot. Like 27 million degrees Fahrenheit hot. I mean, if you weren't already pretty much disintegrated on the spot, you'd have one heck of a sunburn."
curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - *chicken emoji* - probably @ Disney - I speak dog
Caleb grinned. This was fun! And a great study guide for his notes later...he jumped up when it was his turn and headed to the board. Hmmm, which one did he want to fill in? He scribbled the word "Corona" at the bottom and then explained what that part was to the class.
"The corona is like...the edge of the sun. The top layer. It's SUPER hot and that's the part that we usually see, and it extended for miles and miles and MILES, so even if you're not super close to the sun, it's still super hot because of this," he explained before taking his seat again.
__________________
I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did
Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid
Admiratrice des Maraudeurs | C-Rizzle | THE Best Snuggler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felixir
There were a lot of people going up there and doing the labelling thing, but Tobias decided just to sit back for this part, but he DID have some input, so he raised his hand. "That middle part is the hottest thing and you shouldn't touch it."
...............
Speaking of the middle part.
"Why is the middle blue?" Did blue mean hot? Tobias thought blue meant cold. Was his entire life a LIE?!
Three years at a private muggle school WAAAAASTEEEEED.
[/drama llama]
Unless it was just there to look pretty.
As soon as Tobias made his point, Marigold's hand shot up.
"Because the core is blue, it means it is hotter than the outside. Red often means cooler than blue. The color that means something is the hottest is white!" She was excited to share this. She had gone to a planetarium with her mom when she was younger, and remembered learning this.
She glanced at the board and saw that it was pretty much full, so she sat quietly until the next set of instructions.
Mr. Unicorn: Kim's daughter: Jenn's sister : MILKSHAKES: Lita Daley: The Sun: Its so Fluffy!
Oh. So they could state facts if they weren't comfortable with showing which part of the sun was which. Yeah, Tag wasn't going to take that chance. He did know, hopefully, at least one thing he was sure of, so ever slow slowly he answered, though there was still question in his voice, "Isn't the core of the sun the hottest part because its so deep within the layers?"
An if not, well, he felt decent that the core was at least the hottest part of the sun. He'll take being half right than all wrong.
Baguette | there is no D in my name | TRAITORclaw | Queenie of Narnia
The sun and a jawbreaker. Hmm. Yeah, she could appreciate food/candy being used in explanations. It made everything better. And now for this question...they could use their textbooks? Awesome. Because anything she might have said was probably already said by someone else, so now she could try to actually find some other fact instead of just sitting there. Or answering with something super obvious.
Hmm, flipping through the textbook.... Oh hey, here was something. Penelope raised her hand. "Corona comes from Latin. The word, I mean. And it means 'crown.'"
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astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK | & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf
Quote:
Originally Posted by lemon
Itch. Itchhh. "Can you do that flicky thing with your wand again, prof?" Like that thing that got this beard off? Please?
As for facts and labeling, Alice was much too preoccupied with her beard issues to offer anything to the class. But she COULD ask questions. "You know how Cact.. Mo, I mean.. was talking about how planets are made from stars, professor?" Which had actually been her answer. Ahem. "D'you think the Sun could ever become a planet one day?"
Was that even possible?
She scratched thoughtfully at her uncomfortable batch of green facial hair and pondered it.
The flicky thing with his wand? The professor just sort of stared at the quidditch captain bewildered by her question. He wasn't good at reading into things. One needed to be blunt with the man when asking for something. So, he sort of flicked his wand with no intention of it doing anything - which is precisely what it did. Nothing.
Was she satisfied?
Now for her question. "Not unless you had a GIANT wand, and I mean GIANT, floating in outer space that was pointed at the wand and a witch or wizard with magic powerful enough to transfigure it," Airey said with a chuckle. "The sun's formation is already complete and it's life cycle underway. Stars form when clouds of gas and dust collapse under their own gravity. Planets form from leftover matter orbiting the new star. The sun's heat is FAR too hot to allow any matter to collect as everything would in incinerated on spot" Just in case that thought was there, you know, the sun collecting space dust and all that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felixir
There were a lot of people going up there and doing the labelling thing, but Tobias decided just to sit back for this part, but he DID have some input, so he raised his hand. "That middle part is the hottest thing and you shouldn't touch it."
...............
Speaking of the middle part.
"Why is the middle blue?" Did blue mean hot? Tobias thought blue meant cold. Was his entire life a LIE?!
Three years at a private muggle school WAAAAASTEEEEED.
[/drama llama]
Unless it was just there to look pretty.
Airey smiled at his pogo buddy. "I want you to picture a candle in your mind for a moment, Mr. Tempus. Now, without going into too much detail about things....the tip and outermost layer of the flame, the part that tends to look more orangish-red to the naked eye, is the coolest part of the flame. As you go deeper within the flame, the color becomes more yellow and more hot. Once you are at the base of the flame, that color is blue and the hottest. Now, keep in mind that there is A LOT going on to create these colors, but at the most basic level the hottest flames are blue. You see this in stars as well. The hottest stars are blue and the coolest stars are red." He paused for a moment. "Now, in terms of this diagram, however, astronomers can only speculate as to what color the sun's core is since we have not been able to explore it, but an educated guess there is that it would be white. Think of the chart as a thermal, heat, map where the center is the hottest - hence the blue color."
Quote:
Originally Posted by bitsyandtank
He reached his hand out and pointed at the outer most layer. "That part is the outside. It's hot. Yes, hot and usually looks yellow from Earth. I suppose it looks the same color from other planets as well." He spun around on his heels and trotted back to his desk.
Oh! This was a good point! "I am glad you mentioned color as well, Mr. Stinson," Airey nodded. These two points would actually build off one another quite nicely really. "While the sun is always depicted as yellow in pop culture, the actual color of the sun is not yellow and you would see this if you were able to fly right up into space. You see, if a star's temperature is less than 3,500 Kelvin, its color will be red. This is because there are more red photons being emitted than any other kind of visible light. Photons are what light is made up of and are little energy packets of electromagnetic radiation. If a star is above 10,000 Kelvin, its color will be blue. Once again, because there are more blue photons streaming from a star. Now, the sun's temperature approximately 6,000 Kelvin, which is VERY VEEEEEERY hot as many have pointed out. So, stars like our sun will appear white and this is because because we’re seeing all the different color photons coming at the same time. When you add all the colors up you will get white." Not black. This isn't art class. And he was also going to pause here to take a breath. "What we see here on earth, the yellow color, is thanks to the earth's atmosphere scattering all those photons and removing the shorter wavelength lights of blue and violet - which is what makes our sky blue - and what is left is yellow!"
SEEEEEEEEEE how neato the sun was?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz
It was best to just not look at the bearded girlfriend yeah? It creeped him out. West didn't get up to add to the diagram either, since the beard thing was so distracting, but he was paying attention and mentally assigning labels to the diagram in his head. The gobstopper thing was cool, with the layers and all. West hadn't ever properly thought about it like that before. So, stating facts yeah? West didn't bother with his textbook, still keeping it simple and all that. Hand went up though.
"While the planets and dwarf planets and all that in our solar system orbit the sun, the sun isn't actually stuck in one spot either: it orbits around the center of the Milky Way, it just takes a really, really long time." West said, starting to perk up a bit just because Flammy's classes were always reasonably interesting, even when he wasn't in the best of moods.
Mr. Odessa got two thumbs way way up. Airey just had to wonder what had taken the Slytherin so long to chime in...and then he recalled his lack of sleep hypothesis from earlier. Hmmm...something seemed a bit off.
"Excellent, Mr. Odessa, and a very important point for us all to consider," Airey nodded as he gave his wand a quick flick to conjure up some floating and orbiting lights that began to move around the classroom. "Now, this model you see right now it just a rough idea of how things move as those orbits are not accurate and, of course, things are not moving THAT quickly. But keep in mind that nothing in space is stationary. Everything is moving even if it is very VERY slowly."
Yes, even black holes. But he was going to neglect that bit of information for the time being.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JustAlice
"Yes I'm fine now thanks, Professor..." she said, trying her best not to turn into sulky, slightly embarrassed Derry and wishing she had a beard she could hide her blush behind. But she didn't want a green beard thanks. It'd... clash with her hair or something.
She was still sulking a little bit, trying to regain a little bit of confidence before she started to talk, when everyone was answering the question before her. God this was going so fast.
As for the sun... Derry was starting to wish she had actually listened to Tilly's ramblings about the solar system. But she'd never actually cared that much.
...
OOOOH but she DID know a fact about the outer-bit... "Sometimes there're st-st-storms on the s-surface." She frowned to herself. Stuttering was not what she needed right now. "Called s-s-s... ..." It just wasn't happening. She meant solar flares. But she couldn't get it out. "...nevermind..." she mumbled, leaning forwards to let her hair cover her slight blush whilst she took as many notes as she could.
Oh sweet solstice, how had he not known this fact about the Slytherin captain? Then again, how would he have? The astronomer clearly had his meany pants on today. Oops.
"Solar flares," he said with an awkward smile and side shuffle. "Yes, very good. It is these solar flares that can interact with the earth's magnetic field and case the Northern and Southern lights." Older students should recall this phenomena. They studied it with the late Professor Burbage according to the records he found in the Astronomy Tower.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lockhartian
HAND UP! We have a little something to say in relation to the sun, "Well, the sunspots, solar flares, or any kind of solar activity... are brought to you by the sun's magnetic field."Nod, nod, of course. Hey! Fun fact! Electric power and radio stuff gets affected by this solar activity thing, did ya know? Sometimes even MAGIC. Merlin, can we go now? Sigh.
"Excellent, Miss Wisteria," Airey nodded, glad to see that she was back to participating in the lesson as more than an active listener. It was like she didn't like the sun or something, which was an amusing thought to him because it was the source of life on earth. Disliking it would be rather morbid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Princesspower
On hearing the professors answer about the speed of light, Sarah could not help but quip. “Light travels faster than sound, that is why some people appear to be bright until they start talking”. Just a fact, like that Professor French.. he seemed old and old is usually the equivalent of wise.
She listened to Airey’s praise on Mo, of course she heard what Mo said. She also knew that Mo was clever and kind... But he had Cat already.
Sol? “Then why is the word Solar still used as relating to the sun?” she asked after raising her hand.
Oooooooooooh look at you Miss Edwards! Some science humor thrown into the mix. He could appreciate that. And Did. The astronomer stood there laughing for a bit. Yes, awesome points to you, Miss Edwards. THAT was a good one.
Her question...sort of threw him for a loop. He wasn't exactly an English teacher here. "The word solar is an adjective that literally means of or relating to the sun. So that is why it is used."
Airey stood back and watched as students went to the board to label the chart, nodding his head and occasionally squinting when handwriting was hard to read, but the astronomer found himself smiling more than not. Even if students did not know the answer off the top of their heads, they had been resourceful and used their textbooks - a RARE thing he allowed during lessons, but today it was alright]
SPOILER!!: completed chart
OOC: I'm sorry I didn't use the versions you all edited. There were a few variations floating around and for the sake of time, you know <3 just pretend that your character's lovely handwriting is there, k?
He turned now to face the class to give a brief overview of each layer. The giant jawbreaker was still floating around as well to serve as another reference point and visual aid in remembering the layers should students find that useful.
SPOILER!!: the core!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana
Sophie looked at the jawbreaker, both the version that was whole and the one that was severed in half. To the professor, it looked like the Sun, but to Sophie, it looked like a good after-class snack. Yummm...
She watched as her classmates labeled the parts of the Sun. There were parts she didn't know, but there were also parts she did know. She raised her hand to volunteer, knowing the word for something not already labeled on the Sun. That blue part in the very, very middle was called the core. It was deeper than the Radiation Zone.
Then the activity began, someone said core, so Sarah decided to elaborate, “I know a few facts about the Sun’s core, yet one of them is that the temperature at the core is fifteen MILLION Kelvin, which is around a Million times the maximum average temperature in a Scottish June – literally!” Putting it in prospective.. Sarah was happy she lived in England with it warmer climate, although it was not as hot as the South Africa her mother grew up in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Talikins
CANDY CANDY CANDY CANDY CANDY CANDY!!!
This had just become the best lesson ever...or it would be if they were all going to get jaw breakers. Being a muggleborn the site of what was in Professor Airey's hand was nothing new. Special because mommy didn't let her have candy often., but nothing new. Jaw breakers were in fact one of her absolute favorites. This Professor was COOL.
People were too fats for her today though and before she could raise her hand to answer him many had beat her to it. Awww maaan. But no feeling down, no no. Because Mr Professor had just told them they'd ALL be getting jawbreakers.
HAPPINESS. Candy meant happiness.
Aaand back to watching the Star dude because she could worry about her own jawbreaker later. Swwwiiish. She watched as he cut the candy in half. Wooooow. She'd never seen it split like that. Ohhh and would you look at that picture on the board.
In amazement and awe Abbi watched each person get up and scribble something. She had a fact though which meant a SHOOT up of a hand. "The core, middle part thingy is the hottest part in the whole sun...I think." Seeeee she knew SOME things.
Alright. To start things off then what better place than the middle. "The core," he began while pointing to it on the chart. "Is the innermost layer of the sun. This is where thermonuclear fusion happens and is the process in which a star produce its light, heat, and energy. All the energy that reaches earth from the sun started right here. The core has a temperature of approximately 15 million degrees Celsius or 28 million degrees Fahrenheit."
SPOILER!!: radiation zone/radiative zone! & a little tachocline
Quote:
Originally Posted by amadshade
Woa. Flamsteed was saying that they could use their textbooks? That wasn't something that happened every day. She shrugged, it didn't matter really to her, and raised her hand for a turn at the board.
Tora bounded up towards the board to write down her answer. She quickly wrote down Tachodine in the appropriate place before dodging back to her seat. And because she could she checked her textbook to make sure she got it right.
Oh. Wait. That was wrong... She looked around quickly, and because no one else had gotten to the board yet she dashed back up to cross out her original answer and write in her new and improved one. Radiation zone. That was the right answer. "Sorry Professor." she turned to Professor Airey. "I fixed it..." She blushed and returned to her seat once more. Maybe it was a good thing that she was allowed to use her textbook.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixStar
The sun. What did she know about the sun other than it being hot and it hurt your eyes to look into it? OMG! They had better not be going outside to look at the sun. Her eyes were precious and there was no way that she would do anything to hurt them. He would most likely have them use some kind of protective glasses, but that was really besides the point. She just didn't wanna. She noticed her classmate had just labeled the radiation zone and that actually rang a bell.
"The radiation zone or the radiative zone as it is sometimes called is where all the energy comes from." Err... was that enough because the rest was kind of confusing to her. "Umm... and I think that the rate of energy will directly impact the temperature." she said with a raised hand. She wasn't entirely sure that she understood that correctly, but that was her answer and she was sticking to it.
"Very good. The next layer is the radiation zone, which is also called the radiative zone," he continued as he moved his finger along the chart. "Light produced by nuclear fusion in the core travels out in the shell called the radiative zone. This layer is not as dense as the core but it is still so dense that light from the core bounces around taking about 100,000 years to move through here. Between this layer and the next is a transition layer, the tachocline," he said, nodding his head towards the Ravenclaw who had written the word first before correcting it. The answer hadn't been wrong, just not the one he had been looking for.
SPOILER!!: convection zone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by iBeJenn
So it wasn't a bouncy ball. Well then, Melanie was okay with that. She listened to the professor as he spoke and the candy was split in half. Ooooh. Look at all the colors. Melanie's mouth might've dropped some, when she saw the inside. It was actually quite pretty. That didn't mean she wanted to eat one though.
She slid out of her seat and walked up to the board before labeling the convection zone. She remembered that one because it kept reminding her of the word confection. The other ones were just a tad more difficult to memorize.
Making sure her handwriting was neat, she nodded her head and went back to her seat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hermionesclone
They were all going to get jawbreakers? REALLY? Was the man serious?
AWESOME. With HUGE capital letters. Which could also be used to describe the song Flamsteed had been singing along to before.
A big grin spread across the Hufflepuff's face as he sat up a little, his eyes on the Professor. He was paying attention. Yeah. Jawbreakers can represent the sun. That note, right there, was going into his set of notes. It could be useful one day, yeah? He bent his head again and scribbled it down before looking up again.
... The sun. They had to label it which... since he had spent so long internally fanboying over the idea of jawbreakers, the labels were already full. Okay... he's just give an explanation then? Putting his quill between his teeth, the boy started riffling through the pages of the textbook until he reached the page about the sun. Sun... sun... parts of the sun. Occasionally, his eyes shot up to the board and the label before looking back down again. Maybe he could talk about one that hadn't been talked about? Maybe?
Deciding on one and rearranging the words into a form he could understand in his brain, Alec raised his hand in the air. "Professor? The convective... convection zone has convection current in it, hence the name," he started, looked between the man and the diagram, "The hot gas becomes less dense and rises towards the surface and the cool gas... becomes more dense, I guess, and falls towards the..." He paused and checked the textbook quickly. "... base of the convective zone."
He took a deep breath and let it out again, sitting back as he did so. There. That was enough, right?
Airey nodded his head at the next correctly labeled layer. "When the the density of the radiative zone becomes low enough, energy from the core in the form of light is converted into heat and rises into this layer. You can think of this layer as the surface of water boiling in a pot almost. The heat from the edge of the radiative zone rises until it cools enough that it sinks back down towards the core, but by doing so it creates big bubbles called convection cells. This rising of heat and and falling of cool gas is called convection." Hence the name of the layer.
SPOILER!!: photosphere!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
Lex looked across the room and noted the fact that Alice had begun scratching in her beard. Hey wait what? She was already trying get rid of it?? That kinda defeated the purpose of being beard buddies even if she didn't know they were! Hmph. She would need to have a word with her on coordinating later.
For now THEY COULD KEEP THE CANDY!!
She'd be on this one for a while not to mention they could keep the leftovers. Professor Airey was amazing, that was all she was prepared to say at this present moment but 'cept there was probably more to say. They were labelling the sun now. She could do thaaaat. Surprinzingly enough she'd bothered to look through her Astronomy text over the summer.
Lex hopped up and walked to the board....which one...? Hmmmm?
In the end she chose the photosphere and scribbled it in. There! She beamed over at the Professor, eyed the bag of candy for another moment then retook her seat and went back to her beard admiring.
This was a philosophical moment kinda thing and she was now nodding like a wise sage. YUP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife
Kat took a moment to examine the chart on the board. So, the layers of the sun, yeah? That was easy. She wanted to go in front and write down answers but she was too lazy. Like, honestly, she was just tired and standing up plus writing down things was already a lot of effort. And she didn't want to use too much energy since she was already being a good student for participating actively in class. So instead she'd just say a fact about one of them
The Head Girl's hand went up. "The photosphere has sort of dark spots which people tend to call sunspots." Yeah, that was her share. Carry on, Astronomy students.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassirin
Mo stuck his tongue out at Alice. Politely, though, and when the professor wasn't looking. Friendly ol' face-making, for calling him Cactus in front of the professor and all that. And for making disgruntled faces at him.
Since all the blanks were filled in, all Mo could do was offer a fact. HMMM. "The photosphere, which is that outer layer, is super hot. Like... 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit hot. And it's the outermost of the layers, even, so that means the core is... well, super DUPER hot. Like 27 million degrees Fahrenheit hot. I mean, if you weren't already pretty much disintegrated on the spot, you'd have one heck of a sunburn."
"If only scientists had discovered a sunscreen stronger than SPF 50," he chuckled. Or was there one stronger? He didn't follow up on muggle sun prevention things much. "But very good, the next layer is the photosphere which is the visible layer of the sun and is tens to hundreds of kilometers thick. This layer is the lowest level in the Sun's atmosphere and is where energy finally escapes." He paused for a moment. "What is interesting to note about sunspots is that they do not appear in random locations and astronomers can actually predict where they may show up. They tend to be concentrated in two mid-latitude bands on either side of the sun's equator. They begin appearing around 25 to 30 degrees north and south of the center and never more than 70 degrees. Sunspots are huge and act just like poles and because there needs to be a “North” sunspot and a “South” sunspot, these spots like to appear in pairs. The number of sunspots varies over an 11-year cycle known as the solar cycle and actually begin in the convective layer of the sun and appear on the photosphere," he said as he gave a nod towards the Head Girl who had mentioned them in the first place.
SPOILER!!: chromosphere!
Quote:
Originally Posted by slytherus
Ooooh~ It really looked like the sun structure! He would really use jawbreakers to help him remember after this. When Flamsteed was asking for volunteers, Angeal, who surprisingly decided to finally participate in the lesson got up and went to the blackboard to label one of the parts.
Looks like a few years of muggle education paid off after all.
Airey nodded at the Slytherin as he labeled the next layer. "As we continue upwards, we reach the next layer in the sun's atmosphere, the chromosphere. This layer is where most of the sun's weather takes place, including solar flares. The chromosphere is red in color and is actually visible during a complete solar eclipse." Something that they may get the chance to see this year. "This layer is also marked by countless jets or small spikes of matter called spicules that continually form and disappear, rising up and falling back down within minutes." It was a very exciting layer of study to be sure.
SPOILER!!: corona!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitten
A grin formed on the purebloods face as she saw the image of the sun on the board, remembering the times where Liam had been doing Astronomy homework, or even studying it, and she'd just sat around watching him as he worked.
So she already knew a bit, and immediately jumped up given the fact that she'd been given the chance to. So looking at the board, which already had one part filled in she thought for a moment, before quickly writing another one.
Sitting down, fairly certain she was right, she could only hope that she hadn't made a mistake...
That would be embarrassing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow
The inside of a jaw breaker really was cool looking. It was also a really good representation of the sun and it was nice that Airey-face thought outside the box with stuff like this. Because even if you weren't necessarily interested in the planets and stars *GASP*, you'd probably be interested in the candy and what that had to do with anything. Cool professor was cool.
Ella looked up at the diagram thoughtfully as her classmates began to fill in the empty spots, trying to think of anything she knew about the different parts of the sun. It's hot was probably too general a thing to state, yeah? Yeah.
"The corona is a layer of gases, Professor. Light gases, I mean. It's not super bright or anything but I think you can see it on some occasions when the other layer, erm the photosphere, isn't as visible."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom
Caleb grinned. This was fun! And a great study guide for his notes later...he jumped up when it was his turn and headed to the board. Hmmm, which one did he want to fill in? He scribbled the word "Corona" at the bottom and then explained what that part was to the class.
"The corona is like...the edge of the sun. The top layer. It's SUPER hot and that's the part that we usually see, and it extended for miles and miles and MILES, so even if you're not super close to the sun, it's still super hot because of this," he explained before taking his seat again.
Almost done and then the fun could begin. "Good good," he nodded at the label on the chart. "The corona type of plasma that surrounds the sun and other celestial bodies, even our own earth. This layer of the sun is only visible when the light of the photosphere is blocked, like during a solar eclipse, and is the glowing halo of light that I am sure most of you are familiar with," he explained as he pointed to the appropriate section of the chart. "This layer is actually hotter than the surface of the sun and scientists believe that this is because of the energy from sun's magnetic field heats it." Yes, you got a quick nod, Miss Wisteria, for mentioning the magnetic field specifically. "But the corona does not produce much heat, so meteors and the like will not burn up were they to enter it."
Airey stepped away from the board now and banished the giant floating jawbreaker, for the time being. He waited for a few minutes while students wrote their notes and any potential diagram drawing that may be going on. Once ample time had passed - and mostly because he couldn't stop bouncing in place - Airey began to hum to himself and before too long he was BELTING out a song about the layers of the sun while dancing about the room and encouraging others to get up and move as well.
Music WAS a great learning tool after all and they all had been sitting still for far too long.
"Oh oh oh oh oh oh! Oh oh oh oh oh oh! Oh oh oh oh oh oh! These are layers of the sun!"
Once he had finished his lively rendition, he straightened his tie and returned to standing in front of the blackboard.
"Now, one last thing to discuss before we head outside," he said with a small smirk. "Because of the sun’s massive influence, many early cultures saw it as a deity or god. For example, Ancient Egyptians had a sun god called Ra while in Aztec mythology there is a sun god named Tonatiuh and we have mentioned the Greek equivalent of Helios earlier and the Roman Sol. But the sun was not just seen as a god, it also became a source and a great influence in mythology as well. Given how I began this lesson, what myth do you think I want us to focus on today?" He had even given them a keyword earlier too.
OOC: This will be the last question before the activity Go ahead and have your character guess what myth involving the sun they think Airey is talking about, or just any myth they know (or make one up!) Remember that all SS Rules apply here
I will continue this lesson before I go to bed in approximately 11 hours from now.
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She was more interested in the jawbreakers and when they were going to get theirs. Because, hello, hadn't had one in a long time here. But note-taking was going on, unfortunately for Sky's hands. There were a lot of notes to be taken.
Also, there was glaring headed in Ascanius's direction because that clicking of the tongue wasn't making him seem cool, it was making him obnoxious. Which was the complete opposite of cool.
Wait, did Professor say they were going outside? Awesome! But first, myths about the sun. In particular, which one were they going to be studying? Hmmm. "Maybe Helios? Or Sól?" She was pretty sure they had both been mentioned.....
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie
The flicky thing with his wand? The professor just sort of stared at the quidditch captain bewildered by her question. He wasn't good at reading into things. One needed to be blunt with the man when asking for something. So, he sort of flicked his wand with no intention of it doing anything - which is precisely what it did. Nothing.
Was she satisfied?
Now for her question. "Not unless you had a GIANT wand, and I mean GIANT, floating in outer space that was pointed at the wand and a witch or wizard with magic powerful enough to transfigure it," Airey said with a chuckle. "The sun's formation is already complete and it's life cycle underway. Stars form when clouds of gas and dust collapse under their own gravity. Planets form from leftover matter orbiting the new star. The sun's heat is FAR too hot to allow any matter to collect as everything would in incinerated on spot" Just in case that thought was there, you know, the sun collecting space dust and all that.
"... I meant.. the flicky thing that... gets rid of the beard, professor." Alice pawed more at her chin and gave the professor an incredulous look, everything about the giant wand going in one ear and out the other. Could he do something about this uncomfortable facial hair already? Itch. Itchhh.
She stuck her tongue back out at Mo when he started making faces, but quickly pulled it back in for fear of getting beard in her mouth. Nope. Nope, Flamsteed, she wanted this thing off. There was no way she could think straight about myths and suns and stars and whatever else she was meant to be thinking about when she looked like an old leprechaun.
But she did know ONE thing. "I think we're going to be reenacting whatever this myth is, prof. Utilizing the sun's light in it and stuff." 'Cause he'd said that to another student, and Alice was ALL for repeating professors' words back to them to avoid actual thinking.
Did that count as an answer? Yes? Beard off now?
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Hmmm. Myths and legends to do with the sun? And they were going to go outside to do something with one of the stories...?
Mo perked up immediately, his hand in the air. "Sir professor sir?? Are we going to ride the winged horses or let them draw a carriage with us in it, like Helios would fly his chariot of the sun across the sky every day? If we do, I'm real good with the horses, sir, and I would like to drive. Please."
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Lots of information all at once, goodness. Penelope couldn't take notes that fast, so she merely jotted a few things down here and there and hoped that was good enough. And there was...lots of music and singing and dancing going on with him. Alright then. She wasn't joining in though, especially since she didn't know this song.
Now they were moving on and talking about myths. Which one would they be focusing on? Penelope did know a little bit about Greek mythology at least, so she could attempt that. She raised her hand. "Could it be something about...Apollo? I think?" He had something to do with the sun, didn't he? 'Cause he had a twin sister who was all about the moon...so it made sense. Sorta.
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There was even more information to be taken in now. For a while Lex simply sat and scribbled everything he was saying, it didn't all fit on one parchment, in case you were wondering. By the time she was done she almost felt lost. What were they talking about again? Myths concerning the sun...based on the class so far?
Alexa stroked her very philosophical beard, giving the impression of a thoughtful student. This was how one went about looking legit in a class.
Now where was she? Oh yes, guessing the myth based on the class so far. Hmmmm...Slowly she raised her hand, keeping that thoughtful look so the next thing she said would be taken seriously. "The beards lead me to believe we might be looking about old Saint Nick, he had a huge beard as you recall Professor and had to get around the world before the sun's light caught up to him, but," Yes there was a but, she didn't think they'd spend the time discussing a man that gave coal to children who stomp through their neighbour's garden, "it's not likely so I'll go with Mo's idea because it involves riding horses and I would also like a turn as driver."
She gave a solemn nod after that, maintaining the guru, wise old sage thing.
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This class was excellently making her head hurt at the moment, how much longer until they're allowed to go somewhere else? He did say they were going to head outside, yes? That could help her clear her head. Probably.
BUT THEN! Hmmm, myths? At the beginning of the lesson?! SAY WHAT?! Lottie didn't even remember what had happened at the beginning of the lesson! Her eyes widened ever so slightly and she, inconspicuously, started to search her notes. WHAT?! Why did he have to pick THE SUN?!? Do you know how many galaxies are OUT THERE?! She sighed. LOUDLY.
Greeks. They had both Helios and Apollo. Much like she was thinking of two suns. Curious thing. Only one was a Titan, the other not so much. It wasn't until Mo mentioned driving... where was he even driving? Why was Lottie not even focusing? "Or flying... like Icarus." Mo could do that, he was more than welcome to go and fly into the sun. He'll tell us all about it later, surely.
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Minerva watched and listened to all the other answers before Flamsteed started talking.. no singing, yes he was singing a song about the sun. He really was enjoying himself wasn't he? Well she guess that was a good thing why be miserable like Lafay in your job. Do something you love to do and are happy about doing, right? meh.. Minerva was just glad she didn't have to sing along or anything even though the song was not horrible and she actually started tapping her foot a bit. A smile crossed her face after awhile beard issue becoming forgotten, for now.
With his next questions Minerva frowned so beard issue not forgotten. Putting up her hand, "Well you said about Hubris sir and that it would come later or something like that, but Hurbris is an action of shame or humiliation for the pleasure of the person doing it." So basically the beard was for Flamsteeds pleasure.. Yep.. beard no forgotten. " but I'm not sure what that has to do with the sun, unless the suns making us burn in the summer is it's way of shaming us for it's on pleasure." Yeah she knew that sounded dumb, but it was more the point she was getting across than it actually being right. She really had no clue how Hubris fit into the lesson.
Adrienne was copying down information when he just started... singing. Why was he singing? More importantly, why hadn't he stopped singing? God, it was still happening. She winced in secondhand embarrassment the whole time he was up there, warbling away. Professors should never ever sing, especially when they oh-so-clearly could not. Sure, it was kind of a catchy song, but it sounded awful and was... well, incredibly annoying. She waited it out and then went back to redrawing that diagram.
The mention of myths piqued her interest, though. They had always fascinated Adrienne, especially when they now knew the reasons for things the myths had been made to explain. Well... what had he started the lesson with again? Beards?
Oh yes, he'd mentioned hubris. Hubris... sun... she raised her hand tentatively. "Um, if we're talking about Greek myths, there is the one about Icarus and Daedalus maybe? Because Icarus was too cocky and he flew too high, and then his wings melted..." Well, that was a terrible explanation, but hopefully someone would know what she meant. Boy did she hate talking in front of lots of people.
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Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
When Airey started talking about the sun's core Tag's slightly slumped over posture whipped straight up, his mind slightly more lively. The core was the reason a star turned very heated. Now, that was cool! And apparently that sun was burning up way too hard, but Tag didn't mind. Oh, and "NO WAY! The sun was seen as a god!" Whoops, Tag spoke up too loudly.
Tag remembered something about someone having wings or something of the sort and trying to fly up to the sun? Something like that. What was the dude's name? "That one dude with the wings and I think he flew up to the sun. Poor dude probably looked like a carrot. What a tan, what a tan. What's his name?" said the blonde in a rather absent voice. Looking around his classmates he heard Lottie say something about flying. "That guy she said." He answered pointing at his friend.
She had been about to talk about how solar flares could wipe out all of the technology on planet Earth if they managed to get through a breach in the atmospheric type barrier...stuff that surrounded the planet, but they were moving on before she could think of a better way to say all of that.
The Ravenclaw was amused by the catchy little song that the professor was singing and she hoped it might help her remember at least some of the layers. She copied the diagram down as best she could just in case she needed it to study from later.
She remembered the beard thing and the no peeking consequence...and the general sun talk...and then the jawbreaker...but she couldn't really put anything together myth-wise out of that. But when she heard another student mention something about someone flying up and melting his wings, that rang a bell for her. "I'm not too sure about the details, Professor, but I agree we're doing something regarding the story about the guy who flew too close to the sun and had his wings melt down to show him that he shouldn't be so headstrong and try to disrespect the sun's power." She paused before adding, "So...maybe we will get to fly a little bit somehow, like Mo and Alexa were asking about? Or maybe not...because that was the opposite of the moral of that story...unless we don't fly too high, maybe?" Hearing them talk about the winged horses made her realize how she missed flying on her broom all summer. She decided she'd take a trip tot he Quidditch pitch once she had a break between classes, just to feel the wind in her hair again.
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Astronomy Lesson 1 :: the sun 
Please be sure you are familiar with 
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Make sure you use your character's own voice when answering, please and thank you.
