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The door to the Astronomy classroom is wide open and as you enter you see that the room is nicely lit and properly warmed for a clear, cold December midnight. It seems that perhaps Professor Kennedy has given up trying to keep students awake in his class?
The desks were all arranged neatly in their usual tidy rows. Nothing seems unusual or out of place this lesson, no mysterious doors or anything hiding on the Professors desk. The telescopes are in their usual place and everything seems right.
Or is it?
For as you look around you notice that the Professor is nowhere in sight, and the only sign of his presence is his favorite cup, the white one with the green flowers on it, sitting on his desk, filled to the brim with liquid that has steam rising delicately to the ceiling.
Come on in and be seated, hopefully the Professor will be back soon and class will start?
OOC: Welcome to Astronomy class! Assigned seating isn’t in place for this class, so feel free to have them sit anywhere they wish. Just remember that even though this is the first Rp’d class this is not your second class with Professor Kennedy! Come on in, say Hi and we will continue on in about 24 hours.. ish! Also please keep the chatting to a minimum! Class has started! All late comers will face IC consequences, so feel free to pretend like your Charrie was here all along.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MunchyBubbles
Kalen nodded as Bel spoke. “Exactly Miss Macindoe, and it is a lot like wayfinding. That sounds like an excellent end of the year exam.” He said with a smile, now he wanted to do something like that.
Kalen put his teacup down on his desk after everyone had answered and he stood up from his leaning position and looked at all of them. “Those were mostly all excellent answers. As so many of you have said, Celestial Navigation, also known as Astro Navigation, is the ancient and modern method of something called position fixing. Basically it is finding where you are in the world using angles based on the sun, the moon, planets or stars and the Horizon.” He said with a smile as he moved around the room a bit.
“A sextant can be used as well, but there are other methods such as using your arm.” He said as he walked around to the board.
“Now there are several stars that are “navigational stars” as well as one main star used for navigation, does anyone know any of these Navigational stars? ” He asked as he picked up his wand and wrote “Navigational Stars.” On the board and then looked back at the class, waiting for anyone to answer.
OOC: Thanks everyone for your wonderful answers! We will be moving on in about 24 hours ish!
Hmmm navigational stars. And one main star? Well. Bel didn't know anything at all about the Northern hemisphere's sky. She just didn't, but what she and any Aussie knew was about the Southern cross, which was on their flag and everything. She stuck her hand up.
"Professor, you can use the pointers back home, thats Alpha and Beta Centauri -that's Hadar like Olivia said- to find the Southern Cross, which is also called the crux, and the stars in the Southern cross are called Alpha Crucis- which is actually a triple star, Beta Crucis, Gamma Crucis, Delta Crucis, and Epsilon Crucis. You can use them to find south when you're on the other side of the world."
Aka... home.
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Kye was glad to hear that she had a good grasp of the topic for today, and it sounded like most others did too. That was always helpful in getting a lot more done in a lesson than having to start from the beginning. Scribbling down stars called out, Kye heard some of the well known navigational stars being mentioned so she tried to think of some others... Oh! Kye raised her hand again.
"My favorite one is Betelgeuse, but I also know about Sirius and Regulus... I believe Sirius is to the South and the others to the North?" If that was accurate, it was easy to remember since S is for South and for Sirius, but it didn't hurt to clarify.
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Ace nodded his head in agreement to the Professor's reply. The old skool way of navigating aka the cant-find-the-sextant way aka the too-lazy-or-too-inebriated way of navigation that sailors do-- use the gift that God gave you aka your hand.
Now what are the navigational stars? Errr most if not all of them? Then again that usually uses the sextant or other more refined equipment and not one's hand. Usually it would mean the brightest stars in the sky and many have already named the main one which was the North Star, the only thing he knew off the top of his head.
He flipped open their textbook and looked up their lesson and found a list of the stars, and as he browsed down the list he found a few of those sounding quite familiar for non-nautical reasons "Professor the list of navigation stars is a long one, but I just find it curious that at least 3 of the most famous Black family members are named after these navigational stars-- theres Sirius, theres Regulus and then theres Bellatrix."
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"If I'm not mistaken, sir there's one called Rigel, one called Kaus, and I know one called.. Alphard? I think." Garreth raised a hand to draw the Professor's attention. He did his best to give answers that hadn't already been given, but with so many quick-witted students in class, you had to be fast on the draw.
"Ooh! And Antares too!" he added, suddenly remembering one more. He set about scribbling onto his parchment, names that he thought sounded starlike. Maybe he'd recall some more!
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Hmm. Now, she really should answer this time. Harriet figured that she couldn't stay silent for the entire lesson. Or maybe should could. But the professor probably wouldn't be very happy if she did that. So she wrote a few of her ideas down on the paper. She wanted to be really sure about what she was going to say before she said it. Hattie didn't want to embarrass herself. Whilst she didn't care about what people thought about her, she didn't want to get embarrassed. She didn't know much about stars, but she could flick through her textbook, just to make sure she really was right.
She then did put her hand into the air and answered. "I believe that Pollux is also a navigational star" She went with one, just so everyone else could have a go at an answer too. That was nice right?
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Uhhhh...
Could they maybe all slow down just a little bit so that she could keep up with her notes, please and thanks. She was only capable of writing so quickly. It didn't help that she was most likely spelling most of these stars names completely wrong...oops.
Did she know of any navigational stars? Yes, she actually did. However once again just like before all the ones she could think of were being said. Rylee was just going to keep her mouth shut and continue working on her notes. Hopefully the activity would be happening soon before she ended up falling asleep.
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Jessa was paying attention.....mostly....kinda.....not really.
One minute the Professor was walking through walls and the next her classmates were reeling off lists of stars. Name after name. It was a little mind numbing when accompanied with just sitting there. Jessa had never been an auditory learner. She'd never been able to just sit and listen for prolonged periods of time and this....this was starting to feel prolonged, despite it not possibly being more than a few minutes. 5? 10? Something around that.
Hard enough sitting still when you knew what was waiting for you and were actually excited about it. Even harder when they weren't doing anything. Those were the hardest parts of lessons for her. The parts before she could really get her hands on the topic and manually pull it apart for herself. Always left her restless.
Rather than offer up a response, her attention fell on a pair of Gryffindors; Ronan shooting down Zoryn's idea and Zoryn's shooting down the idea anyone cared for his input. Given the track record of both, it would be interesting to see how far it escalated before Mr. Kennedy stepped in.
Idly, she scribbled at her parchment to give off the impression she was taking notes but honestly...she didn't need to know the list. It was a waste committing all to memory and therefore a waste to put too much focus on so many. Best pick one or two and hope she never got lost. In the event she did, that would prove to be an interesting experience in itself, one easily fixed with apparition once she was old enough and no longer feeling the novelty of being lost.
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SPOILER!!: Polaris/The North Star
Quote:
Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom
So, she was partly correct. That was better than completely off topic, but there had been several responses that were far better than hers. All of her studying before class didn’t seem to be helping. She glanced down at her parchment in hopes something would come to mind. Surely she had read at least one thing about Astro Navigation.
“There is one star that’s the easiest for use to see, the sun. I would guess that to be an important one.” She scribbled Sun? on her parchment. “There is a North star too, right? That’s the other brighter one.” She scrambled to add a few more, hoping to get one or two correct. “Is there a South star? Oh, there could be a star for each direction. Although, I’m not sure I could pick them out.”
Emmalyn was fairly confident that the sun and North star were important, but those others started to sound rather silly after she said them. That’s when she remembered constellations. By the time those came to mind, another student was already responding, so she just jotted down a few of the names she could remember on her notes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by debpetrisor
Oh, navigational stars... he wasn't very familiar with them, but he did know the most popular ones, so his hand shot in the air to answer. "The main star should be Polaris, or the Northern Star," he said. "There's also Sirius, which is very bright. Vega is another bright one that can be used for navigation."
He remembered reading about them in the textbook... but he couldn't remember all those names. In order to do that, he kept his quill ready, and listened for other answers that he would jot down next to the notes he'd taken from what the professor had told them so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarahlooo
She was on the right track and that was good enough for her as of now. A lot of people seemed to know more than Natalie did... but she didn't really spend her free time reading astronomy books. It turned out that celestial navigation, or astro navigation, was a bit more complicated than she realized. Angles with the sun and moon and other planets. Hmm.
There were navigational stars... What were they? Natalie raised her hand. "The North Star is one, isn't it?" Because everybody knew where the north star was, right? Everyone used that as a reference point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom
Scarlett didn't understand it. She felt like, the more she studied, the stupider she got. She didn't remember what exactly what she had studied in her astronomy books while prepping for NEWTs, but apparently none of it had stuck. None. Not a bit.
Except ONE little bit, apparently.
Her hand shot in the air in excitement. "The North Star is used to help muggles navigate. I, uh...don't know exactly how but they used it wayyyy back when they didn't have technology, and if you're in a jam you can still use it," she explained.
Again, she wasn't sure HOW but she knew it was...possible.
Kalen nodded at all those who said the North Star. “You are correct, The North Star is one that is used a lot.” He was glad a few people had said that.
SPOILER!!: Everything Else
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising
Ah yes, excellent answer which was exactly what she was going for, so Skylar was pleased. But moving on to talking about navigational stars and yes, the sun she knew to be the main one as two first years had mentioned. Along with talking about Polaris, the northern star. But there were like fifty-seven other stars that were utilized for navigation too.
"Two other stars in the northern hemisphere that can be used for navigation are Vega and Capella, which are actually the two brightest northern stars." Skylar explained.
Kalen nodded. “Indeed they are Miss Diggory.” He said as he wrote those two stars on the board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson
Points for him for at least not mentioning Moana. Cause lets be honest all of his friends back home had little sisters running around screaming about how they were going to sail the seas and return the heart all summer. So to get the right answer he felt pretty good. Now it was about what were some of the most notable stars. "Well, I know of the North star like others have said, but isn't Rigel also one, from Orion?" he was really wondering if they were going to be measuring stars or getting to find something later on around the castle. There was no telling what Professor Kennedy may have them do.
Kalen wrote Rigel on the board and he nodded. “Indeed it is Mr.Dooley. ” Was it to much to hope that he actually remembered the Orion lesson from last year?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Watson
Stars that you could navigate by...? Well the others had said the North Star and ones that were more familiar in the northern hemisphere... But what about the southern one? She pursed her lips, thinking about what her father had told her when they went on an overnight bush walk with her cousins. "You can use Hadar in the Southern Sky to help navigate," she suggested. "Knowing where the brighter stars are in the sky could perhaps help you determine your location?"
Kalen nodded as she spoke. “Indeed you can Miss Holden, and yes bright stars do help you find your way.” He said as he jotted down Hadar on the board.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz
Hmmm navigational stars. And one main star? Well. Bel didn't know anything at all about the Northern hemisphere's sky. She just didn't, but what she and any Aussie knew was about the Southern cross, which was on their flag and everything. She stuck her hand up.
"Professor, you can use the pointers back home, thats Alpha and Beta Centauri -that's Hadar like Olivia said- to find the Southern Cross, which is also called the crux, and the stars in the Southern cross are called Alpha Crucis- which is actually a triple star, Beta Crucis, Gamma Crucis, Delta Crucis, and Epsilon Crucis. You can use them to find south when you're on the other side of the world."
Aka... home.
Hearing the name Southern Cross and Cruc brought back the awful memory of the constellation/asterism fiasco of last term, but he shook it off and nodded. “Indeed you can Miss Macindoe, Excellent knowledge of the southern sky.” He said with a smile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dokimoto
Kye was glad to hear that she had a good grasp of the topic for today, and it sounded like most others did too. That was always helpful in getting a lot more done in a lesson than having to start from the beginning. Scribbling down stars called out, Kye heard some of the well known navigational stars being mentioned so she tried to think of some others... Oh! Kye raised her hand again.
"My favorite one is Betelgeuse, but I also know about Sirius and Regulus... I believe Sirius is to the South and the others to the North?" If that was accurate, it was easy to remember since S is for South and for Sirius, but it didn't hurt to clarify.
SPOILER!!: Notes!
North/Polaris
Capella
Regulus
Betelgeuse
Rigel
Hadar
Sirius
Kalen smiled as Kye spoke, “I like Betelgeuse as well, that star is from Orion, and yes Sirius is from the south.” It was also known as the Dog Star and its appearance would signify the “dog” days of summer. Ahh well, it amused him, but he wasn’t going to share that out loud.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelsheen
Ace nodded his head in agreement to the Professor's reply. The old skool way of navigating aka the cant-find-the-sextant way aka the too-lazy-or-too-inebriated way of navigation that sailors do-- use the gift that God gave you aka your hand.
Now what are the navigational stars? Errr most if not all of them? Then again that usually uses the sextant or other more refined equipment and not one's hand. Usually it would mean the brightest stars in the sky and many have already named the main one which was the North Star, the only thing he knew off the top of his head.
He flipped open their textbook and looked up their lesson and found a list of the stars, and as he browsed down the list he found a few of those sounding quite familiar for non-nautical reasons "Professor the list of navigation stars is a long one, but I just find it curious that at least 3 of the most famous Black family members are named after these navigational stars-- theres Sirius, theres Regulus and then theres Bellatrix."
“Interesting observation Mr.Salander, perhaps their parents or the author really liked Stars and therefore decided to name them after their favorite celestial bodies?” Though seeing as Sirius had a dog anmigagus and Sirius was the Dog Star… that was an awful big coincidence wasn’t it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Compootor
"If I'm not mistaken, sir there's one called Rigel, one called Kaus, and I know one called.. Alphard? I think." Garreth raised a hand to draw the Professor's attention. He did his best to give answers that hadn't already been given, but with so many quick-witted students in class, you had to be fast on the draw.
"Ooh! And Antares too!" he added, suddenly remembering one more. He set about scribbling onto his parchment, names that he thought sounded starlike. Maybe he'd recall some more!
Kalen smiled at Garreth as he spoke and he wrote down the names of the stars on the board, “Excellent Mr.Kenway, very good. ”
Quote:
Originally Posted by RachieRu
Hmm. Now, she really should answer this time. Harriet figured that she couldn't stay silent for the entire lesson. Or maybe should could. But the professor probably wouldn't be very happy if she did that. So she wrote a few of her ideas down on the paper. She wanted to be really sure about what she was going to say before she said it. Hattie didn't want to embarrass herself. Whilst she didn't care about what people thought about her, she didn't want to get embarrassed. She didn't know much about stars, but she could flick through her textbook, just to make sure she really was right.
She then did put her hand into the air and answered. "I believe that Pollux is also a navigational star" She went with one, just so everyone else could have a go at an answer too. That was nice right?
Kalen nodded as Hattie spoke. “Indeed it is Miss Paton.” He said as he wrote that down on the board as well.
SPOILER!!: The Quiet Ones
Quote:
Originally Posted by ArianaBlack
Whatever, clearly Celestina was the only star that actually mattered here. So by default, her answer was the best one.... whether or not Professor Kennedy agreed with it. She didn't actually care about what he thought anyway. Nor did she care about what some dumb boy had to say.
"No one asked you, Ronan," she retorted in response to the boy's RUDE comment. Seriously, had she asked for his opinion? Nope. The Gryffindor gave him the nastiest eye-roll she could muster.
He ought to show her some respect, she was a quidditch LEGEND at this school (or would be after the end of this term, anyway). And the fact that Professor Kennedy just let him say stuff like that?? Without any sort of punishment?? Um?? HELLO??
They were both stupid. Both Professor Kennedy AND Ronan Carter.
She opted against answering the next question because clearly her creativity was unappreciated and Professor Kennedy didn't care to shut down bullies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bazinga
She was there, of course, Zita was there. She was always there,
but she was lost. Why was this class so confusing at times. She liked the stars, but why did it have to go further than just looking at them and saying out pretty they are and maybe a snuggle with someone while doing it?
So instead of actually trying to answer Z just sat there and let everyone else answer the first question. She nodded and act like she was paying attention, but really she was just watching everyone else. She was looking at their shoes all those awful uniform shoes and thinking about how they would look so much better at school if everyone could just wear their own style of shoes.
So, for now, Zita was looking at shoes and not having a clue what was going on in class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hpluvr037
So he had actually been on the right track, which was awesome. Plus he was fairly certain he'd seen his professor laughing at the Celestina Warbeck conversation, which was just funny on multiple levels. So all in all, a good start to the wee hours of the morning.
Finn was busy scribbling things in his notebook with his pen (because he still liked those better than quills). He stifled a yawn behind his other hand, hoping not to let Kennedy see. Finnlay understood why classes were held at night, but that didn't mean he liked it.
Kennedy's question had been pretty basic. Most of the class should have already known the answers he was looking for, really. And lots of them had already been mentioned, so there was no point in saying them again. He simply added them all to his notes, hoping he correctly remembered which column they belonged in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pucki
Shera was... impressed? by Daehyun's response to the question. How did he know any of the answers? That was her current main question.
Sighing internally she let herself sink down in her seat, trying not to attract any attention as she waited for a question she could actually answer. Or an activity. Activities were always fun and she was up for doing something, otherwise there was a chance that Shera was going to tune out despite her best efforts at paying attention.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kolyander
Uhhhh...
Could they maybe all slow down just a little bit so that she could keep up with her notes, please and thanks. She was only capable of writing so quickly. It didn't help that she was most likely spelling most of these stars names completely wrong...oops.
Did she know of any navigational stars? Yes, she actually did. However once again just like before all the ones she could think of were being said. Rylee was just going to keep her mouth shut and continue working on her notes. Hopefully the activity would be happening soon before she ended up falling asleep.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
Jessa was paying attention.....mostly....kinda.....not really.
One minute the Professor was walking through walls and the next her classmates were reeling off lists of stars. Name after name. It was a little mind numbing when accompanied with just sitting there. Jessa had never been an auditory learner. She'd never been able to just sit and listen for prolonged periods of time and this....this was starting to feel prolonged, despite it not possibly being more than a few minutes. 5? 10? Something around that.
Hard enough sitting still when you knew what was waiting for you and were actually excited about it. Even harder when they weren't doing anything. Those were the hardest parts of lessons for her. The parts before she could really get her hands on the topic and manually pull it apart for herself. Always left her restless.
Rather than offer up a response, her attention fell on a pair of Gryffindors; Ronan shooting down Zoryn's idea and Zoryn's shooting down the idea anyone cared for his input. Given the track record of both, it would be interesting to see how far it escalated before Mr. Kennedy stepped in.
Idly, she scribbled at her parchment to give off the impression she was taking notes but honestly...she didn't need to know the list. It was a waste committing all to memory and therefore a waste to put too much focus on so many. Best pick one or two and hope she never got lost. In the event she did, that would prove to be an interesting experience in itself, one easily fixed with apparition once she was old enough and no longer feeling the novelty of being lost.
Kalen noted all of the quiet ones and he sighed a little as he saw a few who weren’t paying attention. Well, it would get more exciting soon, hopefully they would pay attention enough to do what he said.
Kalen put his wand down as the students finished answering. “Very Good all of you, there are in fact fifty seven Navigational Stars, and then of course Polaris, the North Star as many of you mentioned.” He said as he moved back around to the front of his desk.
“Polaris is what we will be focusing on today, as most of you know it is known as the “North Star.” It’s very close to the Northern Celestial Pole, so close in fact that it looks like the rest of the sky is rotating around it.” He leaned back on his desk for a moment as he spoke. “Polaris isn’t the brightest star in the sky, it’s the 50th brightest, so its still bright enough to guide the way for people who need it.”
“Now, just like Miss Macindoe was saying about ways to find the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a way to find Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere, to do that you need to locate the Big Dipper, also known as the Plough, once you see the Plough, you locate the two stars that outline the outer Part of the Big Dipper/Plough, Dubhe and Merak, and if you follow an imaginary straight line from them, you’ll find Polaris.” He paused for a moment, giving them all time to take this information in.
“Imagine that Polaris is the middle of a clock, and the outline of the Big Dipper/Plough is an hour hand, so it is always pointing to the center of the clock, no matter which way it is.”
He moved off of the desk and smiled.
“Now I’m not giving you this information for nothing! I want you all to go the the telescopes and see if you can find Polaris for yourselves, and no using your wands, I want you all to try and spot it using the muggle way! Look for the Big Dipper/Plough and then look in a line straight from those two stars, to find Polaris. Get familiar with how to find and locate the North Star, you will need it soon. Feel free to step back from the Telescopes once you find it, to see its location in the night sky.” He said with a smile as he leaned back on his desk.
“Off you go, once you find it, write down how you did, if you used my method or if you used another one.” He took another sip of tea as he waited for them all to get up and do what he said.
OOC: Welcome to the Mini Activity all! It’s pretty simple, have your Charrie go to the telescopes and find Polaris, step back from the telescope once they have found it to see where it is in the Night Sky with the naked eye, and then write down how they found it! You have about 72 hours to do this, and if you need help, simply put Professor in the title and we will come help! Thanks!
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Ooooh, North Star. SHE WAS RIGHT. Which.. wasn't that big of a deal because everybody knew about the north star. Oh well. The north star was part of the big dipper, yes, she knew that. Natalie liked looking at the stars, so this would be a fairly fun and easy activity.
After the instruction, Natalie got up from her seat and went over to the telescopes. She claimed one, but before she looked through it, she looked out at the night sky to find it with her naked eye first. Once she found the big dipper, Natalie pointed her telescope at it and looked around.
The professor had mentioned something about the outer stars and an imaginary line, but she couldn't tell which two stars he was talking about... So she moved the telescope around a few times for a couple minutes until she found the North Star. That was good enough, right?
Shera's hand was hurting, having scribbled a ridiculous number of notes. This was definitely one of the classes that she needed to put a ridiculous amount of effort into keeping detailed notes because give her a day and she'd probably forget it all.
That and even with reading ahead she still had no clue what they were talking about. Astronomy wasn't her thing apparently...
Standing up to head towards a telescope of her own, she clenched her fist a couple of times trying to stretch her hand out so it would stop hurting as she began scanning the sky. She gave herself a good five minutes of looking, but she still found herself unable to find the big dipper, let alone Polaris.
"Um... Professor? Is there any other way to find it?" because she really was trying it was just.... it all looked the same to her.
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Apparently, there were A LOT of navigational stars and that made sense considering there were billions of stars in the solar system. Max copied down the particular Professor Kennedy had written on the board and listened carefully to the instructions. So they had to find the North Star. Okay.
He felt pretty confident about the task and moved to take the telescope beside his housemate, Natalie. She looked like she knew what she was doing.
Max adjusted his glasses before positioning his telescope in the direction of the Big Dipper. Heh, what a funny name for a constellation.
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Kalen put his wand down as the students finished answering. “Very Good all of you, there are in fact fifty seven Navigational Stars, and then of course Polaris, the North Star as many of you mentioned.” He said as he moved back around to the front of his desk.
“Polaris is what we will be focusing on today, as most of you know it is known as the “North Star.” It’s very close to the Northern Celestial Pole, so close in fact that it looks like the rest of the sky is rotating around it.” He leaned back on his desk for a moment as he spoke. “Polaris isn’t the brightest star in the sky, it’s the 50th brightest, so its still bright enough to guide the way for people who need it.”
“Now, just like Miss Macindoe was saying about ways to find the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a way to find Polaris in the Northern Hemisphere, to do that you need to locate the Big Dipper, also known as the Plough, once you see the Plough, you locate the two stars that outline the outer Part of the Big Dipper/Plough, Dubhe and Merak, and if you follow an imaginary straight line from them, you’ll find Polaris.” He paused for a moment, giving them all time to take this information in.
“Imagine that Polaris is the middle of a clock, and the outline of the Big Dipper/Plough is an hour hand, so it is always pointing to the center of the clock, no matter which way it is.”
He moved off of the desk and smiled.
“Now I’m not giving you this information for nothing! I want you all to go the the telescopes and see if you can find Polaris for yourselves, and no using your wands, I want you all to try and spot it using the muggle way! Look for the Big Dipper/Plough and then look in a line straight from those two stars, to find Polaris. Get familiar with how to find and locate the North Star, you will need it soon. Feel free to step back from the Telescopes once you find it, to see its location in the night sky.” He said with a smile as he leaned back on his desk.
“Off you go, once you find it, write down how you did, if you used my method or if you used another one.” He took another sip of tea as he waited for them all to get up and do what he said.
Had Night fallen asleep? During a night lesson? All she knew is that one moment they were talking about celestial navigation, and now they were on to the first activity. She was okay, because she already knew a little bit about celestial navigation, but she quickly scribbled down the names of what Professor Kennedy called navigational stars.
Quote:
Notes: Celestial Navigation
Using the stars to find your way when lost. Used by sailors, pirates, etc in modern times.
Now, she would actually use a telescope? This sounded fun. Well, Polaris, as the professor had mentioned, was part of the Big Dipper, which Night knew was also part of Ursa Major. She spotted something that looked like a dipper, but on closer inspection, it was the Little Dipper, not the one she was looking for.
Night panned around a little bit more, noticing Orion's belt. Aside from the Dippers and Orion's Belt, she'd never really been able to see the shapes that the Greeks and Romans had seen eons ago. But she did know that the North Star was the brightest star in the Big Dipper, so that was helpful.
Finally, she located it. She let her mind wander a little bit, about how the earth was a big magnet, and if she followed the North Star, maybe she could reach Alaska, a place she had always wanted to explore because of the diverse wildlife. She absentmindedly added a few notes about Polaris, the Big Dipper, and Ursa Major, and then went back to daydreaming about exploring the Arctic Circle.
Shera's hand was hurting, having scribbled a ridiculous number of notes. This was definitely one of the classes that she needed to put a ridiculous amount of effort into keeping detailed notes because give her a day and she'd probably forget it all.
That and even with reading ahead she still had no clue what they were talking about. Astronomy wasn't her thing apparently...
Standing up to head towards a telescope of her own, she clenched her fist a couple of times trying to stretch her hand out so it would stop hurting as she began scanning the sky. She gave herself a good five minutes of looking, but she still found herself unable to find the big dipper, let alone Polaris.
"Um... Professor? Is there any other way to find it?" because she really was trying it was just.... it all looked the same to her.
Daehyun had been writing down everything he'd heard in class, making sure he'd check out all the stars in the textbook after class, as well as the instructions on how to find the Northern star. He felt like a bit of a cheater since he knew the general direction in which to find it, but he was going to try the professor's way this time.
Moving to a telescope next to Shera, he had no difficulty in locating the Big Dipper and, sure enough, as he followed a line from the outer two stars that he assumed were Merak and Dubhe, he found the Polaris.
... and then he'd heard Shera beside him, who seemed to have trouble locating it.
Adjusting his telescope back to point towards the Big Dipper, he said to her, "Come here," and motioned for her to look through his telescope, but not before adding, "The Big Dipper is like this," he said, tracing its shape in the air with his finger. "You see it?" He'd left his telescope focused on it, so he hoped Shera would be able to recognize it before helping her find their final target.
So, she was supposed to find it herself. Right. Emmalyn decided to wait a moment before getting up. She hoped a few of the older, more experienced students, would go before her and she would be able to copy what they did. At least have a better starting point. From where she was, any one of those stars could be part of the Big Dipper. They all seemed bright and nothing looked quite right without all of the city lights she was used to seeing.
She slowly made her way over to the telescope and stepped up to take her turn. She gently placed her left eye against the little eye lookie part. Immediately, everything in front of her was a big blur. She had no idea how she was supposed to single out even one star in the white blob before her. She pulled away and looked up at the sky. Her fingers fumbled around a bit on the telescope, hoping to make some sort of adjustment. Then she tried again. Nope, still a big blury glob.
Figuring she would just have to find it with her eyes, she moved out of the way and started searching the sky. She let the darkness fall to the back and focused on the brightest stars before her. There was one that stood out brighter than the rest. She followed the nearby stars and slowly, the shape of the Big Dipper emerged. She had found the North Star, not by using the telescope, but by trusting her own eyes.
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So they were looking at something and doing what? She just sat and watched the rest of the class get up and go to the telescope. At least with this class, you could fake understanding and most of the time get away with it. She got up out of her chair and moved into a group with the telescope. She moved a little further towards the telescope and took her turn,
but had no clue what to even look for, so of course, she would never be even in the right direction. Little did she know she had moved the thing to look down so wasn't even looking up at the moment.
Once she stood back up she noticed and blushed a little, okay she was going to need some help and who better to help her than someone standing close by, "Oh Ace, could you maybe, possibly, help me over here for a second." Cue the hair twirling and flirtatious smile to hopefully get him to come
do help her with her work.
Kye finished up her notes, and was more than happy to look into a telescope, and had in fact already made it to one, when she heard "You will need it soon..."
You will need it soon???
"Uhmmmm.... You're not throwing us out into the woods to find our way back, are you Professor?"
You just never knew, but especially with how late it was, Kye hoped that this was nowhere near Professor Kennedy's itinerary. Kye looked at the sky with her own eyes first, trying to locate the Big Dipper. It was quicker to at least have a set direction. Once she found it, she tried to look up the straight line, but it was hard to tell which stars were brighter than others to be honest... It didn't help that Polaris was the 50TH brightest either. They didn't give you a ribbon for coming in 50th place! Kye used her telescope to see if that would help her differentiate the North Star.
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Patrick hopped off of his chair and began walking closer to the telescopes. Although he wondered, “Professor, if you know how to find the Big Dipper already, could you easily find the North Star without the telescope?” It wasn’t like he was trying to get out of using the telescope, his eyeballs where already looking in trying to find the big d—ah there it was. He held the telescope steady lifting his head to try and follow the directions, without the telescope.
Outer most stars of the dipper, then he followed straight up... nothing. Not a thing. Sighing, and planting his eye balls straight back to the telescope he began to try to find the North Star again, only this time in the telescope. Thankfully he hadn’t moved the telescope and had the dipper in his sights. Now he found the outside stars and followed them, ah there it was. Limiting his head again he noticed that he just wasn’t looking far enough above the dipper for the star. Silly boy.
Stepping back away fro the telescope he waited for his classmates to find the North Star so they could start in on whatever Kennedy had planned for them using star navigation. To his housemates dismay, he really hoped it was dropping them in the woods. He jitters with excitement just thinking about it.
Interesting, sure, but Night still couldn't separate what she was doing from Muggle astronomy. Being completely honest, she wasn't even sure there was a difference. Before GPS systems, Muggles navigated by the stars all the time. So what activities could they possibly do that would fit in in the wizard world?
She heard some of her classmates muttering about their suspicions for the night's activity, and it appeared that most of them were worried about being left in the woods to navigate back to the castle themselves. But if that were the case, couldn't they all just light their wands, and then find their way back far too easily? If they all worked together as a team, they could create more light than was there originally. Unless...would Professor Kennedy take their wands? Was that even allowed? Likely not. It was far too cold to do that kind of thing tonight, at any rate. No, the class's activity had to be something else.
Daehyun had been writing down everything he'd heard in class, making sure he'd check out all the stars in the textbook after class, as well as the instructions on how to find the Northern star. He felt like a bit of a cheater since he knew the general direction in which to find it, but he was going to try the professor's way this time.
Moving to a telescope next to Shera, he had no difficulty in locating the Big Dipper and, sure enough, as he followed a line from the outer two stars that he assumed were Merak and Dubhe, he found the Polaris.
... and then he'd heard Shera beside him, who seemed to have trouble locating it.
Adjusting his telescope back to point towards the Big Dipper, he said to her, "Come here," and motioned for her to look through his telescope, but not before adding, "The Big Dipper is like this," he said, tracing its shape in the air with his finger. "You see it?" He'd left his telescope focused on it, so he hoped Shera would be able to recognize it before helping her find their final target.
Shera had awkwardly been waiting for the professor to help her out. In fact, caught up in her work and then lack of ability to do the simple task, she'd worked herself to a state where she hadn't even noticed her saviour friend beside her until he had spoken to her.
How did he always end up helping her in classes? And was it too late to file a request to change houses, because at this point she was pretty sure she was letting the team down.
She watched Daehyun draw an imaginary line of what it looked like, imitating the movement before she glanced through the telescope, very careful to not touch it in fear of losing the spot again. Blue eyes remained focused for a few seconds, trying to find stars that matched the pattern of what Daehyun had motioned.
When she was fairly confident she had found it, she turned to beam at Daehyun. "I think I got it," because really that was all that she could do at this point. She might have still been wrong, but she supposed that they'd figure that out pretty quickly.
Shera had awkwardly been waiting for the professor to help her out. In fact, caught up in her work and then lack of ability to do the simple task, she'd worked herself to a state where she hadn't even noticed her saviour friend beside her until he had spoken to her.
How did he always end up helping her in classes? And was it too late to file a request to change houses, because at this point she was pretty sure she was letting the team down.
She watched Daehyun draw an imaginary line of what it looked like, imitating the movement before she glanced through the telescope, very careful to not touch it in fear of losing the spot again. Blue eyes remained focused for a few seconds, trying to find stars that matched the pattern of what Daehyun had motioned.
When she was fairly confident she had found it, she turned to beam at Daehyun. "I think I got it," because really that was all that she could do at this point. She might have still been wrong, but she supposed that they'd figure that out pretty quickly.
"Thanks for helping me Daehyun,"again.
"It's my pleasure," he beamed right back at her because, really, a happy Shera meant a happier Daehyun, so he was glad he could be useful in any way.
But they shouldn't celebrate just yet.
"Now, you see the two stars on the far right? Those are Dubhe and Merak." He paused for a moment to allow her to locate them. He could actually understand her struggle, because he'd only found the Big Dipper because he knew what to look for in the first place. He'd probably be just as lost as she was if they'd be given something else to look for, because he only knew where to find a handful of constellations. "Follow a straight line from those two, and you should find Polaris." Which was a star that stood out - she wouldn't miss it, would she?
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Honestly, the whole explanation seemed like a convoluted way of saying, 'if you get lost and don't have GPS or a compass, look for the North Star, it will help you find your way'.
Ronan got up and went to a telescope and wanted for his turn. Once there, he first moved the telescope so that it was pointing towards the sky. Then he looked for the Little Dipper, specifically the handle. Then, he moved the telescope to the end of the Little Dipper's handle, and presto! There was the North Star. Very fast and easy.
Text Cut: parchment
Just find the Little Dipper, it's at the end of the handle.
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Kalen looked up as he heard Shera ask for help, but as he got up to move over there, it seemed like she was already being helped by one of her class mates. Hmmm. He appreciated that, he smiled at Daehyun before looking over at Miss Atwater and smiling.
“No, I promise I’m not dropping you all off in the forest! That would be mean, seeing as it’s late and cold outside.” He said with a shake of his head. They sort of had partially the right idea.. but his idea was much better than dropping them off in the forest!
Just sayin’
He turned and walked closer to Mr Dooley as he spoke and he nodded. “Of course, it’s fairly easy to find with the naked eye. ” He said with a smile as he looked around.
“About ten more minutes everyone.” He said with a smile.
"It's my pleasure," he beamed right back at her because, really, a happy Shera meant a happier Daehyun, so he was glad he could be useful in any way.
But they shouldn't celebrate just yet.
"Now, you see the two stars on the far right? Those are Dubhe and Merak." He paused for a moment to allow her to locate them. He could actually understand her struggle, because he'd only found the Big Dipper because he knew what to look for in the first place. He'd probably be just as lost as she was if they'd be given something else to look for, because he only knew where to find a handful of constellations. "Follow a straight line from those two, and you should find Polaris." Which was a star that stood out - she wouldn't miss it, would she?
Ok... so she had the Big Dipper.
The two on the side. Shera nodded lightly, looking back into the telescope to have a look at the constellation again. "I think I can see the two that you're talking about..." she was hoping that she did. If those two weren't Dubhe and Merak she might have to consider giving up on Astronomy all together.
Her eyes tried to follow a line from those two stars... but she then realised that she wasn't sure which way she was going. She went for 'up' first, slowly following the line to see if she could catch sight of it. Suddenly a star stood out to her and she couldn't help but grin, before turning to show that expression to Daehyun.
"I got it! Or at least, I'm pretty sure that I got it! It looks right! Thank you again sooooo much," she bounced back over to her telescope to try to find it by herself. It took her less than a minute, now that she knew exactly what she was looking for and how to get there.
Kye wasn't having much luck with the telescope, so she tried again with the naked eye. After a few minutes more, she was able to locate the North Star.
Making herself a mental image of it, she looked for it again with the telescope and was finally able to get it. "There!" she said, starting to feel exasperated.
She went back to her desk and got to work writing out her explanation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parchment
Kye Atwater
Slytherin
Sixth Year
I found it easiest to find the Big Dipper with my eyes, and follow the handle to find Polaris. I used the big picture, and was able to find the North Star using the telescope after that.
"Professor, is there anything else we need to write down?" Kye asked,
feeling like her parchment was quite empty...
The two on the side. Shera nodded lightly, looking back into the telescope to have a look at the constellation again. "I think I can see the two that you're talking about..." she was hoping that she did. If those two weren't Dubhe and Merak she might have to consider giving up on Astronomy all together.
Her eyes tried to follow a line from those two stars... but she then realised that she wasn't sure which way she was going. She went for 'up' first, slowly following the line to see if she could catch sight of it. Suddenly a star stood out to her and she couldn't help but grin, before turning to show that expression to Daehyun.
"I got it! Or at least, I'm pretty sure that I got it! It looks right! Thank you again sooooo much," she bounced back over to her telescope to try to find it by herself. It took her less than a minute, now that she knew exactly what she was looking for and how to get there.
What would she do without Daehyun?
Daehyun could only grin as Shera skipped back to her own telescope, wondering if she'd try to search for Polaris again on her own. He, on the other hand, went back to his seat to write down what professor Kennedy had asked them.
Since he wanted to be a bit more specific on how he'd found the Northern star, and also to prove it to the professor that he'd not only gone by his instinct, but tried the professor's technique as well, he added a detailed drawing of the whole constellation, wrote down the names of the two stars that were used as reference next to each, and drew the imaginary line he'd traced to find Polaris.
There. All done.
SPOILER!!: Notes
Knew where to find it.
Find the Big Dipper, and go in a straight line from the two stars on the far right, Dubhe and Merak.
Astronomy Lesson 1 - Astro Navigation 
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