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The brilliant colors of the sunset have been painted over by the mystical navy blue of the night sky and as you enter the Astronomy classroom you can see the moon clearly through one of the many windows. The desks are arranged in their usual semi circle to help created a more personal environment, only something seems a bit off as you go to sit down. Both the desk and chair wobble as the legs on one side are longer than the other and cause you to lean quite a bit. Try not to fall out of your seat or have your things fall to the floor, yes?
Did you remember to use the lint roller on the small table outside of the classroom? It was there next to the sign that reads, "Not to be used as a brush for your hair."
A lamp, a quaffle, and 3 can lids painted black rest in the middle of the professor's desk. Professor Flamsteed, wearing the same top hat you may have spotted him with at the Opening Feast, can be seen standing to the right of his desk with a giddy expression on his face and offers you a salute as you move to take your seat.
So come on in and have a seat. Class will begin shortly.
⌦Lesson Progression
▸ question 1 :: what is your favorite season and why?
▸ question 2 :: why does the Earth have seasons?
▸ question 3 :: why does the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis matter to our weather?
▸ question 4 :: what do June 21 and December 21 have in common?
▸ question 5 :: how could you prove that the Earth is spinning?
▸ activity :: PENDULUM DODGEBALL
▸ clarification! :: clarifying instructions & professor joins the game
▸ start wrapping up :: 6 ish hour warning before activity ends!
▸ class dismissed!
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.
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Uhhhh. Astronomy required concentration.
Which Kyroh didn't have too much of. Yawning the boy rested his head on the desk. YAY he was right! Awesome! Could he take a little nap to celebrate or something? There were more diagrams, and words and-man class this late was not a good idea.
HA Nigel was TOTALLY right! "They are both most likely a bunch of peoples birthday." Kyroh mumbled into his desk as he raised his hand. True. Through that was the same for every other day of the year, but so what? Still true! Where was his lollipop? Or pillow?
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Not a peep out of him in answering the question, however, Cutty was thinking so good on you, Airey Flamsteed for getting your students to use critical thought. It was somewhat remedial, despite it being a change to the usual topics this discussion of earth's season. There was probably a reason for this. They were in the shire now, but was he going to take them in Mordor?
This intrigued the boy and he listened to the answers given. Both were solstices and affected the amount of daylight regions above and below the equator received. And then a Hufflepuff mentioned something about the equator and Cutty started thinking about regions above that and beyond. He considered the quaffle once more before his hand went up. "So, if the earth is tilted and the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere's amount of daylight is affected by the solstices, wouldn't that mean that areas above the arctic circle would get too much sun on the solstice?" And by too much, he meant all day. And was the same true for the antarctic circle? Cutty let his fingers flip the edges of his textbook in anticipation of looking up page 163 and slowly let the uneven chair settle so that he was seated at a tilt.
Vinnie listened to the professor carefully, but the harder she tried to come up with an answer, the emptier seemed her head. Why did they have weather? Obviously they all associated winter with cold because of the snow and summer with hot cause of the sun but that surely wasnt the answer...How was she supposed to know the answer to that question?! Oh well, one round the girl wouldnt raise her hand. She would survive that.
The Slytherin eyed her classmates fascinated as their hands shot up to answer. Wow that was a lot of people... She scribbled down some notes, so she could remember later on. This was getting interesting...
.....
Next question. Oh. So 21st of June and 21st of December...what did they have in common?! Think Vinnie, think.
"Professor those are solstice dates", she raised her hand, " also 21st June is the longest day in india." That last part probably didnt belong to the question but she felt like she had to mention it.
What did December June 21st have in common... ermmmmmm... they were six months apart? in other words the braniac gryffindor was finally stumped with this one. He listen to what other were saying about Solstices and jotted them down. heh, oh. those fell on those days every year huh? He thought about it before realizing that they in fact did though he had no idea what a solstice was for. why did they have them!? "what's a Solstice, though really." he muttered to himself really for no one to hear as he jotted the word down.
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Leaned back on his seat comfortably at the very back row, Gareth eyed people with an unimpressed expression as they answered the professor's question one by one.
Blah...blah...blah. Yeah..yeah...yeah.
And why did Ravenclaws bother giving details that no one asked about? The Slytherin was tempted to rise up and make them realise that the professor did not ask about the details they provided but why would he bother with that? Meh. He wouldn't so he just remained sat there in his silence.
Maybe he would say something though. What else they didn't mention already? Hmmm...
Not bothering with changing his comfy posture, he spoke with a dull tone. "I suppose those are also the days that these tropic thing of Capricorn and Cancer get the sun directly with 90 degree angle so during the day the shadows of stuff are the shortest at those points. 21st December for Capricorn and 21st June for Cancer."
Was that...true? He supposed it was.
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A proper best friend might have looked concerned and offered him a hand to help him back up, but the Hufflepuff sprang back up so fast and she wasn't the typical best friend - so she had to cover her face in her hands, avoiding his gaze and stifling the laughter that had began as soon as he started tipping. Totally not laughing at him. With him.
Once she had sufficiently suppressed her laughter, she peeked through her fingers at him, still grinning goofily, and mouthed, Sorry. After another moment, she held onto her own desk and leaned toward him to mouth further, You okay? Because she did care. It was just... really funny. He would be the one to fall out of his chair in the middle of class. Just Tobes.
Toby SAW THAT. He was WELL aware of a certain BEST FRIEND totally LAUGHING at him. Not that it bothered him at all, because was there really much that Sophie could do that would bother him? No. No there was not.
He still shot a mock glare at her when she asked if he was okay. Glaaaaaaaaaaaare.
It didn't last for very long before Toby smiled and gave a little nod. He was fine. Robust. Always bounced back.
But he would be getting his revenge on Soph for laughing at him.
SPOILER!!: AIRAYYYYYY
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie
Giving Miss Brown a quick salute, his blue eyes glanced around the room and offered a small nod to those who were not raising their hands. Nothing wrong with just sitting and listening......
..............or falling out of one's desk as it seemed was the case with Mr. Tempus. "You alright there, Mr. Tempus?" he questioned, looking around the room at all the desks. He supposed the point had been made by now and he ought to put the poor students out of their misery. Even if they wouldn't be sitting like this for too much longer. "Hold on just a moment. I'll fix things..."
Wand out, Airey gave it a lavish wave above his head that caused the legs of the chairs and desk evened out until they were level once again.
You're welcome!
“Now as mentioned before, the Earth is also spinning around the Sun at a hundred thousand kilometers an hour, that’s a billion kilometers every year, and this spin is just as important as the tilt. Without this spin we wouldn’t have sunrises or sunsets or weather or life on earth at all!" But all this had already been said so just going to move right along. "On a slightly related note, can anyone tell me what June 21 and December 21 have in common? Besides the number 21 that is."
"I'm fine, sir," Tobias assured the professor. "The floor broke my fall."
He grinned, to show that yup, all okay here. Didn't even injure his pride. Toby was, of course, very grateful when Airey fixed the chairs and desks, because now he could fidget some more if he needed to, and that always helped him focus.
...
When Airey asked the question about June 21 and December 21, Toby had actually started to put his hand up to say about the number 21, before hurriedly lowering it again at that added comment.
Moments later, however, it was back in the air.
"They're both days of extremes. Longest and shortest day, though which one is which depends on whether you're above the equator or below it. And they're right around the two times of year where the Earth is tilted at a specific angle in relation to the sun. Like, one for each hemisphere I think." There was more to it, of course, with the whole hemisphere thing, but the Hufflepuff stopped there, even though he really wanted to carry on. It was something Toby had found really quite interesting, if sorta difficult to totally comprehend. This was a good opportunity to understand more.
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Rather than repeat the given answers already West just listened. He didn't jot down any notes because as usual he kept all that in his head unless some professor forced him to write it down, in which case it wouldn't actually be used at all once he left a classroom.
.... he missed Alice, but it was surprisingly easier to focus on things without her around.
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Toby SAW THAT. He was WELL aware of a certain BEST FRIEND totally LAUGHING at him. Not that it bothered him at all, because was there really much that Sophie could do that would bother him? No. No there was not.
He still shot a mock glare at her when she asked if he was okay. Glaaaaaaaaaaaare.
It didn't last for very long before Toby smiled and gave a little nod. He was fine. Robust. Always bounced back.
But he would be getting his revenge on Soph for laughing at him.
"I'm fine, sir," Tobias assured the professor. "The floor broke my fall."
He grinned, to show that yup, all okay here. Didn't even injure his pride. Toby was, of course, very grateful when Airey fixed the chairs and desks, because now he could fidget some more if he needed to, and that always helped him focus.
...
When Airey asked the question about June 21 and December 21, Toby had actually started to put his hand up to say about the number 21, before hurriedly lowering it again at that added comment.
Moments later, however, it was back in the air.
"They're both days of extremes. Longest and shortest day, though which one is which depends on whether you're above the equator or below it. And they're right around the two times of year where the Earth is tilted at a specific angle in relation to the sun. Like, one for each hemisphere I think." There was more to it, of course, with the whole hemisphere thing, but the Hufflepuff stopped there, even though he really wanted to carry on. It was something Toby had found really quite interesting, if sorta difficult to totally comprehend. This was a good opportunity to understand more.
Sophie plastered on the most angelic of grins at Toby's response. She was totally the best, right? He was so lucky to have her. Unfazed by his mock-glaring, she reached across the space between their desks to touch his arm briefly - an act of reassurance or something else she didn't understand - before pulling it back and was equally as happy as Toby was when the desks and tables straightened out. Good on you, Flamsteed.
'The floor broke my fall' made her snort in laughter again, though, but she quickly stifled it. She loved Tobes, she did, but she felt so responsible for him and thereby embarrassed on his behalf. Not ashamed to be his best friend and other half, though. Just... amused and a little squirmy.
Sophie was paying a little bit of attention to Flamsteed again, enough to hear his question and a slew of answers from people. All the good, factual answers had already been said, she thought, but she tried to contribute anyway and raise a hand, "They're just, err, possible dates of the summer and winter solstices, yeah? Doesn't the date sometimes change from year to year, like sometimes one might fall on the 20th or 22nd instead?"
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Last edited by feeheeheeny; 05-14-2014 at 10:44 PM.
Reason: it's still bothering me so NOW I'll fix it
"Now, the reason why the Earth's seasons occur as they do, two reasons really, but I am looking for one in particular," he smirked as he lowered his top had a little more to one side and gave a knowing look at their desks. Since they all seemed to be having some issues with the quaffle being there, he might need to make a sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiight adjustment to how this lesson would be done today. Might be more entertaining for him with this new plan that was festering in his head anyway. Heh. "So." Serious game face time. "In four words or less, five if you must, who can tell me why the Earth has seasons?"
And in case they were not aware of it already, he had given them a very large hint already. Two very large hints really. Heh.
Now as a seventh year Ascanius had seen pretty much everything when it came to book swallowers, yeah? Some started as young as first year, others kept their mouth shut until they got a bit older. But it was practically an epidemic at this school, y'know?
He could have said that both dates were the solstices. He could have said they were the same numerical value. But what did it actually matter? He didn't wanna make it look to Flammy that he actually cared first off. Second of all, why would he repeat the answer five million OTHER students gave, yeah?
Nope. He was going to sit here quiet. And try and figure out how others ate all the books they did.
<--- Random | Funfetti | Lima Bean | Slytherpuff | PURPLE | Hoarder of pens | ALWAYS Severus
Quote:
Originally Posted by Airey
An honest answer, although he REALLY could have done without the meow (not a fan of the felines, you see), and he could hardly blame a first year for not having figured out how best to handle the moving staircases. He, on the rare occasion, would still end up in the wrong place thanks to them.
Just ask Miss Diggle about that one.
"Alright, Miss Valentine, you get a free pass this time. But in the future please ensure that you arrive on time," he said before giving her a quick salute. And then he was reminded of the innocence and creativity that was the mind of a first year. "Don't let anyone in the Southern Hemisphere hear you calling them weird, Miss Valentine," he chuckled, giving his nose a tap with his index finger. "For the Southern Hemisphere, December is summer, so muggles often depict Santa delivering gifts on a surf board wearing festive swimwear." At least that had been the image on a postcard his sister had sent when she was doing some cursebreaking business down there.
Short pause.
"Also...please don't ever meow in my presence again."
The first year beamed from ear to ear when she heard him say that a free pass was given to her. Whew! Her mum would be furious if she managed to get herself in trouble so soon. "Thank you." Aubrey's giggles did not go unnoticed no matter how hard her sister tried to cover them. AJ shrugged her shoulders and went turned her attention back to the professor. She was acting like she never heard anybody meow before. "That sounds awesome. Surfing is so much fun!" Maybe a hot Christmas wouldn't be so bad after all. A surfing Santa may just make it worth while.
He didn't like cats? Who didn't like cats? Sure, dogs were better, but cats were alright really. "Yes sir. You won't hear anymore meowing from me." It was his loss really. AJ really had no clue how to answer the next question because "21" would have been her response, but she didn't feel like pushing her luck with him considering he had been so generous with her earlier. Instead, she listened to everybody else's answers and stored them in her memory. She totally wouldn't need to write that down.
Marisol agreed with the others. It had to do with the summer and winter solstices. So the longest and shortest days of the year. The first year was very bored so far. She had thought that they were going to use telescopes and all those cool tools. Right now they were just talking about seasons and axes.
"Big and more small days," Mari said in a flat voice. She didn't know how to explain these topics with her limited knowledge of the English language!
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Yes and no? How could it be BOTH?
Dima swung his legs some and jotted down some words that Professor Top Hat said, even though they didn't make sense to him all that much. That was why he was here, right? To learn? It was okay if he didn't know stuff yet, lots of people didn't.
But the next question was easier! "June 21st is Cuckoo Warning Day, and December 21st is six months after Cuckoo Warning Day!"
Look, he got the answer first!
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and so i took an axe to a mended fence.___________________.______._________________ __________________________________..____this is why we can't have nice things, darling.
Wobbling in her chair a bit, while attempting to capture everything in parchment that the professor was saying wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Her handwriting looked a mess, though not as bad, but bad enough for the fourth year. It was probably a good thing she was only writing down what she felt she'd need to remember. The rest she'd look in the text book.
Briefly glancing up to listen to the next question, Beverly decided to sit this one out. She was taking serious notes, and looking at each student as they participated an answer, which was obvious, yeah? No need to repeat it.
Cinnamon felt like she should be taking notes or something. She should be taking notes. So the pulled out her things out of the bag. And quickly caught herself up with the lesson note wise.
Once she was caught up she gave Ariey her full attention again. Listening to his questions. She raised her hand to answer. "Summer and winter solstices. Also the longest and the shortest days of the year." And again, these people were fast with their answers. Cinna just had to put her two cents in it.
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This was the part of the class where Lex wanted so badly to rest her head on her desk and wait for the activity to start but the Professor had pretty much taken care of that with the rickety desks. It just wasn't a chance she was willing to take. It could topple over and explanations might need to be given. No thanks.
How did one even sit proper on this thing in such a way that said you were paying minimal attention without being too obnoxious about it or getting your neck broken on a fall?
She shuffled around abit in the seat, trying to find the right equilibrium but gave up when the Professor went back to asking questions. The Gryffindor Looked over at him...then everyone else and all the right answers. Did the Professor still want her to answer? Lex glanced at him before turning her gaze to the wide window.
This was the time of evening when things got pretty outside.
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Imma say all the words inside my head____________________________________
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fira
Leaned back on his seat comfortably at the very back row, Gareth eyed people with an unimpressed expression as they answered the professor's question one by one.
Blah...blah...blah. Yeah..yeah...yeah.
And why did Ravenclaws bother giving details that no one asked about? The Slytherin was tempted to rise up and make them realise that the professor did not ask about the details they provided but why would he bother with that? Meh. He wouldn't so he just remained sat there in his silence.
Maybe he would say something though. What else they didn't mention already? Hmmm...
Not bothering with changing his comfy posture, he spoke with a dull tone. "I suppose those are also the days that these tropic thing of Capricorn and Cancer get the sun directly with 90 degree angle so during the day the shadows of stuff are the shortest at those points. 21st December for Capricorn and 21st June for Cancer."
Was that...true? He supposed it was.
Kanna wasn't spectacular with Astronomy, nor had she put her mind to answering the question, as she had been resigned to taking notes, but she was actively listening, looking towards each person as they offered their answers, and most of them sounded more or less correct to her.
She had noticed Gareth earlier, and kept glancing at the way he was almost literally turning his nose up at everyone. She could see it in his face, and it was annoying and amusing at the same time. She bit her lip and leaned back as she listened to his answer. Mmm. Yes. You suppose, she mocked him in her head. Her lips pressed together in a restrained smirk as she noted his answer in her notebook, twirling the pheasant feather quill once or twice when she paused.
She wasn't sure his attitude was deserving of more sugar quills. Then again, maybe they would improve his mood. She would have to think about it. Then, she re-focused herself and kept writing.
Arielle knew this one. Her parents had told her many times at home, and they would always remind her on the days even though she had already remembered. "June twenty-first is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year, while December twenty-first is the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. So, in common they're both solstices," Arielle said. She soon realized she was talking too much while giving her answer, so she just started doodling stars in her notebook again.
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SPOILER!!: Justine!
Justine watched in amusement as the boy took the newly repaired quill with a look of the most perfect delight and amazement she had ever seen. Ahh, to be younger and innocent, "Vell, I do my best," Justine replied, in a playfully arrogant tone, smiling at the young boy.
What was Professor Flamsteed talking about? Oh, tilted axis, right the reason they have seasons. Justine made a quick note of this, not wanting to miss out too much after all (she might have been feeling lazy, but not lazy enough to jeopardize her academic career). Her attention was brought back to the blond boy as he spoke again, answering her previous question. Hmm. She hadn't expected that answer, well, perhaps that was more her fault than his. "Zen I must be zee one to blame, I only just transferred 'ere last term," Justine said, with a short, soft laugh.
What was Flamsteed saying? Justine really needed to pay attention, especially if she wanted to be as good at this stuff as Louis, and she very much did. Was it rude if she answered Flamsteed's question in the middle of her conversation with the blond boy? Probably, but then so was talking in class. Shrug.
Woah. She wasn't accusing him of being the one at fault. Even though it technically was his fault that he didn't talk to anyone. Instead the girl was putting the blame on herself. She's so nice. Yes. Zander did like her. A lot. She would make an excellent candidate for his first friend. "You're really cool. We should hang out sometime or something??" Suddenly he started feeling really hot. And sweaty. And nervous. Ew. What was going on? And just before he could say anything more he looked up and noticed Professor "Prance-A-Lot" looming overhead.... Oops.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie
Clearing his throat, Airey walked over to the two and bent down so his face was just about even with theirs and beamed. He had seen the quill snap out of the corner of his eyes - part of the benefit of having a semi circle set up for desks. "I hope my lesson isn't disturbing your conversation," he whispered with a somewhat smug look on his features. "I trust your quill is back to proper working condition, yes?"
Oops. Zander looked up at his professor with HUGE apologetic eyes. He didn't mean attract any attention. It's just.. His quill.. And... What could he do? And he didn't want to turn away the nice girl after she had just fixed his broken quill for him. That would be even worse than disrupting the class. He may have even made a first friend! That's plenty important, Professor Flamsteed. "Sorry Professor, and uhm, yeah it's working now, ha ha ha." Oof. Awkward.
As for the next question. "Well uh. June is exactly 6 months from the beginning of the year... And then December is 6 months away from June? And the number 6 is a multiple of 3 and 21 is also a multiple of three. SO THEY ARE ALL RELATED WITH MATH!" They have that in common right professor? RIGHT? RIGHT?
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Lemon!
Last edited by ArianaBlack; 05-14-2014 at 01:46 AM.
The professor listed fact after fact, and Norah's head spun with all the new information she was trying to get onto the page. Her handwriting had begun to slope down the page, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't figure out how to spell axis. She could swear there was a 'k' in their somewhere, but it just didn't look right. The professor asked another question that left Norah slumped in her seat with her brow furrowed. The 21's seemed to be the only thing in common if you asked her, and she had no idea what these solstice things were that everyone was talking about. December 19th was Oatmeal Muffin Day, she knew that. Boy, could Norah use an oatmeal muffin.
She held her quill aloft to write more notes, but she hadn't the faintest idea how to spell solstice so she just let her quill hang there dripping ink on the parchment. Fabulous. Now her notes were smudged. SIGH. Why was everyone else so much smarter than her? Could he sing again or something?
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Oh Bay had no clue what those dates meant… but apparently the other students did, grabbing his parchment he scribbled down some notes.
They were all talking about like some sort of Solstice? what ever that meant. Putting down his Quill he waited for Professor Flamsteed to give more information on the subject, it seemed interesting.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19
Adi was once again impressed with the planets that had really looooong lasting seasons. Oh Neptune. How lucky or unlucky thou were! Just imagine 70 years of winter. That would be heaven! Hey, a Puffer can dream, right?
As for that next question, Adi was about to say "21" is what they had in common but too late! Professor Airey dismissed that as a response. Ah well. Adi continued to make some notes while he gave some thought to his answer. Truth was, he didn't have the slightest clue of what the answer was. How about an educated guess? Hand in the air, the Puffer said, "The sun's position shifts to a particular spot, maybe?''
"Yes, Mr. Rehman, you are entirely on the right track," he grinned at the Hufflepuff.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixStar
The first year beamed from ear to ear when she heard him say that a free pass was given to her. Whew! Her mum would be furious if she managed to get herself in trouble so soon. "Thank you." Aubrey's giggles did not go unnoticed no matter how hard her sister tried to cover them. AJ shrugged her shoulders and went turned her attention back to the professor. She was acting like she never heard anybody meow before. "That sounds awesome. Surfing is so much fun!" Maybe a hot Christmas wouldn't be so bad after all. A surfing Santa may just make it worth while.
He didn't like cats? Who didn't like cats? Sure, dogs were better, but cats were alright really. "Yes sir. You won't hear anymore meowing from me." It was his loss really. AJ really had no clue how to answer the next question because "21" would have been her response, but she didn't feel like pushing her luck with him considering he had been so generous with her earlier. Instead, she listened to everybody else's answers and stored them in her memory. She totally wouldn't need to write that down.
You know, if he was only half paying attention to where he was looking and who he was talking to - or turned his head really quickly back and forth between the triplets - he honestly wouldn't recall who he was speaking to. Minus the one in Ravenclaw robes. Would have been nice if the Sorting Hat had seen fit to put them each in a different house for, you know, easy identification purposes.
But at least this one had promised no meowing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Star-Lord
Saying 21 would've been a "smart" mouth answer but uh no not to Jun. He rather just try to remember what they had in common. He learn this a long time ago, reading through his brother' sold notes book from his muggle school. "June 21st is the hottest day of the year? And December 21st is the coldest," Something lien that right? And it had something to do with time too. Or how long the day lasted. Um, which was which now? "Winter Solstice, December 21st, is the shortest day of the year. While the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere, June 21st, is the longest," Welp. At least that's all the boy could remember right now. Hopefully he was right.
"Actually, Mr. Kim, the hottest day of the year will not come until a month or two later after the Summer Solstice. Same for the Winter Solstice. As an old English proverb illustrates, 'as the days lengthen, so the cold strengthens. As the days begin to shorten, the heat begins to scorch them..'" he recited. Nice easy way for those unfamiliar with the topic to remember how things worked, so students out to take note. "Just like when you are boiling water on the stove or heating up a room, it takes time for things to heat. The same is true for the land and oceans here on Earth. Likewise, it takes time for things to cool down once they are heated up."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meizzner
There was the nod. Nigel nodded back and smiled. Maybe there was a correlation between terrible jokes and Ravenclaws. Might be fun to research. But effort. Now that was a lot of information. Maybe too much. And Nigel will take Flameo's word for it that it is a 'interesting read'. Unless the textbook interested Nigel. He never opened it.It was more fun to wobble in his chair and try not to think of how fast the earth is spinning right now.
That question was quickly answered. Of course it is both the equinoxes. "Both are a day in a month" Yeah he tried too hard there. But what is the fun in twenty perfect answers.
Chuckle!snort.
"Yes, yes they are, Mr. Barrington."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unalii
Melek sighed, feeling stupid. She was so not with it today it seemed. Melreally wanted to hide or go to bed at the moment but she tried to focus more on the professor and his question. How are they similar? Mel sighed and looked at him, trying to think of an answer that could be right. She raised her hand, "Are they suppose to be the longest days of the year? Like day and night are equal or something..." Melek sighed, absolutely sure that she got yet another question wrong. Melek made a mental note to study really hard before her next class.
Look at the gears turning in her head. LOOK AT THEM. JUST LOOK AT THEM!
"You are on the right track, Miss Sönmez," he nodded. "But not JUST the longest day of the year. The latter half of your answer is in reference to a different astronomical phenomenon called an equinox...which I will get to in just a bit."
Although not the emphasis of this portion of the lesson was still important to know.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanialRadFAN01
"Professor, does it matter that they are close to be the equal time apart in the year?" Because June 21st was kind of close to the middle of summer and December 21st was sort of in the middle of winter AND CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS!
"It does indeed!" he beamed at the Gryffindor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles
Uhhhh. Astronomy required concentration.
Which Kyroh didn't have too much of. Yawning the boy rested his head on the desk. YAY he was right! Awesome! Could he take a little nap to celebrate or something? There were more diagrams, and words and-man class this late was not a good idea.
HA Nigel was TOTALLY right! "They are both most likely a bunch of peoples birthday." Kyroh mumbled into his desk as he raised his hand. True. Through that was the same for every other day of the year, but so what? Still true! Where was his lollipop? Or pillow?
HOW DID HE KNOW?!
"Too true, Mr. Kyroh," he nodded. Actually the parents of his father and mother, respectively. But students need not know that bit about his personal life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScarletCharm104
Marigold nodded and jotted Airey's response to her answer down in her notebook. Astronomy was slow to start, but she still learned a lot. And now dates. The ones on a calendar. "I think they're both the equinoxes? Or at least nearby. The one in the summer is the longest day of the year, and the one in winter is the shortest. Not hours-wise, but how much sunlight is there and stuff." She looked at Airey. Maybe he would sing again?
"Close, Miss McAlister," he nodded. "The equinoxes are actually on March 21st and September 21st."
Lots of 21's being thrown about, which was fascinating in itself. The universe was just full of little pockets of seeming coincidence.
If only he really cared for Arithmancy outside of the calculations, perhaps there was some sort of magical significance in the number 21.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shanners
These kids wanted to answer all properly and she wasn't going to REPEAT what they were saying. What was the point in that? Little know it all rugrats needed clipping round the ears for not letting her answer first. She WAS more awesome than them.. Anyways. She was going to GIVE an answer. Just because. "One is almost Christmas and the other is just after my birthday. The two most important days of my year."
Did anybody want to know exactly when her birthday was? Would they be getting her gifts? Knitting things and lollipop things were most welcome, rugrats.
Airey chuckled. "An stellar way to help yourself remember the dates," he winked.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lemon
But the next question was easier! "June 21st is Cuckoo Warning Day, and December 21st is six months after Cuckoo Warning Day!"
Look, he got the answer first!
Ravenclaw say what?
"Cuckoo...Warning Day?" he questioned with a slightly raised eyebrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArianaBlack
As for the next question. "Well uh. June is exactly 6 months from the beginning of the year... And then December is 6 months away from June? And the number 6 is a multiple of 3 and 21 is also a multiple of three. SO THEY ARE ALL RELATED WITH MATH!" They have that in common right professor? RIGHT? RIGHT?
Ah excellent, his quill was working again. "That seems more like the sort of question an Arithmancy expert could answer," he nodded. Only currently the school was without one, again, so perhaps the boy ought to head to the library for some extra research. "But you do have to admit that it is fascinating how seemingly things fall into place."
SPOILER!!: le quiet ones ^__^
Quote:
Originally Posted by fanficfanatict
Now as a seventh year Ascanius had seen pretty much everything when it came to book swallowers, yeah? Some started as young as first year, others kept their mouth shut until they got a bit older. But it was practically an epidemic at this school, y'know?
He could have said that both dates were the solstices. He could have said they were the same numerical value. But what did it actually matter? He didn't wanna make it look to Flammy that he actually cared first off. Second of all, why would he repeat the answer five million OTHER students gave, yeah?
Nope. He was going to sit here quiet. And try and figure out how others ate all the books they did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz
Rather than repeat the given answers already West just listened. He didn't jot down any notes because as usual he kept all that in his head unless some professor forced him to write it down, in which case it wouldn't actually be used at all once he left a classroom.
.... he missed Alice, but it was surprisingly easier to focus on things without her around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow
She'd been mostly right which was STILL close enough to a proper right in her eyes so she was going to take that as a WIN, okay? She was also wondering if her brilliant answer meant she was fit to be some sort of weather girl. She had a face for TV, that was for sure! Not that she was going to say this out loud or anything. She wasn't even positive people here knew much about television. Instead she made a mental note to add FAMOUS Weather Girl to her list of possible occupations for the future.
As for Top Hat man, he talked a BUNCH. Maddie was more into people who could get their point across using minimal words cause she tended to get B-O-R-E-D bored after a few minutes but she WAS trying to be a good listener. And hey, 187483704 people gave the answer already so she didn't really need to repeat it, did she?
Also, Ravenclaw Badged Boy was funny. Heh. She liked him already. That hair, though? Merlin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daydreamer11
Jasmine knew that December 21 was the winter solstice and June 21 was the summer solstice. Unfortunately, so did everyone else in the class and they had pretty much said so before she could raise her hand. Having nothing enlightening to add, she decided to remain silent, for now. Holding her quill, Jasmine was ready to take notes just in case a new tidbit was revealed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sararara
The professor listed fact after fact, and Norah's head spun with all the new information she was trying to get onto the page. Her handwriting had begun to slope down the page, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't figure out how to spell axis. She could swear there was a 'k' in their somewhere, but it just didn't look right. The professor asked another question that left Norah slumped in her seat with her brow furrowed. The 21's seemed to be the only thing in common if you asked her, and she had no idea what these solstice things were that everyone was talking about. December 19th was Oatmeal Muffin Day, she knew that. Boy, could Norah use an oatmeal muffin.
She held her quill aloft to write more notes, but she hadn't the faintest idea how to spell solstice so she just let her quill hang there dripping ink on the parchment. Fabulous. Now her notes were smudged. SIGH. Why was everyone else so much smarter than her? Could he sing again or something?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GlassXRose
Kanna wasn't spectacular with Astronomy, nor had she put her mind to answering the question, as she had been resigned to taking notes, but she was actively listening, looking towards each person as they offered their answers, and most of them sounded more or less correct to her.
She had noticed Gareth earlier, and kept glancing at the way he was almost literally turning his nose up at everyone. She could see it in his face, and it was annoying and amusing at the same time. She bit her lip and leaned back as she listened to his answer. Mmm. Yes. You suppose, she mocked him in her head. Her lips pressed together in a restrained smirk as she noted his answer in her notebook, twirling the pheasant feather quill once or twice when she paused.
She wasn't sure his attitude was deserving of more sugar quills. Then again, maybe they would improve his mood. She would have to think about it. Then, she re-focused herself and kept writing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
This was the part of the class where Lex wanted so badly to rest her head on her desk and wait for the activity to start but the Professor had pretty much taken care of that with the rickety desks. It just wasn't a chance she was willing to take. It could topple over and explanations might need to be given. No thanks.
How did one even sit proper on this thing in such a way that said you were paying minimal attention without being too obnoxious about it or getting your neck broken on a fall?
She shuffled around abit in the seat, trying to find the right equilibrium but gave up when the Professor went back to asking questions. The Gryffindor Looked over at him...then everyone else and all the right answers. Did the Professor still want her to answer? Lex glanced at him before turning her gaze to the wide window.
This was the time of evening when things got pretty outside.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezerz
Wobbling in her chair a bit, while attempting to capture everything in parchment that the professor was saying wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Her handwriting looked a mess, though not as bad, but bad enough for the fourth year. It was probably a good thing she was only writing down what she felt she'd need to remember. The rest she'd look in the text book.
Briefly glancing up to listen to the next question, Beverly decided to sit this one out. She was taking serious notes, and looking at each student as they participated an answer, which was obvious, yeah? No need to repeat it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grrr...Meow
Oh Bay had no clue what those dates meant… but apparently the other students did, grabbing his parchment he scribbled down some notes.
They were all talking about like some sort of Solstice? what ever that meant. Putting down his Quill he waited for Professor Flamsteed to give more information on the subject, it seemed interesting.
The professor offered small nods towards those choosing to remain silent for one reason or another. Although he DID wonder why Mr. Stark always came to his lessons just to sit in silence and look all grumbly-like. Must be because the Slytherin was fascinated by his suits.
SPOILER!!: sweet SOLSTICE, correctomundo!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saiai
Ana listened to Flammy's lecturing while taking thorough notes, trying to get a good look at what he was doing. At least she'd gotten it right, which was always a positive. Some of the answers had ended up being quite strange.
Onto answering the next question.
"Those are the dates of the Summer and Winter Solstice. The longest and shortest day's of the year. The hemisphere you're in obviously affects what date you celebrate as the Summer and Winter solstice," Ana finished, putting down the hand she'd raised when she began speaking. She was obviously much more confident in that answer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry174
Angel couldn't help but giggle when her sister meowed at the Professor and she wasn't surprised with his reaction, she quickly put her hand over her mouth to try and stop the giggling but was struggling. Though after a few minute she managed it. "Professor the 21st of June is the longest day, the sun doesn't go down until way late, like after my bedtime so you go to bed when it light, but on the 21st of December it's the shortest day and sometimes you are at school and it's already dark." Angel thought that it was awesome that but normally on the 21st of December they were off school by them but sometimes it was later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hermionesclone
......................... That was a lot of words.
Everything was going swimmingly up until the man mentioned energy. It brought back too many memories of being stuck in a stuffy classroom on a fine summer's day where they were being bored out of their minds on the subject of energy. Of course, Grayson hadn't paid as much attention as he should have and he was starting to regret it very much now.
Besides, everything had made a lot MORE sense when he had used that quaffle over there to demonstrate. Another demonstration was taking place so Grayson decided to concentrate on that instead. See? This he could understand. Words were difficult in lecture form but diagrams and demonstrations were the best. That was why his notes consisted of mostly drawings and very few words.
Earth's sun????? Come again?
Fine. Question. He could answer that. The hand went up into the air. "June 21st is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere." Pause. "And vice versa for the 21st of December." See? Not dumb. He knew something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squishy
More furious note taking as Lux listened to the Professor explain things more in depth. By this point, she was used to his speils and the amount of writing required in his lessons.
At the next question, she raised her hand to answer. "They are the dates of the summer and winter solstices. They are the longest and shortest days of the year."
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicole black
SPOILER!!: Zander
Justine watched in amusement as the boy took the newly repaired quill with a look of the most perfect delight and amazement she had ever seen. Ahh, to be younger and innocent, "Vell, I do my best," Justine replied, in a playfully arrogant tone, smiling at the young boy.
What was Professor Flamsteed talking about? Oh, tilted axis, right the reason they have seasons. Justine made a quick note of this, not wanting to miss out too much after all (she might have been feeling lazy, but not lazy enough to jeopardize her academic career). Her attention was brought back to the blond boy as he spoke again, answering her previous question. Hmm. She hadn't expected that answer, well, perhaps that was more her fault than his. "Zen I must be zee one to blame, I only just transferred 'ere last term," Justine said, with a short, soft laugh.
What was Flamsteed saying? Justine really needed to pay attention, especially if she wanted to be as good at this stuff as Louis, and she very much did. Was it rude if she answered Flamsteed's question in the middle of her conversation with the blond boy? Probably, but then so was talking in class. Shrug.
SPOILER!!: Flamsteed<3
"Zhey are zee days of the summer and winter solstice, zee summer solstice is zee longest day of the year and zee winter solstice is zee longest night," Justine said, automatically raising her hand as she spoke (it was a force of habit that she couldn't quite ever break out of).
Justine was guessing this had more to do with the whole tilt-axis-season thing the top-hatted Professor was talking about. "Like zee Equinoxes, zee Solstices are connected with zee seasons... " Justine said, her voice trailing off slightly as she tried to think of something else to add, but nothing else that the other students hadn't said, came to mind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana
Ohh, tilted toward the Sun. Not facing the Sun. Right. Difference noted.
Sophie listened along as the professor answered everybody else, too. Then there was another question, and OH--Sophie knew this one, too! Or, she thought she did. Then again, there was that terminology aspect.
Raising her hand, she said, "June 21 is the Summer Solstice, and December 21 is the Winter Solstice. I think I read somewhere where we have twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of nighttime on those days, too," she said. "Also, we switch seasons on those dates. June 21 starts the summer, and December 21 starts the winter."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Presley Black
Gwen was surprised by how many kids got it right. Maybe they'd talked about it in wizard schools too? Come to think of it, did wizard kids go to elementary school? Or primary school, she thought it was called here. Did their parents just teach them how to read and write and stuff? Where did they go before Hogwarts?
She shook the thought away. She'd ask Hope or someone when she had a chance. "Those are the solstices," she answered, raising her hand. "June 21 is the day where there's the most sunshine, and December 21 is the shortest daylight." It was worth mentioning that "in March and September there are equinoxes. That's when daylight and nighttime are exactly equal." Though she wasn't sure of the exact dates on that. Maybe it was 21st for both of them as well?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin
Kace was glad he got the answer right. He jotted down ALL the notes when the professor was explaining the answer. It did seem fascinating and he was learning a lot in this lesson. He liked learning about the seasons and why they change. As he was just about done copying the notes, he noticed that the professor was asking a question. He looked up and he wondered what December 21st and June 21st have in common? Kace thought long and hard and then had an answer!
Kace raised his hand and said, "Well they are the Winter and Summer solstice. It is in December when we have the shortest daylight and it is around my birthday which is kind of cool. The summer has the longest daylight of the year." he grinned and knowing a little something about something of the seasons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88
Cris wasn't surprised to see that many of his classmates knew the relevance of both dates Professor Flamsteed had given. However, not wanting to be considered one of those who didn't, Cris raised his hand and gave his somewhat similar answer.
"Professor like the others have mentioned. June 21st for those in the Northern Hemisphere is when Summer Solstice occurs. June 21st is also known as the Northern Solstice because it occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. During this day, daylight is the longest, hence it is considered the longest day of the year.
December 21st on the other hand is Winter Solstice. On this day, the sun's elevation with respect to the North Pole is at its most negative value. Basically that means, we get less sunlight, hence making this day, the shortest day in the year, " Cris paused when he realized another significance of those dates.
"However, having said that, for those in the Southern Hemisphere, the situation is entirely the opposite. For them, June 21st will be their shortest day, hence it is Winter Solstice and December 21st would be the longest day, hence Summer Solstice.
I guess for those on the equator, those dates have no relevance, since it's just another ordinary day for them. There's no significant difference at all between the amount of daylight."
Was he right? Cris waited to see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black
June 21. December 21. Due to the fact that December 21st was Rorie's birthday, Declan knew this answer right off the bat, "They're the Summer and Winter Solstices, sir." Though, he did mention something of it as he fell to his near death off his chair not to long ago, right? Thankfully, Flamsteed fixed the desks up to their normal balance. Now, the boy can slump in his chair in peace. Sluuuuuump.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lauralicious
Vinnie listened to the professor carefully, but the harder she tried to come up with an answer, the emptier seemed her head. Why did they have weather? Obviously they all associated winter with cold because of the snow and summer with hot cause of the sun but that surely wasnt the answer...How was she supposed to know the answer to that question?! Oh well, one round the girl wouldnt raise her hand. She would survive that.
The Slytherin eyed her classmates fascinated as their hands shot up to answer. Wow that was a lot of people... She scribbled down some notes, so she could remember later on. This was getting interesting...
.....
Next question. Oh. So 21st of June and 21st of December...what did they have in common?! Think Vinnie, think.
"Professor those are solstice dates", she raised her hand, " also 21st June is the longest day in india." That last part probably didnt belong to the question but she felt like she had to mention it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fira
Leaned back on his seat comfortably at the very back row, Gareth eyed people with an unimpressed expression as they answered the professor's question one by one.
Blah...blah...blah. Yeah..yeah...yeah.
And why did Ravenclaws bother giving details that no one asked about? The Slytherin was tempted to rise up and make them realise that the professor did not ask about the details they provided but why would he bother with that? Meh. He wouldn't so he just remained sat there in his silence.
Maybe he would say something though. What else they didn't mention already? Hmmm...
Not bothering with changing his comfy posture, he spoke with a dull tone. "I suppose those are also the days that these tropic thing of Capricorn and Cancer get the sun directly with 90 degree angle so during the day the shadows of stuff are the shortest at those points. 21st December for Capricorn and 21st June for Cancer."
Was that...true? He supposed it was.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felixir
Toby SAW THAT. He was WELL aware of a certain BEST FRIEND totally LAUGHING at him. Not that it bothered him at all, because was there really much that Sophie could do that would bother him? No. No there was not.
He still shot a mock glare at her when she asked if he was okay. Glaaaaaaaaaaaare.
It didn't last for very long before Toby smiled and gave a little nod. He was fine. Robust. Always bounced back.
But he would be getting his revenge on Soph for laughing at him.
"I'm fine, sir," Tobias assured the professor. "The floor broke my fall."
He grinned, to show that yup, all okay here. Didn't even injure his pride. Toby was, of course, very grateful when Airey fixed the chairs and desks, because now he could fidget some more if he needed to, and that always helped him focus.
...
When Airey asked the question about June 21 and December 21, Toby had actually started to put his hand up to say about the number 21, before hurriedly lowering it again at that added comment.
Moments later, however, it was back in the air.
"They're both days of extremes. Longest and shortest day, though which one is which depends on whether you're above the equator or below it. And they're right around the two times of year where the Earth is tilted at a specific angle in relation to the sun. Like, one for each hemisphere I think." There was more to it, of course, with the whole hemisphere thing, but the Hufflepuff stopped there, even though he really wanted to carry on. It was something Toby had found really quite interesting, if sorta difficult to totally comprehend. This was a good opportunity to understand more.
Having already jumped on some 13 student desks with the last answer, the astronut refrained from doing so this time.
Did not mean that his own desk was off limits though. Heh.
"YEEEEEEEEEES! Solstices!" he exclaimed as he jumped on to his desk with his wand out and ready to charm the still orbiting quaffle to help illustrate and elaborate on student answers when...
SPOILER!!: ZOMG! CONNECTION TO MAGIC?!?! Why….yeeeeeeeeess
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaetha
Oh, okay, that made sense.
...not really. At all. If anything, Adrienne came out of that question more confused than she'd been when she went in. Which was exactly the opposite of what she wanted to happen. In her notes, she scrawled Page 163 of textbook for more information next to the place where she'd written about seasons on different planets. She'd definitely look into it later.
Adrienne raised her hand lazily. Were there going to be any questions she didn't already know the answer to? "Summer and winter solstices. Sometimes called midsummer and midwinter, even though they're not actually in the middle of the season. Shortest and longest days of the year." Speaking in brief sentence fragments was an easy way to save time, but she was practically boring herself just listening to what she was saying. "A lot of divination-y stuff has to do with solstices, and there's a lot in various mythologies about them. Like, uh," she drummed her fingers on the table and cast her gaze upwards, trying to remember exactly where she was going with this. "Persian! Persian mythology says that the winter solstice is the day before the birth of Mit- Mith- well, something along those lines, who represents light and joy and stuff."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabben
*Again he was so thankful for his books during summer reading. Pffft and Jacen said summer was when you did fun things outside. Raising his hand again Rom added his answer into the mix.*
"It has great magical need in potions and history. But June 21st is the longest day of the year, and December 21st is the shortest. This is when the sun is at it's lowest and highest peaks."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chiara
Lucy raised her wand and she said:"The Sun reaches its maximum value of positive declination in the month of June during the summer solstice of the northern hemisphere, while it reaches a maximum value of negative declination in December, during the northern winter solstice, corresponding to summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
My grandmother told me that during the summer solstice the Sun reaches its maximum power and transmits this power to the ground and people .. for example the plants collected during this period have a magical power: an elder tree that was cut on the eve of June 21 bleeds ... while during the winter solstice the darkness win the light .. this is the time when the dark magic becomes more powerful ...
THESE STUDENT ANSWERS DISTRACTED HIM!
"Interesting that you mention solstices and their connection to magic," he nodded. Although, being the scientist that he was he didn't take these claims all too seriously. It was like the solar eclipse experimentation they had performed in terms past, how supposedly one's magic could be heightened during. As students had seen, this theory was rather hit and miss. "Like many astronomical phenomena, our ancestors created myths to help explain why these things occurred," he said, giving Miss Colbert a small nod. As for solstices and their connection to divination, well, he was no expert there and and hardly believed in such connections to begin with. "Mr. Tillstorm points out their connection to potions and Miss Petersfield how dark magic is rumored to gain power during this time and that witches and wizards may have the ability to harness special powers during solstices. I have only recently delved into the field of archaeoastronomy, but there is some historic evidence that supports these theories. I trust you are all familiar with Stonehenge, yes? That is one example of this concept. In fact, a colleague of mine happened upon some evidence right here in the United Kingdom involving a certain dark wizard by the name of Morgan le Fay, not at Stonehenge however."
But the specific location slipped his mind at the moment. Alas.
Airey paused and looked down at his feet planted firmly on his desk. What had he been about to say again?
Quote:
Originally Posted by amadshade
"The equinoxes are on those two days. And you know how the sun rises in the East and sets in the West? The only days this really happens are on the equinoxes," she felt that this fun fact would help out the discussion, but she had a question. "Um, professor? It can't be true that they are exactly equal everywhere on Earth on the equinoxes. I know that's part of what an equinox is, but I don't understand. The far north and the far south have got to be a little different..." the fourth year asked.
Oh a GOOD question. Off topic slightly, but still a good question.
"There are several factors to be discussed here, in brief," he nodded. "Despite the name, which comes from the Latin for 'equal night,' implies and is widely accepted to mean that day and night are equal all over the globe, this is not entirely true - as you are hinting at yourself. They are nearly equal, but not exactly. I suggest looking at your textbook, page 171, after class for more specifics."
Because he, unfortunately, had not slotted time to cover these in length today.
"Excellent question."
Quote:
Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah
This intrigued the boy and he listened to the answers given. Both were solstices and affected the amount of daylight regions above and below the equator received. And then a Hufflepuff mentioned something about the equator and Cutty started thinking about regions above that and beyond. He considered the quaffle once more before his hand went up. "So, if the earth is tilted and the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere's amount of daylight is affected by the solstices, wouldn't that mean that areas above the arctic circle would get too much sun on the solstice?" And by too much, he meant all day. And was the same true for the antarctic circle? Cutty let his fingers flip the edges of his textbook in anticipation of looking up page 163 and slowly let the uneven chair settle so that he was seated at a tilt.
Really, what had he just been about to talk about? Solstices. Oh but there was a hand raised and oooooooooooh yes GOOD question.
"You are correct!" Airey exclaimed. "In fact the Earth's tilt makes it so that during solstices the sun may never set or never rise at one of the poles depending on the hemisphere and time of year. If you flip to the section of your textbook about the midnight sun, you will find some moving images that show you what it is like to experience the a summer solstice north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle."
OOC: there are some GREAT videos on youtube that I really wanted to link for you guys to see, but unfortunately the comments are not SS appropriate so I can't ;_______; I HIGHLY recommend you search for it on your own time. Pretty fascinating stuff <33
Quote:
Originally Posted by feeheeheeny
Sophie was paying a little bit of attention to Flamsteed again, enough to hear his question and a slew of answers from people. All the good, factual answers had already been said, she thought, but she tried to contribute anyway and raise a hand, "They're just, err, possible dates of the summer and winter solstices, yeah? Doesn't the date sometimes change from year to year, like sometimes one might fall on the 20th or 22nd instead?"
"An excellent point, Miss Brown," Airey nodded. "The solstices usually occur on the 21st, but they CAN also occur a day earlier or later."
Quote:
Originally Posted by JennMarie
What did December June 21st have in common... ermmmmmm... they were six months apart? in other words the braniac gryffindor was finally stumped with this one. He listen to what other were saying about Solstices and jotted them down. heh, oh. those fell on those days every year huh? He thought about it before realizing that they in fact did though he had no idea what a solstice was for. why did they have them!? "what's a Solstice, though really." he muttered to himself really for no one to hear as he jotted the word down.
AH YES! HERE WE ARE!
Airey was glad he just so happened to hear the boy muttering. BACK ON TRACK WE WERE! YAY! TRIUMPHANT ARMS UP IN THE AIR! ASTRONOMY FIST PUMPS!
"AN EXCELLENT QUESTION, MR. WALKER!" he chirped. "Without going into too much detail, a solstice occurs when the tilt of the Earth’s axis begins to move back the other direction as it has reached its maximum angle compared to the Sun. They mark a turning point in the seasons, the beginning of either winter or summer. Also, as Mr. Striker pointed out, this is also a time when the light from the sun directly on one of the two Tropics. During the June Solstice on the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn during the December Solstice. These also mark the longest and shortest days of the year."
So, they you had it. Solstices in a nut shell along with a brief introduction to archaeoastronomy. All which would come in handy later with their extra credit research project.
"Now, I have one final question before we move on to the activity. We have discussed briefly how our ancestors, those ancient astronomers we are all decedents of, would look to the sky and theorize about just what is going on up there. I want you all to imagine you are one of these astronomers for a moment. How could you prove that the Earth is spinning? No spaceships allowed or meteorologists, obviously."
OOC: Class will resume in approximately 10 hours from the time of this post.
This is the last Q&A section of the lesson, so I hope you all choose to stick around and play for the activity :3
__________________
We broke into a million pieces, and we can't go back.........................................
But now we're seeing all the beauty in the broken glass.....................................
The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony
My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like
∞ 17 | RP entrepreneur | defies gravity | Miss George is flawless | blanket burrito lyfe
Stellar? Yep. It was official. That word was losing its meaning thanks to 'fessor F. Bless his cotton...or whatever fabric socks. But seriously. After this burst of education, it was being noted in Elodie's diary to NEVER use that word. Or name a child, pet, or plant any form of it. Including 'Stella'. Nope. The word, and name, was going out of the window and she didn't care. Maybe she'd suggest a word for him to switch in instead. Like petroleum. Or coat hanger. Anything but stellar.
"Well when you look up and it's a cloudy day... I guess the clouds look like they're moving, huh?" And it most definitely wasn't because of anything else. Psh. She was so right it was WRONG.
Well, uhh... huh. Toby wasn't completely sure if he had the right answer, but he stuck his hand in the air and gave it a shot anyway, leaning back onto two legs of his chair, but only for a moment.
"Maybe the sun's path? 'Cause it would rise and set in the same places, and goes the same path. I mean, you wouldn't be able to prove much, unless you tried tracking shadows or whatever, but it might have been enough to give them a hint, right?"
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How to prove that the Earth spun? Oh, she could do this! She wasn't amazing at this subject, but these kinds of questions were right up her alley. The bright-haired Ravenclaw sat up in her seat, a little glance at Gareth, and raised her hand, still pinching the quill between two fingers.
"Well," she started, as all smart-alecks started their answers. "By tracking patterns in the night sky, we can tell that all of the stars and planets-- even the sun and the moon, move in a rotational pattern. Nothing stays still. A long time ago, it would have been said that everything revolved around the Earth, and the Earth was still..."
But of course, this is not the case. She wondered, for a moment, why anyone could have ever been so literally self-centered to think that the entire universe revolved around one fixed point. "But with a special kind of pendulum-- uh..." she trailed off for a second... What were those things called? Ful--fol... foe... "A Foucault Pendulum," she finally broke through, with much pride in herself, "If built properly, and excepting at the equator, those kinds of pendulums will swing in accordance to the rotation of the Earth. And rotation varies, from season to season, which is why there is a longest and shortest day of the year, or why the sun changes positions in accordance to the seasons. It's because the Earth wobbles," she finished, to use an extremely scientific term.
Proud of herself, she looked back at Gareth to see if she had managed to annoy him with her answer, then back at Professor Airey, in the hopes that she had given him a satisfactory answer.
How did they know the Earth is spinning? It seemed painfully obvious to Marisol, and she quietly rolled her eyes. Though she considered herself to be on of the nicer Slytherins, from what she'd seen so far, she was also quite sassy and impatient. She glanced at the student next to her to give a knowing look before answering.
"No other way of explain seasons. Different sunlight, not all direct from angles," Mari tried, struggling to explain the message she wanted to get across. Okay, so she was wrong even when she'd acted like a know-it-all. So?
Last edited by HogwartsStudent11; 05-14-2014 at 04:47 AM.
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Astronomy Lesson 1 :: Seasons & Solstices 
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