Originally Posted by Antarctica!

Risu grinned. "We will come to that in a moment."


"Oh." Risu paused. "Right, of course. Professor Antares will do. I do not insist on 'sir' or anything like that. Much too formal. Yes?" Another student had raised his hand.


"Well, I am hoping that, by the end of this term, you will know a little more about this subject. I'm sure you will find my lessons easy enough to follow. And if you do not, then I'll be glad to assist you by answering any questions you might have."
He looked around. There were no other questions.

"Very well. Astronomy," he began, "the study of the cosmos, is perhaps one of the oldest natural sciences to exist. And it's definitely the one that captivates and fascinates us the most. Everyone of you is no doubt aware of the scientific and exploratory strides that have been made especially in the last two centuries." Risu flicked his wand in the direction of the projector.



"Pictures such as this one of the Eagle Nebula are engrained in the public mind in a way that few other fields of science can even think of emulating. But, as you can imagine, astronomy started out much more humble than this. This next picture," he flicked his wand again, shows one such origin."



"This is an ancient Chinese text, the so-called 'Chu Silk Manuscript'. It's probably around 2,400 years old." He paused to let this sink in. "The text has only been translated partially, and I would leave it to my colleagues of the Sinology departments everywhere to explain to you exactly how that process works and where its difficulties lie, but it concerns itself with, among other things, the formation of the Earth and the Sun, the seasons, and the order of the months. One section reads," and here Risu picked up a scrap of parchment from his desk, "'The second month is called Ru. During this month, you can send out an army and build a city.'"

He put the parchment aside and looked up at the students. "From that little quote alone, you can probably guess which discipline astronomy used to be very closely connected to. Does anyone care to venture a guess?"

Originally Posted by Antarctica!

Risu grinned. "We will come to that in a moment."


"Oh." Risu paused. "Right, of course. Professor Antares will do. I do not insist on 'sir' or anything like that. Much too formal. Yes?" Another student had raised his hand.


"Well, I am hoping that, by the end of this term, you will know a little more about this subject. I'm sure you will find my lessons easy enough to follow. And if you do not, then I'll be glad to assist you by answering any questions you might have."
He looked around. There were no other questions.

"Very well. Astronomy," he began, "the study of the cosmos, is perhaps one of the oldest natural sciences to exist. And it's definitely the one that captivates and fascinates us the most. Everyone of you is no doubt aware of the scientific and exploratory strides that have been made especially in the last two centuries." Risu flicked his wand in the direction of the projector.



"Pictures such as this one of the Eagle Nebula are engrained in the public mind in a way that few other fields of science can even think of emulating. But, as you can imagine, astronomy started out much more humble than this. This next picture," he flicked his wand again, shows one such origin."



"This is an ancient Chinese text, the so-called 'Chu Silk Manuscript'. It's probably around 2,400 years old." He paused to let this sink in. "The text has only been translated partially, and I would leave it to my colleagues of the Sinology departments everywhere to explain to you exactly how that process works and where its difficulties lie, but it concerns itself with, among other things, the formation of the Earth and the Sun, the seasons, and the order of the months. One section reads," and here Risu picked up a scrap of parchment from his desk, "'The second month is called Ru. During this month, you can send out an army and build a city.'"

He put the parchment aside and looked up at the students. "From that little quote alone, you can probably guess which discipline astronomy used to be very closely connected to. Does anyone care to venture a guess?"

Originally Posted by Kris

Alex wrote what the professor said down slowly making sure to write it word for word. shook her head as the teacher asked if anyone wanted to guess. She wasn't good with names as it was although she was probably worse in History of Magic and Divination. but she raised her hand and guessed, "Is it Arithmancy, Professor?"

Originally Posted by Tyrek

Originally Posted by HaRoHeGiNeLu

Ellie smiled and nodded. This helps. And she agreed, sir was very formal. Not to mention unnecessary.

"Maybe... like power, or luck and fortune....?" he did say 'guess' after all..

Originally Posted by Mrs. Weasley

Originally Posted by SilverTiger

Originally Posted by Harry174

Simon put up his hand "Professor I would say Divination because of the way it uses the different stars and charts and stuff." Simon was 100% sure that was wrong but said it anyway.

Originally Posted by TeamHermioneGranger

'Proffessor, is it Divination?' Maddie asked, unsure of whether that was true or not, but thinking she may as well have a go

Originally Posted by Antarctica!

"Not quite," Risu said slowly, shaking his head. "Arithmancy is, in a way, completely magical, and I was thinking of a Muggle discipline."


"Runes certainly played a part in this," Risu agreed, "but not in the way that the subject you and I know, 'Ancient Runes', teaches them."


"Almost..." Risu nodded and smiled encouragingly.


"Of course, but many cultures had proud astronomical traditions. This manuscript," he pointed over his shoulder where the Chu Silk was being projected onto the blackboard, "is just one example of that."


"Sinology? The study of China," Risu said. He pointed at a few more hands that were up.





Risu nodded. "Divination. Or, to be more precise, astrology. For most of its existence, astronomy and astrology used to be the same. Court astronomers all over the world, in addition to their observation of the skies, served their kings and emperors as interpreters of what they saw. Nowadays, we do not think of this as scientific anymore, and we leave this interpretation to other people." Risu smiled faintly. "For example your Divination professor.

"We will return to this distinction momentarily, but first I have to point out that, despite the intermingling of astronomy and astrology, the knowledge of the cosmos that earlier cultures assembled was quite extraordinary. To stay with the Chinese for a moment, over China's entire existence, historians and astrologers diligently recorded solar and lunar eclipses. The Greeks, of course, are the ones who gave us the word planet, which simply means wanderer. They did not have access to fancy electronic equipment and sophisticated technology like we do, but they still managed to lay the groundwork for everything we do. We will investigate one or two examples of that later."

He clapped his hands. "But first, to return to the issue I raised earlier. I mentioned that astronomy is a scientific discipline. What do we mean when we speak of 'science'?"

Originally Posted by Antarctica!

"Not quite," Risu said slowly, shaking his head. "Arithmancy is, in a way, completely magical, and I was thinking of a Muggle discipline."


"Runes certainly played a part in this," Risu agreed, "but not in the way that the subject you and I know, 'Ancient Runes', teaches them."


"Almost..." Risu nodded and smiled encouragingly.


"Of course, but many cultures had proud astronomical traditions. This manuscript," he pointed over his shoulder where the Chu Silk was being projected onto the blackboard, "is just one example of that."


"Sinology? The study of China," Risu said. He pointed at a few more hands that were up.





Risu nodded. "Divination. Or, to be more precise, astrology. For most of its existence, astronomy and astrology used to be the same. Court astronomers all over the world, in addition to their observation of the skies, served their kings and emperors as interpreters of what they saw. Nowadays, we do not think of this as scientific anymore, and we leave this interpretation to other people." Risu smiled faintly. "For example your Divination professor.

"We will return to this distinction momentarily, but first I have to point out that, despite the intermingling of astronomy and astrology, the knowledge of the cosmos that earlier cultures assembled was quite extraordinary. To stay with the Chinese for a moment, over China's entire existence, historians and astrologers diligently recorded solar and lunar eclipses. The Greeks, of course, are the ones who gave us the word planet, which simply means wanderer. They did not have access to fancy electronic equipment and sophisticated technology like we do, but they still managed to lay the groundwork for everything we do. We will investigate one or two examples of that later."

He clapped his hands. "But first, to return to the issue I raised earlier. I mentioned that astronomy is a scientific discipline. What do we mean when we speak of 'science'?"

Originally Posted by Antarctica!

He clapped his hands. "But first, to return to the issue I raised earlier. I mentioned that astronomy is a scientific discipline. What do we mean when we speak of 'science'?"

Originally Posted by Antarctica!

He clapped his hands. "But first, to return to the issue I raised earlier. I mentioned that astronomy is a scientific discipline. What do we mean when we speak of 'science'?"

Originally Posted by Saz Hale

Kevin raised his hand and said "Science is the discovering of things in the world which had great meaning to us" Kevin wasn't sure whether that was right but he was glad he tried to answer

Originally Posted by city_girl_95

Amy put her hand up slowly, she thought she would be wrong but oh well, Proffessor, isn't science almost like an art, it means that we search for evidence and conclusions to our questions, by taking experiments, for example the notes you make when you watch the stars are the evidence and what you make from them is the conclusion?, she said, quietly, still thinking she was wrong

Originally Posted by Tyrek

Originally Posted by HaRoHeGiNeLu

Ellie thought about this a while...

"Science would be like.... like if something could be tested and proven it would be science... right? It's nevermind..." she shook her head.

Originally Posted by TeamHermioneGranger

Maddie raised her hand again.
'Proffessor, Science is a branch of knowledge involving systemized observation and experimentation' Ugh. She sounded like such a suck up.

Originally Posted by miss.malfoy.211

Originally Posted by SenoritaMaxie

Originally Posted by Harry174

Simon put up his hand. "Professor are you meaning of like using the telescope, we speak of Science as of things that we can see out in space, we have loads of differents sciences, Chemistry, Physics and the Biology." Simon was sure he'd gone of track here but struggled on. "Well scientific is inervation it's studdying news ways of finding out what things our." He stopped there he wasn't sure if he'd gone completely of track.

Originally Posted by Kris

Alex raised her hand hesitantly, "a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws. I think.." She added on the end of her sentence. Science was muggle after all.

Originally Posted by Dances_With_Potter

Cadence sat in her seat and scribbled notes furiously as the Professor spoke. He talked fast. When he asked what science was, Cadence raised her hand in the air. Being forced into Muggle education and Muggle science classes had its advantages. "Professor, Science is any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome," riiiight so now she sounded like a textbook because she was just spitting out the definitions of things she had learned when she was younger. "So, basically, when you say science you're referring to the testing of a hypothesis in order to prove or disprove it and to be able to consistently produce the same outcomes." Okay, yeah that sounded better.

Originally Posted by feltbeatslover22

Trixie raised her hand. "Sir. Science comes from the latin word scienta which means knowledge" she said glad she had learnt some Latin before. "Science is the study of knowledge attained through study and practice. It uses observation and experimentation to discover and learn natural and new phenomena which can help answer any questions in this world that are proposed" she replied grinning. Her mother had taught her a little about science as she had studied it before. She wasn't even reading this out of a textbook. "It can be sorted into two main categories, natural science which is the study of the natural world and social science which studies the human behaviour and experimentation. Natural science can be divided into Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Earth sciences. All of which can be linked into astronomy. For example Physics often studies planets and their formations, something that can also be studied in Astronomy" she said proudly.