Grounds: Astronomy Activity

[Holmesian Feline]

As you make your way down the path lit to guide you, the night sky that greets you is a clear one. Much clearer anyway than the original evening Professor Gert had planned for tonight’s gathering. Thankfully a quick schedule change had remedied that once the weather problem had been determinded. One couldn’t exactly enjoy what was in the cards with fog rolling in and the woman had been loathed to do it artificially inside the tower or the domes. The temperature seemed to be behaving as well, not much charmwork had been needed to keep the area comfortable. The early sign that spring was certainly on its way.

In case of your host, the curly-haired astronomy professor is not to be seen in the clearing. Her familiar Hamish however is perched on one of the many cushioned poofs that are scattered around for the comfort of any who are interested in sitting while enjoying their surroundings. The small owl a watchful guard and welcoming greeter to all coming to the astronomy activity of the term. “Hoot,” the raptor lets out at the first sign of human presences into his outdoor domain.

[FearlessLeader19]

Ary was glad for the lit path to guide him. On this particular evening, he was looking forward to being outdoors and enjoying the atmosphere. As he surveyed the night sky, he knew this was exactly what was written in his stars for his evening. He also suddenly hoped that there would be snacks; he would even indulge in a sweet treat or two.

Arriving at the clearing, the second year immediately noted that Gert was not yet there. That was fine as there was one cute owl named Hamish present; this meant that Ary was indeed in the right place. “Hi, Hamish. I’ll keep you company.” Because there was every intention on his part to sit on a pouf right beside the owl. To pass the time, a blue paperclip was taken from his pocket which he proceeded to bend and shape.

[Nordic Witch]

Emmie wasn't particularly afraid of the dark, but having a lit path to guide her to the place of the astronomy activity didn't hurt. Walking too close to the forbidden forest was enough to give anyone the sense of feeling watched and nervous. Emmie cast a quick look up at the clear night sky before she entered the clearing finding Aryan, and Hamish the owl and let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't the first to arrive. Heading over to Aryan and the owl she smiled brightly at them both. "Hi Ary! Hi Hamish! Ary do you think we'll discuss star signs tonight or planets maybe?" before seating herself down on a dark pink pouf next to her friend.

[Holmesian Feline]

Hamish relished in the attention, giving a friendly hoot in response to each greeting sent his way. His head tilting curiously as he sensed his human’s movements despite not currenly being visible to the others. A little hop or two upon the cushion as if trying to get attention as the two students had turned to talk to each other.

Having been finalizing her arrangements, Celeste was finally satisfied with things as she noticed the first of the students arriving. They of course didn’t catch her since she had been disallusioned liked the tools of her trade she had set up for todays enjoyment. With a flick of her wand, the telescope she had been behind slowly flickered into view, the astronomy professor eventually walking out behind it to greet them.

“Guid evening Mr. Atreyu-Rehman…Ms. Vance,” she greeted each with a smile, Hamish having taken off from his pouf with a flap of his wings to rest anew on the woman’s left shoulder. “Nae to the latter,” Celeste mused at the second year Ravenclaw’s question. “An not quite an aye to the former.” Star signs usually referred to those constellations attached to the wheel of the year and the birthdays involved in astrology. Her focus for the evening was on others in particular. "But surely interesting regardless."

[lazykitty]

Any chance to be out on school grounds after dark without getting into trouble. Not to mention it was an activity for a class that she was taking, so it felt kind of important, even if Professor Gert hadn't said as much in the last lesson. Or had she? Kalie had been sort of distracted a bit there towards the end, sorry.

Anyway, the Hufflepuff made her way down the lit path, hands stuffed in the pocket of her hoodie. "Hey," she greeted once she'd reached the clearing where the activity was taking place, plopping down on a yellow pouf.

[FearlessLeader19]

Ary looked up from his chatter with Hamish as approaching footsteps caught his attention. “Oh hello, Emmie.” He beamed at his Ravenclaw friend. He was quite sure that his smile mirrored her megawatt one. “I hope so. I wouldn’t mind a chat about galaxies either.” Those were also always pretty things to look at. But there were more movements happening and they emerged in the form of a telescope and the Astronomy professor. There was a tinge of disappointment as Hamish soared away but that was okay. It wasn’t as though Ary could always be in the company of creatures each moment of his life.

“Good evening, Professor.” He tilted his head curiously, wondering what they would be focusing on this evening. All would be revealed soon, he supposed. With that, he wiggled his fingers at Kalie in greeting.

[Kolyander]

Leave it to her to be running late to an outdoor activity when she was already outdoors. Granted she was across the pastures with her mama helping out with the winged horse and hippogriffs. They were in need of some night time exercise which meant, so was she. This was why she had come running across the grounds as fast as her little legs could carry her, dirt somehow smeared across one cheek and her blonde hair quite all about her face and completely out of breath.

No words were said to anyone, sorry but she needed to catch her breath first! So please everyone accept some wiggle fingers in greeting as she plopped down on a poof on the other side of Ary. Still having not completely caught her breath yet, she very lightly elbowed him in the side and pointed at the paperclip. What was he working on today? And ummm... what had she missed so far?

[MadAlice]

Hope wasn't particularly afraid of the dark, since she was used to going about in the country at night. Still, having a little light on the path was handy to keep one from stumbling or falling into a bog or something.

"Hello, Professor," she called out as she approached the gathering. "Hello, everybody..." Hope had meant to say more, but her attention was caught by the sight of Hamish up in his tree. After staring at it for a few moments, Hope came out with a pretty fair imitation of the owl's "Hoot"

[Holmesian Feline]

Celeste gave her familiar a gentle rub as Hamish joined her on her shoulder. A smile and a nod of acknowledgement as Mr. Atreyu-Rehman returned her greeting. “Hullo Ms. Carter-Hope Gellar,” as she sat down among the poofs and joined the others. A glance at her watch told her she should probably get started before it got too late, any stragglers could join whenever since there weren’t strict timing. Speaking of which… “Guid evening Ms. Paton,” the astronomy professor greeted the girl as the Slytherin joined her best friend.

“For tonight’s bit o’fun, we will be expanding upon our constellation knowledge from th’ class earleir in t’term.” She explained beginning them in earnest. “Donna worry, ther is no worry about what ye know or don know…ther will be naw quiz.” This was an entirely a no-strings-attached nighttime activity out on the grounds, something that usually got a bit of attention since they were allowed outside the castle at night. Ah there was another girl to join them. “Hullo Ms. Archard,” she returned the greeting with a smile before moving on.

“Noo stars an constellations ur like th’moon….they ‘move’ across th’ night sky so ‘at they don’t always appear in the same place from night tae night. An sometimes they don’t appear at all depending on th’ season.” Which was another reason when Professor Gert had planned this gathering now besides the weather, and not closer to said lesson. “So I needed tae track th’ constellations that I’m tae show ye all this evening. Three of the forty-two animal related constellations I mentioned during the lesson…one for three of the Hogwart’s houses…and a lone star that represents the fourth.” Celeste admittedly had forgotten the latter bit of information until she had completed her research in preparation.

“Can any of ye tell me of any of them ye may know already?”



ooc: THank you all for coming. Anyone else, student or professor is free to still join. FYI per earlier post, Hamish actually on her shoulder.

[MadMadamMalfoy]

What a nice night for stargazing! Desiree thought, glancing up at the sky as she made her way to the clearing. As per the notice instructions, she was dressed warmly and comfortably. Tonight she was channeling Asha in a purple long-sleeved top, darker purple leggings and matching flats, a red necklace, and silver star earrings.

As she approached, her bright blue eyes scanned the area, taking in the telescope, the poufs, the other students, and the professor with Hamish perched on her shoulder. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the owl. “Hello, Professor! Hi, Hamish!” Desiree greeted the pair with a smile and a friendly wave. She took a seat on a red pouf (to match her necklace). “Hi, everyone!” She greeted the other students with more smiles and waves to go around, but there wasn’t time for chitchat.

Desiree listened attentively as Professor Gert spoke. Tracking constellations? That sounded hard, though it could be fun. The mention of three animal constellations representing Hogwarts houses piqued her curiosity, Which ones were represented? She knew of a lion and a serpent constellation, and she was pretty sure there was an eagle one too. She’d never heard of a badger constellation though. What a shame! She wondered which star would be used to represent her house if Hufflepuff didn't get a constellation.

In the meantime, she focused on answering the question. Since she couldn’t represent her own house with her answer, she did the next best thing. Her hand went up, and she said, “There’s Leo, the lion.” Her dad was a former Gryffindor Head of House, after all!

[FearlessLeader19]

Ary had been wondering how long it would have taken for Bry to make it to the activity. Truthfully, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she ended up forgetting about it. Still, he was glad that she eventually turned up albeit out of breath and sort of filthy in terms of the dirt on her face. “Hi,’’ he whispered when she elbowed him. “Makings a broomsticks.” Smiling slightly, Ary lifted a hand to wipe at the smudge on his friend’s face. “You’re filthy,’’ he joked. He dropped his hand just as Hope and Desiree came by. They too were greeted.

No quiz. Excellent. Aryan really was not in the mood for thinking too much this evening. So, when Gert asked an easy peasy question, an answer popped into his head immediately. “There’s Hydra. Represented by a Water Snake, I think.”

And yes. Ary was definitely keeping up with the Snake theme as he had in Astronomy class.

[MadAlice]

"Aquila is the Eagle!" cried Hope excitedly. That was her House! Although, she'd always thought it looked rather like a person dancing. But she never seemed to see the same things in the stars that other people saw; her siblings used to laugh at her for it.

[Holmesian Feline]

Celeste looked to each of the students curious and patiently waiting to see what she would get. And if anyone would figure out it was Hufflepuff that missed our in their mascor. “Hullo Ms Marchand,” she greeted the girl as she arrived to join the growing group. Hamish giving an almost correspoding hoot to return the attention sent his way. HIs wings shivering in pleasure which caused the professor to chuckle ever so softly at the light touch on her skin.

The Hufflepuff was the first to speak up. “Aye, th’ proud sign of th’ Gryffindor,” she confirmed with a nod and a smile. And while it always struck a chord with her as an alum, it always made the astronomy professor think of her younger cousin whose birthday fell under the appropriate star sign. Gazing to her left, she waved her wand revealing the disallusionment charm on another telescope. “While tis somewhat visible to the eye, this telscope has been positioned to pick out the resting feline.” Which they woukd be free to gaze at at any point of the evening while deciphering the exact shape the astronomers picked.

At least Leo looks mostly like a lion.

AH there was the Snake theme continuing from one of the resident Slytherins in attendance. “Weel technically it is one of th’ constellations that cuid represent Slytherin, as well as th’largest of all constellations, because tis found on the horizon between the northern and southern celestial hemisheres it is hard to spot up here in Scotland.” Between the latitude and the abundance of trees it was a no-go. Another wave and another telescope revealed that was aimed at other constellation. “Fur tonight, we ur using Serpens which is situated in the northern hemisphere wi’ us.”

Then Ms. Archard followed her classmate in picking our their matching house mascot. “Aye….that Aquilla is,” she confirmed with a nod, revealling the last of the four telescopes she had set up for this evening activities. “Noo this telescope,” Celeste said, moving to touch the one she had first been fixing and first to show, “Is directed at th’ star that represents Hufflepuff. Also known as the Honey Badger, one of tae more recently discovered an named stars in our night sky.” Recent as in the last 200 years that is.

“Feel free tae look at th’ constellations both whit or whitout th’ telescopes as well as see if ye can pick out any additional ones. If ye do, I’ll be glad tae confirm what ye ur seeing.”

[FearlessLeader19]

Ary had actually forgotten about Serpens with Hydra being the more popular of the two. But he nodded at Gert; it made sense that they work with a constellation in their hemisphere. He also made mental notes of the other constellations that could be linked to the rest of the Hogwarts Houses.

His gaze went to the direction of where the Badger constellation sat; yes, this was an observation without the telescope first. Or maybe he would just observe without the telescope because he was too lazy and comfy sitting right here. Unless Bry dragged him to the telescope, this Slytherin was going to remain where he was.

[MadAlice]

Hope immediately got up and went over to the telescope that the professor had said was point at the newest star, because she thought she'd have better luck with a single star than a constellation. Besides, it was kind of interesting that they were still finding and naming stars. Though she'd never heard of a "honey" badger--she wondered if they were similar to the ones she'd seen in Britain.

At first she couldn't see anything but a blur through the telescope, but with a tiny bit of fine tuning, she got it focused. Still, it just looked like a bunch of stars. Oh, wait--there was one that seemed clearer and brighter and closer--that must be it. "Do they just call it the Honey Badger?" she asked out loud, "or is there some Latin or scientific name they also use for it?"

[GanymedeCraft17]

:: Ganymede wasn't a fan of the dark. She shivered a bit under her cloak as she stepped up to a telescope hoping to just get the class over with.

The stars looked like diamonds on a field of black velvet. "I see Sirius, the North Star." She commented lowly. Her eyes wandered over to the other constellations that were mentioned. She herself was named after a moon of Jupiter. She doubted she could see that through the telescope. Yet, she was still curious.

"Professor, Are we able to see Jupiter or any of the planets?" Her voice had a bit more oomph in it, gaining confidence as the class continued on. The darkness was still cloying to her, but it wasn't so bad with so many people around. ::

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Desiree smiled at the hoot from Hamish. Her smile remained firmly in place as Professor Gert confirmed her answer was correct. She tilted her head to one side, glancing at the telescope pointed to Leo. She would definitely be examining that one later, but for now, she focused her attention on the other constellations named and the telescopes in their corresponding locations. Serpens and Aquilla… She committed the constellation names to memory.

A Honey Badger star? Now that sounded interesting! Desiree’s gaze wandered in the direction of the final telescope the professor indicated. She glanced up, trying to see it with her own eyes before using the telescope. She did see a star, more than one actually. Was she looking at the right one? She waited patiently until the telescope was free. When her turn came, she peered through the lens. She saw the Honey Badger star, but as she looked closer, something else caught her attention. “Professor, correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like the Honey Badger star is part of a constellation,” she mused out loud.

[PhoenixRising]

The main reason for Emma's attendance in tonight's Astronomy activity was that it was an excuse to be outside on the grounds after curfew. The thirteen year old was peering up at the twinkling stars, not really paying attention to what the constellations were - how did one see shapes anyway? They looked like just millions of dots to her in assorted patterns.

That was until Professor Gert mentioned honey badger. If there was one way to get this girl's attention it was in the mentioning of her house mascot. She glanced over at Hope who had a good question about it having a more scientific or Latin name. "Wouldn't it be something if it was called Helga..." Emma mused quietly.

[Holmesian Feline]

Celeste stayed out of the way as she watched the gathered students took various options in viewing the night sky above them. Mr. Atreyu-Rehman was gazing at things on his own while Ms. Archard moved to the telescope nearest her to check out the Badger star. The astronomy professor caught her question and was about to answer when a late arrival added a comment causing her to chuckle. “Alas tis rather boring an’ not honoring dear Hufflepuff.” It would have been something though, for a muggleborn or mixed blood witch or wizard slipping that into muggle science. “Tis mostly joos badger or th’ numerical record number which is 93368036.” Thankfully it had come up in her activity prep so she could rattle it off.

At least she thought she was right.

Sirius….yes that star would be visible. “Aye right there in the Canis Major constellation." As for Jupiter….Celeste had to turn around to check for herself before nodding and raising her hand to point it out. “Can ye spot Orion the hunter…the one most notable for having the cluster of three stars for his belt?” she directed to Ms Craft and anyone else who was paying attention. “If ye can spot his bow and arrow, the arrow nearly points right to Jupiter.” It was quite fascinating when things worked out that way.

Was the Honey Badger part of a constellation?

“Aye, guid catch, Ms Marchand,” she remarked in confirmation of the girl’s observation. “Tis indeed part of Aquila.” And Celeste may or may not have arranged the telescopes so that it wasn’t blatantly obvious of the connection between the two house references. . Just to have a little fun challenge so shoot her.

ooc: Sorry for the delay in posting. RL likes to happen and interfer. As such I'm leaving the activity open as long as people want to participate and I'll be around with Celeste

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

“Tis mostly joos badger or th’ numerical record number which is 93368036.” Thankfully it had come up in her activity prep so she could rattle it off.
...
Was the Honey Badger part of a constellation?

“Aye, guid catch, Ms Marchand,” she remarked in confirmation of the girl’s observation. “Tis indeed part of Aquila.”

A number! And quite a long one. It wasn't as romantic as a name from mythology, but it certainly sounded impressive--very scientific! But the constellation--Aquila again, the Eagle! So Hufflepuff had to share its constellation with another house; well, perhaps the Badgers wouldn't mind much, they did seem quite the team players. How did the constellations get their names, anyway? Musing on this, Hope thought of another question that interested her.

"Professor, it can't be that everyone uses the same names for the constellations all over the world, can it? Do other cultures have different names for the stars?"

[Holmesian Feline]

Celeste had been slowly wandering amongst the telescopes as she left the students to explore the skies on their own, the astronomy professor pausing at Ms. Archard raised her question. “Some hev been adopted across cultures over th’ years, aye,” she answered, thinking on the best way to explain. “The big and little dippers, th’ Pleaides and th’ Southern Cross remain the same. Others like Orion, while reconigized, take oen different connections. Like instead of a hunter, th’ Indians view him as a king, the stars of the belt the arrow that pierced him. The ancient Egyptians view those three stars are seen as th’ resting place of the god Osiris.” So relatively the same as being of the same stars but not totally the same.

“Over th’ years, and more recent discoveries have been more standardized amongst the western cultures.” Like the North American countries mostly following suit with their european ancesters. “Most differences that exist still are because of the stars limited to either th’ northern or southern hemispheres with cultures that kept their own. Like the constellations of the Mayans and Aztecs still remaining.”

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Ooh, so she was right! The Honey Badger was part of a constellation, and not just any constellation. It was part of Aquila, the constellation that represented Ravenclaw! “Thanks, Professor,” Desiree replied with a nod. She couldn’t help but giggle at the fact that the Hufflepuff star was part of the Ravenclaw constellation… sort of like her. Her mum was a Ravencalw, after all.

After a few more minutes of looking at the Honey Badger star and Aquila, she moved to give someone else a turn at the telescope. She moved to the next telescope in line, peering through the lens. Which constellation was this? She squinted to get a better look. Must be Serpens, the Slytherin constellation.