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sweetpinkpixie · 01-21-2013, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

Alyssa blinked when the Professor explained to her that the star that she was most probably wishing on would be dead. It didn't really bother her because she rarely made wishes on stars.

But she did know what the phenomena was that was related to shooting stars. So she raised her hand and answered.

"Professor, a shooting star is actually a large chunk of rock, commonly known as a meteorite, that is burning up as it passes through earth's atmosphere. The large rock could probably be debris from a dead star that has broken up into pieces."

'See I do know about dead stars.' Alyssa thought to herself.

"Very close, Miss Potter," Airey said with a nod. "You are on the right track with your thinking, but have some of the terminology mixed up." These things were a bit confusing, especially when all the words involved. "A meteorite is a particle of space debris, sand to boulder in size, that has not only entered the Earth's atmosphere, but it has reached the ground AND survived the impact. You could say that it has already 'graduated' from the colloquial 'shooting star' phase." Graduate being use very loosely and very metaphorically.

Dead stars. Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have use that quote on this one. Bad Airey.

"I'm afraid that no rocks will have come from stars." He had been hoping to save this next bit for at the end of his lesson, but it seemed as though the introduction was needed now. "Stars are made from approximately 73% hydrogen, 25% helium, and the remaining 2% being other elements. They are, in the most basic of terms, burning balls of gas. You won't find any rocks, but you can find matter. What happens when a star 'dies' is an entirely different process that I will touch on later in the lesson."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Syd

...Yellow? Jake blinked, surprised. So yellow had something to do with the lesson, then? It must, since Flamsteed's face brightened up like that. Slowly, Jake smirked. He was pretty good at guessing lesson topics. Unintentionally.

Looking up at the ceiling, Jake thought about the question. Falling stars. He knew they weren't stars... maybe... "Comets?" He thought out loud, raising his hand. Except it was probably wrong, because most people knew when it was actually a comet.

Ah yes, another good guess. "Many people have mistaken comets for 'shooting stars,'" Airey nodded he used air quotes again around the words shooting star. "In fact, the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle first described comets as 'stars with hair.' Good guess though, Mr. Keller." He would have gone into a little more detail now, but that would have given away the real answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

WELL. Someone was obviously in a bad mood. "Sorry, Professor. I meant MONTY," she said bluntly, averting her eyes from the man. So she'd gotten a name wrong. Hmph. And now they were talking about stars, huh? Her hand flew up immediately. "A shooting star is meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere to become a meteor." Was that right? Who knew about science, anyways? She was probably a bit off, but she didn't really mind. MONTY Python, yeah?

One class she didn't suck at, yep.

STILL WATCHING YOU LIKE WOAH MISS FISCHER!

AHA! Here we go! "BINGO!" Airey said as he jumped up on to the platform again. He would have jumped on her desk, but he didn't trust her. She HAD lied to him about his suit and he was still debating in his head about proper punishment. "A meteor, yes! Or a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere." Because those two were the same thing. And THIS is where things got a bit confusing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

Sherman was LATE.

Really, really late. What was he supposed to do if his wheelchair was hard to maneuver around the castle? He was old. Not his fault, he supposed. Either way, he burst into the Planetarium to find a bunch of little children already in there, listening intently to a Professor. Trying to make as little noise as possible, the man wheeled in quietly and slipped to the back of the room after beaming at the professor in the impeccable suit, sliding next to Corin and observing quietly.

OH THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT MONTY PYTHON. He could not believe he had missed this.

Stupid wheelchair.

But before he could go on to explain the elderly gentleman finally made his appearance. Sweet solstice, did they really have to send the old man all the way up here in a wheelchair?

Oh...wheelchair... Airey was going to have to charm that to the floor here in a bit. Probably the old man as well.

Giving the man a nod in greeting, Airey turned back to Miss Fischer and...lost his train of thought due to the distraction of the other observer making their appearance. What had he been talking about again? Or...where had he left off in his response to her?

Quote:

Originally Posted by McFeisty

Amelia looked up at Airey and just queitly listened to the responses. In fact he probably didn't hear her singing because she was almost as quiet as she was not. Something about stage freight.

"Professor Flamsteed," she quietly smiled, gulped and looked up at him her hand raised into the air of course. "W-would that term be a bolide?" She asked. "Er the term basically defines any extraterrestrial body that collides with our atmosphere and makes a big ball of shiny-light...i know sometimes they are called fireballs, and sometimes they explode and don't make it to earth but when they do make it to earth there can be craters formed."

Oh! Another hand. He would just move along to this student and hopefully come back around to whatever it was he was going to say next in response to Miss Fischer.

Oh, an answer he had not been expecting. "That is another possibility," Airey nodded, clearly impressed that someone so young knew about that term. "A bolide is an especially bright meteor and the term is synonymous with 'fireball' - which means a 'a meteor brighter than any of the planets.' However, in general bolide tends to refer to those that explode."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Jory stared as Professor Airey clapped and bounded onto the platform then followed it all up by a dance. If he weren't so surprised, he might have burst out laughing. The Puffer listened as the very excited teacher launched into an explanation about studying Astronomy. The astrophysicist's quote interested him and he made a mental note to learn about the man. And then... five points! Jory grinned. "Thanks, Professor,'' he said. And to think he was nervous about his voice and all.

Jory raised his hand. "It's called a meteoroid,'' he said. "It burns as it goes through the Earth's atmosphere.''

No need to thank him, really. It had been the boy that had excited Airey and brought up some good points with his song choice. "Very good," Airey nodded. "Although to be more specific, as well as to clarify, it is the---."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lockhartian

Honestly. Lottie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at him on the account that he was the Professor and this sort of clarification needed to be made, but it was only a song, "I'm quite aware of that, yes, Professor," she said, with a nod. She wasn't stupid. She knew the basics of Astronomy anyway.

But it was a personal favorite of his. So, she still smiled.

Also, no, we're not familiar with that because we only listen to The Beatles. There cannot be anything better than them. Old music was the best.

Her eyes landed on the Gryffindor Prefect that said comets and she was reminded of the conversation she had with Airey at his office. Also, comets are pretty. But had little to do with the topic at hand. Her hand was raised, "Well, you see, the 'shooting' part of said 'star' is actually a path that's left visible to our eyes of...not a star but a meteoroid. Which...is called meteor when it comes into our atmosphere...but then changes its name again to meteorite once it touches ground." Can they be more complicated?

We have something else to add, "Meteor showers look amazing, too."

And he was distracted again by another hand being raised.

Oops. He had apparently hit a nerves with Miss Wisteria. He had been joking and somewhat teasing there, hadn't meant to offend or anything. Merlin was this one tricky and somewhat hard to read Hufflepuff.

"THIS! YES! THIS RIGHT HERE!" Airey said, clearly excited by the words of Miss Wisteria to the point that, yes, he jumped up on her desk and did a sort of happy dance there as well. "I hope you all were paying attention just now to what Miss Wisteria said." And had been taking notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanficfanatict

Okay, Selina wanted to crawl up in a hole right about now. Singing in front of her entire class knowing that she was extremely tone deaf was really hard. And now that suit man had heard her sing she was NEVER going to sing again. If anyone had a problem with that they could have a nice, long chat with Mortimer. After that perhaps they would see eye-to-eye on the issue. Honestly, Selina did not want to deal with the whole singing thing... she knew she couldn't sing. End of story. But it was awfully nice of Mr. Airey to lie to say thank you... he was welcome!

Okay cool, they were starting with some astronomy now. That was good. No more singing was ALWAYS a positive. Seriously, she NEVER wanted to sing again. That was horrifying.

When he asked the first question- suit man that was- Selina was sort of surprised thats he knew the answer. Then again, she had dated an astronomy enthusiast for almost four years. If she hadn't picked up SOME knowledge on the subject she might as well just go through with dying her hair blonde. Shrugging a little at the thought, she rose her hand and spewed out, "Its a meteor, well-dressed man." He WAS really well dressed. Was he SURE he was a Gryffindor?

"It is indeed," he grinned. Okay, so the Head Girl couldn't carry a tune, but she did seem to know a thing or two about astronomy. His eardrums somewhat forgave her. Somewhat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DecemberMoon

[
Ah falling stars. They are so pretty aren't they? But as to the proper term for them, Eliza did not know much of it. She raised her hand to try a guess none the less. "Are they called comets or meteors? Or is it meteorites?" She furrowed her brows and twisted her mouth in doubt of her answer.

"A comet IS a good guess, as I told Mr. Keller, but it is not the correct one," Airey replied with a reassuring nod. Oh, she wasn't done just yet. Ah yes, another victim of the confusing terminology. "A meteor, yes! And, as I explained to Miss Potter, a meteorite is a meteoroid that has landed on Earth."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black

The Muggle movie, Star Wars's, theme song was stuck in her head as they all pointed out star related songs and this was the only one that stuck. She hummed it to herself.

Then the professor mentioned that song! Oh it took her back to when her mother used to sing it to her. Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save for a rainy day. Great, it was going to be stuck in her head for the rest of the day!

"Aren't shooting stars astroids with a fire tail or something like that?" She said timidly, before realizing she didn't answer the last question so she should probably mention her name. "Er...I'm Awarlesta Black."

Asteroids with a fire tail? Holy Orion did that bring up some rather unpleasant images in the astronomers head - not to mention some ideas for next term as well. These students were so inspirational!

Oh, look at that. Airey hadn't thought someone would make this connection - and he had momentarily forgotten about it himself - so the man was tickled pink."Impressive, Miss Black! Not the concept I was aiming for this lesson, but true none the less." He paused for a moment, off of Miss Wisteria's desk and back to the platform so that everyone could see him. "The most basic difference between an asteroid and the concepts we are focusing on today is location. You see, an asteroid is always going to be in space orbiting around the sun. There are tens of thousands of them grouped in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and if one were to break orbit and enter the Earth's atmosphere then it would become a meteor and if it were to hit the ground and survive the impact then it would become a meteorite. When an asteroid had become a meteor, it too is called a shooting star by laymen's terms." Was everyone following this? Yes? Follow up questions were always allowed should they have them. "Excellent thinking, Miss Black. Take 5 points."

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Anya smiled happily to herself. She didn't quite realize that interesting was code for Anya Phillips, you are an insanely weird child.

That could have been due to the fact that she was only half paying attention though. The ceiling was covered in stars. So... she really couldn't be blamed. It was essentially the Professor's fault for having such an interesting ceiling. Didn't he know that kids were easily distracted?

Whoa. And... then there were words. She hummed the song to herself as she read the lyrics.

... then was distracted by an old man. OH!! It was Alipop's grampypop. Fun. Was he here to learn too? ... wait a second. ... how did old!dude get his wheelchair up here?! It was like... a mystery of the universe. She'd have to ask him after class.

... and did the Professor just ask a question? She raised her hand. "They're called meteors when they are falling... and meteorites when they hit the ground. ... and you also probably shouldn't catch them. I'd imagine falling through the atmosphere would make them pretty hot." And fast. ... which sounded like a painful combination.

Ah yes, the limper who had saved his lint roller. Airey gave her an approving nod with her answer, but wanted to clarify a few terms just to make sure everyone avoided confusion. "Very good, Miss Phillips. But we ought to avoid such simple terms as falling when describing meteors. Some would use that phrase to describe meteoroid approaching Earth. Instead I would rather you remember it as a 'they are called meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere.'" She wasn't wrong, but could easily confuse herself by over simplifying things. As for that bit about catching... "We will just have to see about that, Miss Phillips," he said with a knowing smirk as he moved on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by the fastest seeker

So she was quiet and all. But because she wasn't so strong in this subject which exactly why she was here. To learn more. With her quill in hand she scribbled down important stuff. She didn't write the songs though because it was hard to write and listen at the same time. She'd ask people who sang to give her the lyrics later. How come she didn't know many songs about starts and stuff. Well, she does now.

Listening attentively to students' answers and the nice Professor's replies. Cassia felt stupid not having any thing to answer. She needed to read ahead in the book and prepare next time. Bad first impression. That of course if the Professor noticed her here. She like hadn't spoken a word!

Falling stars..

She knew that! Cassia raised her hand enthusiastically because she had an answer. "IT's a very very hot rock. And we might see it in the sky like a faint arrow-shaped line." She said with a grin. Because she was glad she knew a little about this. And she wanted to add that it was her dream to see a star actually falling from the sky. So she could catch it.

This Slytherin had been quiet the entire time, but that wasn't a bad thing. However, a smile did appear on the astronomer's face when he saw her hand up and when she offered up an answer to the best of her abilities. That a itself was a victory in his eyes, students becoming brave enough to venture a guess or ask questions. Yep yep! "As a very basic definition, precisely," he said with a smile and a nod. "But sometimes these can be chunks of ice as well, not just rock. And, contrary to pop culture's belief, they definitely don't hit the ground as a flaming fireball, the way you sometimes see it depicted in muggle movies." Which involved describing the entire process of what happened when a meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere, but he was going to touch on that a little bit later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

So from what he could tell with this class, they would get weird points and lose weird points regardless of what they did or said? Soooo why didn't he randomly get points for mentioning jars? ~~Or lose points for singing into a lint roller?~~ While he was wondering these things of course a lot of answers got said... West still stuck his hand up though. "The meteor, thats the burning trail of light bit what we see as a falling star, what is made by a meteoroid, and only if it doesn't hit the ground, then it gets called a meteorite." He paaaaaused thoughtfully and then asked a question, "Professor, Asteroids are like bigger Meteroids right? Except one what is big enough to be in a orbit? So if one of them burned up in our atmosphere, would its trail be a Asteor? And if it impacted would it be a Asteorite?"

Airey couldn't help but chuckle at Mr. Odessa's logic. It reminded him of his own curious self at that age and, while flawed logic, the man could appreciate the boy's out of the box thinking. "As I said to Miss Black and the class earlier, the main difference is location, so yes, one could say that an asteroid is sort of a big meteoroid. However, as logical as your words may seem, I am sad to say that they do not exist. When an asteroid enters the Earth's atmosphere it becomes a meteor and if it makes impact with the ground it is a meteorite. Some people will say that it was a single asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs over 65 million years ago, but the more correct wording would be that a single meteorite impact that killed the dinosaurs." He gave the boy another nod. "I like your thinking though, Mr. Odessa. Take 2 points." Even if it hadn't been correct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeasleyGirl

Continuing on with the lesson, Flamsteed asked the first question because the last one didn't count. Again she raised her hand "Meteor shower?"

Oh yes! Meteor showers! "Those are in fact a part of the answer, yes," he grinned. Boy were students going to be excited at the end of the term - assuming his calculations and everything were correct. "Most meteor showers are caused by debris left by comets as they orbit the sun. As they do so, a comet will shed an icy, dusty debris stream along its orbit and if the Earth were to pass through that stream we would see a meteor shower. Of course, meteor showers can occur in other ways as well, but comet debris is the most common."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emzily

...

Wow. Theodore's face went a little pink as the professor starting talking about girls and love, regarding his song choice. In front of the whole class. In front of ELLA. ELLA WAS IN THE ROOM, PROFESSOR. Get with the program. He ducked his head low and didn't look to anyone in particular.

He may have given Theo 5 points, but Professor Flamsteed just LOST 5 Theo!points.

"Thanks for that, sir."

Theo liked to think that his knowledge of stars was pretty good, but the question seemed to be a lot more complicated in his head than what it actually was. Falling stars kinda gave it away in the end. Phew, he knew this. Shooting his hand up, like a shooting star, Theo said, "That would be a meteoroid, I think." Or an Asteroid, or a comet. He didn't know this stuff, so he just ducked his head down low again.

Was it just him or was Mr. Kinsley giving the professor odd looks? Was it something he had said? Hmm...perhaps he wasn't a fan of mythology?

After a quick 'you're welcome' and another grin, Airey nodded to the boy. "Yep yep, but to be more specific it is a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere and this is also called a meteor."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayden

So, this is how Professor Sleepy is like. Judging from the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Alex didn't expect the professor to have them singing in class in midday... Being the shy boy he is, Alex mumbles the tune to himself rather than singing it out loudly for the whole class to hear.

He knows what shooting stars are! The thing that killed dinosaurs millions of years ago. And so the boy raises his hand, "The... Dinosaurs killers...?"

.............

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Okay, Airey rather liked this somewhat innocent sounding answer and the best part was that it was not entirely incorrect - although not fully correct either. "In a sense, yes you could say that," he said while still chuckling a bit. "The important thing to remember is that what killed the dinosaurs, as I explained earlier, is a meteorite where as what is commonly referred to as a 'shooting star' is a meteoroid that has become a meteor because it has entered the Earth's atmosphere."

Hopefully students were beginning to understand the difference between the three terms. It was going to help them IMMENSELY with their homework if they did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

The head boy actually didn't know about the 'astronomy facts' on that song. He just knew that it was a very old love song and his uncle loved to sing that. Well, no wonder. This professor was such an astronomy geek, right?

Back to the lesson. Falling stars. Hmmm... It wasn't a real stars that fallen from the sky right? "It's a meteor, sir." he said as he raised his hand. "A meteor is a particle of solar system that had passed the Earth atmosphere." So, if it is just a particle why many people like to wish something when they see the falling star? Well, it's just a silly myth actually.

"I prefer the wording of 'a particle of debris in the Solar System that has entered the Earth's atmosphere,' but yes, you are correct Mr. Rush," Airey said with a cheerful nod towards the Head Boy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicalWorld

Dylan just watched everyone as they named song names and some of them even sang! Like seriously? What was up with this professor, first he lays there in their runes class where they didnt even get to test spells on him by the way! Now! he was getting them to name songs linked to astronomy, did Dylan look like the kind of guy that listened to songs? No.. right? exactly he steered away from those if he could cause he was too busy planning things and the songs? they would just break his focus and concentration when he was 'working' So songs were never on his list of things to do, he just watched as some sang and some just named songs. When would they be over already..

Oh finally! He was getting bored of it all and nearly opted to leave class, now they were talking about things falling from the sky. Now they were talking! "Professor I have no idea of the name, but they look really cool. Its like rocks on fire falling from the sky, cant go wrong there! Those rocks never get effected by the fire! unless you are one of the smaller rocks that just cant take the heat" how did Dylan know all this? well lets just say that he has some experience in trying to see what fire does to rocks, and has found that some smaller ones cant take contact with fire..whereas others just... dont break or melt or even pop or anything! Oo he was now wondering what else he could set on fire.. some balls?.. they could call them.. fireballs! He was great right? .. oh yeah.. Ooo or maybe the professor's suits.. maybe? He had heard that the professor loved those.. that would be fun to see. A professor freaking out over some clothes.. mmm.. Dylan took out his parchment to add this one to the to-do list too!

*blink blink staaaaaaaaaaaaare blink blink*

Rocks on fire. Fiery rocks falling from the sky and something about not being able to take the heat. Yep, this Gryffindor was going to need a lot of extra protective gear during the activity, Airey could feel it. "I think you should reflect upon the response I gave Miss Somerlad." About this whole fire business.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa

Oichi was glad she managed to come up with something for last question. However this academic Question was one she knew the answer to, she is in her owl year afterall. She raised her hand and responded, "A shooting stars technical name is a meteor, if and when it hits the Wrath it becomes a meteorite.".

Hits the Wrath? Airey was just going to assume that she meant Earth and had simply gotten too excited and had a small slip of the tongue. Nothing wrong with that. It was a rather fascinating and exciting subject! "Very good, Miss Paulidine. A meteor is the answer I was looking for." But there had been some other revelant answers as well. Hopefully everyone had been paying attention to those too, yes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Laura looked at the Professor, singing they had to sing, well she could sing but she really didn't want to and she couldn't think of a song that no one has said. "How about Dancing in the Moonlight." Laura thought she would have a guess.

"Please keep up, Miss Hyde," Airey said with a slight eyebrow raise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Sierra blinked.

Dear Merlin, this man could TALK. She nodded along, pretending to be really interested in what he was saying. Ehh...who cared if stars could really be wished upon or not? "It's okay, Professor. I don't actually wish upon stars anyway," she said.

That sort of thing was for the PUFFERS.

She was just trying to get house points.

Nope. She wasn't familiar with that song.

...and this guy was weird. Just weird. Yup.

Sierra nodded nce in the direction of the student just to the side of her then raised her hand. "I agree. It's called a meteor." She didn't know any specifics, though. That's what she was in class for. To get the specifics.

Another student that didn't seem to have a sense of humor. Sheesh, tough crowd? Or maybe it had been his wig comment from earlier that had put the Slytherin prefect in a foul mood? Note to self, no more wig comments to the girl. Or things about wishing on stars either.

"And you would be correct to agree with your classmates," he grinned with a nod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by emjay

Once he finished his song, Ethan turned his attention back to the Professor and what he now had on the board. That song sounded remotely familiar.. like something he might have heard when he was very young. Shooting stars.. yes, he had just recalled a song about them.. Should he sing it again? No? Maybe he'd just answer the question..

Raising his hand, Ethan offered, "I suppose the phenomenon is called a meteor shower.. but it depends on where the object is located in order to give it a name. If it's moving through space it's called a meteoroid, but once it enters the Earth's atmosphere it's called a meteor." And that's where it would be visible enough to be seen. "Then if it actually hits the ground, it's called a meteorite."

"Yes, and no," Airey said with a nod. "What is referred to as a shooting star in laymen's terms is only a meteor. When a meteoroid is moving through space and has not entered the Earth's atmosphere it is not visible to the naked eye. Once it has, typically in the typically occur in the mesosphere, it creates a visible path and THAT visible path is what people refer to as a 'shooting star.'" See the difference? It was being a bit picky on the terminology, but it was an important distinction that he wanted students to walk away with from this lesson.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpfan18

As Belle listened to the Professor agreeing with her song choice, she was quite relieved Professor Airey knew about Owl City. "Thanks for liking my song choice Professor. I am glad you knew the band and i think constellations do get forgotten but i do still love them." she smiled. Then he went to talk about Hercules and Belle learned something new today. She was interested. Belle awed at knowing it was the fifth largest.

Then once he was back in the class, no one mentioned his song of choice. Well it would be kind of hard since there are so many out there. Then the professor was talking about shooting stars and falling stars and what they are referred to. Belle had a brain fart and could not think of it. She was struggling but she would let the professor continue to teach the lesson.

Hmmm, seemed as though Miss Lecium was choosing to sit this question out. As long as she was being an attentive listener he didn't mind at all. Just hopefully he hadn't lost the Hufflepuff prefect with all these concepts and terms. It could be a little confusing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

Nigel was still wondering why they had to sing the lyrics. It seemed like the professor with his awesome suit just moved on right along with the lesson to shooting stars.

"It's just a meteoroid on fire when it enters the atmosphere. But if it is big enough it can leave meteorites."

Though Nigel was not familiar with the music he was mentioning. and he seemed to talk about Theo's song for a long time and even gave him five points. Well this new professor was interesting at least.

These kids...really liked fire, didn't they? Should he be concerned? "Funny you should also mention fire, Mr. Barrington." Seemed like he couldn't avoid this explanation anymore. "What happens when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, and becomes a meteor, is that the outside of it begins to heat up. This forms something call the "fusion crust" on the meteorite when it eventually hits the ground - if it does so. The hot outside on the meteor begins to ablate, or strip off, which actually removes heat so by the time they reach the ground, at least with larger rocks, only the outside part has time to be heated and there is certainly no flame." Which he had said earlier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystic Melody

Melody was busy dancing in place. She was paying attention really she was, but she was also singing the whole song that she just sung parts of a moment ago.
Melody paused and stoped dancing to answer his question.
"I think those things are called meteorites or something like that, sir" See she was paying attention some what. Back singing and dancing. The song was one of her favorite songs. She couldn't just stop singing it without finishing it and she couldn't help to dance while she was at it.

Well, Miss Sparks was certainly feeling the music and this brought a smile to Airey's face. Always nice to find a fellow music lover. "Close, Miss Sparks. A meteorite is what we call a piece of space debris that has already fallen through the Earth's atmosphere and has hit the ground and survived the impact of doing so." She had been paying attention to everyone else, yes? No need to go into the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite again, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife

Yeah, Professor was going to say how 'unrelated' her song was. Until he started squealing and leaped onto Kat's desk.

O____O MERLIN. The man was half-toad. SNORT. Kat was still convinced that her toad was better, even if Flamsteed was half-toad, cos B.O.B. farted pixie dust. That's strange.

So like. Uhm. He liked her song? Kat smiled. "Thanks Professor," she said. AND FIVE FRICKIN' POINTS FOR HER. WOOHOO SLYTHERIN, YO. And then... questions. RIGHT questions. Catching a Falling Star? Well. "I haven't heard of that yet, Professor, but I believe it would be a good song." Kat was kinda into music and she liked new stuff. Unless it was boring. Yeah, okay. So...

SHOOTING STARS. Kat loves those stuff. So... her hands shot up. "Initially, they're meteroids," Kat said. And... PAUSE. "But when it enters the earth's atmosphere, it starts to burn up and becomes a so-called meteor." Hopefully though, she wished it would burn up and hit some people in the face. For obvious hate!reasons.

"Nothing so-called about it," Airey said with a wink. Yes, he was sort of getting fresh with the wording of students, but science did sort of demand that one be such. "A meteor is indeed what a 'shooting star' is."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Shooting stars were pretty interesting. Mo recalled several middle of the night excursions to the top of the fell at home to watch meteor showers, complete with a thermos of hot chocolate and his father's pedantic explanation of the night sky that nearly put Mo right back to sleep. What was it he'd said about shooting stars?

"Professor, shooting stars are essentially space debris that have crossed into our atmosphere. They're called meteoroids if they're relatively small; larger debris is known as an asteroid. Once they cross into our atmosphere, the visible path of them burning up in the sky is a meteor."

Oh look at this! Did this mean that Airey had been forgiven for the lint roller incident? The boy had somewhat looked like a kicked cruppy after the initial blow, but had come back to provide a rather brilliant answer.

Too bad there was punishment yet to come. Ahem.

"Excellent, Mr. Branxton. Very good. I mentioned earlier that a difference between asteroids and meteoroids was location, but size also comes into play as well. Anything smaller than 1 mile across is considered a meteoroid and anything larger is an asteroid. Both become meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere." And yes, meteor was correct, but that went without saying now, yes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermione Lily Potter

Singing was definitely not Lily's thing, so she was very happy when they moved on from that to speaking about falling stars. Falling stars were way more interesting than listening to people sing, especially people who didn't exactly know how to sing. Anyway...back to falling stars that weren't really stars. Listening to the others, the fourth year heard meteors and asteroids as the majority of the answers. They were typically what caused shooting stars, but there was more than just that.

"Professor, couldn't space junk falling back towards earth and burning up as it falls through the atmosphere be seen as shooting stars? You know...because it would just look like a ball of light." Lily said, her hand raised. It made sense, and there was still plenty of space junk in space that may end up falling, rather than just space rocks.

Space....junk. *twitch* Yes, that was correct, but junk was just...such a mean word. Wasn't it? Debris took some of the sting out of things. "You are correct, Miss Potter," he nodded. "And what you have just described is what we call a meteor, very good." Just no one remember it as junk, alright?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princesspower

So he did not find that song childish? Sarah was surprised, her muggle grandmother used to be a teacher and she used to teach it to her students.
Sarah raised her hand,"a meteoroid is natural debris from the solar system. the size of a meteoroid i varies, from the size of sand to the size of a boulder. The path it makes as it enters a planets' atmosphere is called a meteor. If it survives impact it is called a meteorite. If many meteors are coming in quick succesion and from what seems to be the same spot in space it is called a meteor shower. It is funny that I really see them, as apparently 15,000 tonnes of meteoroids, space dust and debris enter the atmosphere of earth every year. Perhaps they coming in from less populated regions."

Airey nodded at the girl's response - although he found himself sort of blinking and staring a few times as she seemed to be speaking in tongues at certain points, but there was one small issue. "While all true, Miss Edwards, I am afraid you did not tell me at which point these terms refer to a 'shooting star,'" he said with a kind smile. Defining terms was perfectly fine, but he was trying to get students to apply them as well. Not just memorize.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Wait, they were going from songs about stars to falling stars? Which, in reality, weren't stars at all? Weird. Couldn't this dude pick a theme and stick with it? Despite his slight annoyance at the topic change, he smiled and raised his hand because he KNEW this one. Again. Hehe.

"Those are called meteors. They're basically pieces of space rock that enter our atmosphere and make the shooting star effect. However, they usually just disintegrate in the atmosphere, or if they do hit Earth, their impact isn't TOO significant usually, unless you're talking about the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs. Which, actually, some scientists are arguing didn't kill them and they were actually still alive hundreds of years ago," he added. He knew the professor hadn't asked for THAT bit of information, but Alex had just watched a muggle documentary on that at Cale's house and it had FASCINATED him.

Oh yes, another fantastic answer and then some. "Very good, Mr. Greingoth." Hey, wait... was he related to the Slytherin prefect who seemed to have her wand in a permanent knot? Interesting. Very interesting. But not the point. "Dinosaurs aside, for now, you are correct. Meteors is just the answer I was looking for. Just be sure you haven't blended the meanings of a meteor and a meteorite." Since he had talked about impacts and all that. Not that Airey doubted this Hufflepuff. He seemed to know what he was talking about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

Oh, and look at that. They were talking about shooting stars, though his song didn't match hers. That was okay. They weren't really stars though? That was kinda lame. Penelope didn't know what the "proper" name for it was though, at least not before other students started answering. She wasn't gonna repeat those answers now though. So she sat there and listened for the time being. Maybe she'd answer the next question.

Seemed as though Miss Greenwell too was going the listening route as well. He offered the Gryffindor an encouraging smile and then proceeded to the next student.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Lex beamed up at the Professor. He thought her song was a good one. That was all she needed to hear.

Feeling quite happy with herself she focused on him as he spoke. Now he was saying stuff about other things that had something to do with more things. Yup. Excellent listener this one. She even had on that face! You know, the face that said I don't know what you're talking about but I'm listening anyway? THAT face.

The face got even clearer after his next question to which she dutifully raised her hand with a smart little expression on her face and the sweetest smile. "I don't know the answer Professor but I feel I should say something anyway...so yeah..." There. She said something.

BEAM.

Erm. Right. "Don't feel as though you have to say something, Miss Cambridge," he said with a kind shake of the head. "If you knew the answer to everything then myself and your other professors would be out of jobs. Listening and taking notes is another form of participation." Chuckling a bit, he moved on to the next student.

At least he knew of one student in his lessons with a ~~odd~~ sense of humor like himself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luna004

Susan always thought stars where just stars nothing special. Her mom always told her that falling stars was when they died and you could make one last wish on them. Susan didn't get to see very many of them but it turns out it wasn't true. Susan frowned at this realization. Now she was wondering what they actually were "Um...I'm not sure...actually I have no idea." Was she suppose to know?

Oh. Oops? This Hufflepuff looked like a kicked cruppy now and it was clearly all his fault. What was it he had said? Or perhaps she was one of those children who had fully believed in the notion of 'shooting stars'? Just call him bubble bursting Airey?

"It is alright to not know the answer, just as I told Miss Cambridge a moment ago," he said as he gave the girl an encouraging smile.

Maybe that is why she was looking so sad? Because she hadn't known the answer? Maybe he wasn't a bubble burster?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Minerva listened to the other answers and smiled as he said she was on the right path. She liked this professor already, he seemed knowledgeable and nice. Then he talked about another song and without thinking Min started singing a bit, "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket..hmmm" Cheeks red she leaned down in her seat, well that was not what she should have done.

Then she put her hand up, "Professor could it be comets that people mistake as shooting star." She wasn't sure, but that was the first thing that she thought it could be.

Airey nodded. "Comets, as I told Mr. Keller earlier, are something else that people will call a shooting star. However, to clarify a bit more, a comet is a bunch of ice and rock whereas a 'shooting star' is basically just a small rock flying through the atmosphere really fast. A comet is much larger than a 'shooting star' and is also much farther away. Likewise, a comet can be seen for weeks and months at a time, whereas a 'shooting star' is seen for a fraction of a second." And there were some other differences as well, but that was enough for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cake.ninjak

Dustin was startled to see another adult in the classroom, at first. But remembering the last DADA lesson when the other adult had been, in fact, Suit!Guy, he wasn't so weirded out. Must be a thing around here.

Dustin had NO clue what the proper term for shooting and falling stars was, but who said he couldn't be creative?

He stared up at the projection screen, thinking of what they might be called. Once he had decided, he raised his hand again and offered his ideas:

"Well, they kind of make me think of the game Hot Potato, because they're probably hot and I wouldn't want to touch one, but I don't think they're actually potatoes or anything. But maybe you could call them....uhh...Hot Falling Rocks? I mean that's basically what they are, right?"

This Ravenclaw...amused Airey very much - flatulent question aside that is. Ah yes, the heat and fire answer. He had gone into much detail on that with some other students, but while he was here... "When space debris first enters the Earth's atmosphere it would probably be unwise to touch it, but not just because of the surface head but also due to the speed." Can we all say snap off one's arm or perhaps make hole in one's body? "However, astronomers have a hard time getting good statistics on which fallen space debris are hot or cold as there really aren't very many that are picked up directly after impact. However, many astronomers believe that small meteorites should be barely warm, or even cool when they hit the ground. The temperature probably varies depending on the size and composition of the original rock."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ ExpelliarMOOSE

This wasn't to hard, Oakey put his hand to his chin and thought on this answer for a minute or two before he had something on mind. "Is the Phenamena a Meteor Shower?" Oakey stayed quiet for a a few seconds before going on, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was saying "A Shooting star is also called a meteor, and when they fall to Earth they are called meteorites." He was sure that was it. Yeah, no wait!
"I mean it's a Meteorite first then a Meteor when it hits the ground!"
Total doofus Oakey, why were you up in Astronomy if you don't get it?
At least he got to sing...

Yes. No. Yes. Wait.

Airey took a moment to think about what the Hufflepuff prefect had just answered and smiled faintly. Another victim of all the words sounding and looking the same! "Meteor showers can be involved," he nodded before going on to clarify for the boy. "A 'shooting star' is first a meteoroid floating in space then then enters the Earth's atmosphere and becomes a meteor. This is when it creates a visible path across the night sky and is what people call a 'shooting star' or a 'falling star.' A meteorite is essentially the final step and is when a meteor has hit the ground and survived the impact." Did that clear things up for him?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

The blonde badger scribbled down notes at she watched Sir Snappy Suit comment on everyone's song choices, smiling a little as her friends were mentioned. The blonde sort of avoided eye contact with Theoman when it was his turn, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable or anything...cause reasons. Mhm.

And then Professor Stylish was talking to her and the fifteen year old smiled. "You're welcome, Professor!" BEAM. He was really quite nice, Professor Airey was.

A song about falling stars? Hey! Ella knew that song! She also really liked the topic of conversation and she sat up straight in her seat, waiting to offer her explanation. "Professor, falling stars are actually um...well they're meteors. And the meteors are the streaks of light caused by tiny dust and rocks"

"Very good, Miss Ella," he grinned at the Hufflepuff. "Just be sure to include 'entering the Earth's atmosphere' somewhere in that description and you are spot on."

Quote:

Originally Posted by xXxPandora

[Shooting stars, hmm? *INNER!FLAIL* Ugh. She simply was fascinated by these celestial bodies. And it will be their focus for the whole term? Was he kidding? No. He seemed serious when he said that. SO...stars all the way? How amazing was that?!

But that song. Oh. She knew how that went but it didn't actually cross her mind. "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket. Never let it fade away." Beezus sang the said song in her mind as Professor Flamsteed talked. At the question, she raised her hand, "Shooting or falling stars are officially called a meteor, a chunk of extraterrestrial rock pulled into the Earth's atmosphere by gravity." Nodnod. Will they be stargazing?

Oh yes, very good! Airey did another little dance as he walked by Miss Castell and gave her a quick grin. "Very good, Miss Castell." She seemed to be just as excited as he was. Brilliant!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mordred

Mordred sat back and looked at the screen above and contemplated on his answer. “Shooting stars aren’t literally stars, yes?” Because he thought they were when he was younger, and it made him feel stupid because stars don’t move. Whoever coined the ‘Shooting Star’ term, must be sent to Azkaban. The Slytherin raised his hand to answer the professor. “Shooting stars aren’t stars, but space rocks called Meteorite.” And yes, he needed to emphasis the rock word…for reasons. “And as it enters our atmosphere, the rock emits light making it into a fireball.”

Yes. The term Fireball was cooler than Shooting Star. Just saying.

“And I’m Mordred, by the way.” Grin.

Shooting stars aren’t literally stars, yes?

Yep, that is what Airey had said earlier, hence the discussion, so he gave the boy an encouraging nod for him to go on. "Very good, Mr. Mordred," he nodded - again, students not giving him last names meant a Mr or Miss in front of your first name. Heh. "A 'shooting star' is indeed a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere and, as you said, is what we call a meteor." Good good. This boy was following.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Ninja

She really didn't like astronomy much but knew she had to be there, so far she hadn't really spoken up and answered a question. She didn't want to look like a bookworm or anything right? Looking around as people answered the question she wasn't sure if she should answer or not, probably should right?

Nah, she just sat there and folded her hands in front of her again, in her lap. Maybe if she stayed quiet the professor wouldn't call on her or anything and she could just fade into the background...

Another quiet student. Airey gave the young Slytherin a small smile and a nod before moving on to the last few students with their hands raised. Perhaps this one would find the courage to participate with a different question and hopefully she would find the activity fun.

Which he needed to get to soon... Just a few more hands...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForeverYours

OH. So that was why it was relevant to sing a song. The name 'Catch a Falling Star' did seem familiar to her. Hmmm. She hummed it under her breath and realised that she clearly HAD heard it before. Anyway, focus, Bliss.

Shooting stars, weren't they lovely?

"I believe that they're called meteorites and they buuurn as they fall through the earths atmosphere." Or something like that. Yeah. So they'd be learning about them in this lesson? That would be fun, shooting star were pretty and cool and yeah...this would be a good lesson. She just knew it.

"Almost," Airey said with a smile and a nod. She was on the right track, which was good. "A meteorite is when a piece of space debris has entered the Earth's atmosphere and hit the ground. The answer I was looking for was a meteor, which is the stage before the space debris hits the Earth and has simply entered the Earth's atmosphere which creates a visible trail in the sky." Okay? All clear? Or had he confused her further?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ortalismusicoh

Good. He used Nessie and not Dixon. Exactly the way she preferred it. One point for Mr Weird Star teacher.

The red head gave him a nod pretending to pay her full attenion. Meanwhile in her mind she was humming the song she had just mentioned. For right now she was more interested in that, it was only when the Professor spoke to the class in general that she half listened again.

Stars. They were pretty, she'd give Professor Weird that. But as for his questions about falling stars and shooting stars, yeah she was just going to nod her head some more and say nothing.

Silence was golden no? In this case Nessie thought so.

Oh? Miss Nessie was remaining silent for this question? She didn't seem the most, erm, passionate about the subject, so perhaps she was sitting in her seat silently judging him? Either that, or maybe she was just silently contemplating an answer? Either way, he paused for a moment in front of her to see if her hand went up, but when it didn't he moved on to the next student who did have theirs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jujune29th

Sophie had no song to offer so she satquietly while listening to others sing. What a fun class that was! So far, at least. But that professor was amusing, so that was bound to be a nice class.

And a question! Sophie didn't really know what those were really called, but she was going to guess meteors and look! Everyone was saying that! "I also think they're meteors, professor!" She said after raising her hand, grinning. Wait, she should say her name, right? "I'm Sophie Campbell, sir." Ohwait! He had said earlier that they didn't have to call them 'sir'. "I mean, professor." Another grin.

"And you would be correct in your thinking, Miss Campbell," he replied with a wink.

Looks like there was just one more hand raised...

Quote:

Originally Posted by demented_death_eater

Rawdon had to think real hard about what he learned when his parents took him to a planetarium. He thought he had a sensible answer and raised his hand. "A falling star is actually the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the Earth's atmosphere to become a meteor. It's pretty awesome phenomena to watch."

Grin.

Airey grinned back at the Ravenclaw boy - one that almost seemed sane compared to the other boys in this lesson. Yep, cue a quick glance towards Mr. Did-you-just-fart.

"Excellently put, Mr. Vindictus. Exactly."

Looking around the planetarium for any other hands that may be raised before checking his sundial again. Yep, it was time to move on.

"Very good all of you! While other relevant astronomical bodies where also mentioned, the one I was looking for was a meteor. Just to recap a bit. What people refer to as a shooting star begins its existence as a meteoroid which is a solid object, space debris moving in interplanetary space that is less than 1 mile in size. It becomes a meteor when it has entered the Earth's atmosphere and creates a visible path of the meteoroid across the sky and lasts about a fraction of a second. This visible path is what is referred to as a shooting or falling star." He paused for a moment to allow students to catch up with their notes and to let all this sink in. "A meteoroid that has passed through the Earth's atmosphere and made it all the way to the ground, surviving the impact, is called a meteorite. Many of your classmates brought up meteor showers. These are when many meteors appear seconds or minutes apart and seem to originate from the same fixed point in the sky." And it just so happened that there would be a surprise for them all at the end of the term. Best not mention that now though seeing as he needed students to be alert for this activity. "So, shooting or falling stars are not real stars at all. Stars are made up of gases, as I explained to Miss Potter earlier." Bits of information that would become very VERY important here in a moment. "Shooting or falling stars are essentially just small rocks flying through the atmosphere really fast. As Miss Phillips mentioned, in relation to the song I assume, one probably does not want to actually try and catch them."

Cue a pause for dramatic effect as he looked around the classroom and made eye contact with each student.

"HOWEVER! That is precisely what we are going to do!" WASN'T THIS EXCITING?!

With another wave of his wand, the lyrics to Catch a Falling Star vanished from over head and soon what could only be described as a meteor shower appeared in its place. Only there was something different about this shower as the streaks of light zooming across the room were two very distinct colors - blue and yellow.

Airey stood in front of the students with a smirk on his face that just seemed to get bigger and bigger with each passing moment. Heh. THIS was going to be fun.

"I would like you all now to, if you have not brought one yourself, to please grab a muggle baseball glove from this box," he said as he levitated a large cardboard box filled with gloves of all sizes for students to see. "When you have a glove I would like you to also put on this protective gear," he continued as he levitated another box with gear in each house's respective colors. "Once you have your glove and gear on please come and stand in front of the projector. Oh...you...um...you may want to use a Sticking Charm on your things, or if you are not confident in your Charms abilities you can put your things in this box and pick them up at the end of the lesson." Airey indicated an empty box to the right of the one containing all of the protective gear. "And no, we will not be playing baseball."

That was for Muggle Studies.

"So, hop to it!"

OOC: I am so sorry for the delay everyone! Two week old baby had a few fussy days along with a hospital appointment so those kept me away from all you lovely people *wibbles* Please RP your character grabbing the proper equipment and following Professor Flamsteed's instructions. Activity instructions will be posted in a few hours.

EDIT :: once instructions for the activity have been posted there will be no more catch up posts accepted for credit.

01-21-2013, 04:02 AM	#121 (permalink)
sweetpinkpixie Wizarding World RPG Admin Minister for Magic Alley Proprietor Leprechaun Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: The Paths Posts: 40,105 Hogwarts RPG Name: Briallen Ashburry-Hawthorne Gryffindor First Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nyle Harden Hufflepuff Second Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Iris Harden Ravenclaw Second Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Calliope Barrington Slytherin First Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Diamond Marchbanks Gryffindor Sixth Year Ministry Department Head: Charles Hollingberry Minister's Office Ministry Department Head: Airey Flamsteed Mysteries Diagon Alley Proprietor: Zachaël Lufkin Owl Post x12 x12	again, should probably read all of Airey's responses. Lots of info ^^ astronomizzle ♧ gryffinDORK \| & the rest is drag ♣ #badluckDerf Quote: Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88 Alyssa blinked when the Professor explained to her that the star that she was most probably wishing on would be dead. It didn't really bother her because she rarely made wishes on stars. But she did know what the phenomena was that was related to shooting stars. So she raised her hand and answered. "Professor, a shooting star is actually a large chunk of rock, commonly known as a meteorite, that is burning up as it passes through earth's atmosphere. The large rock could probably be debris from a dead star that has broken up into pieces." 'See I do know about dead stars.' Alyssa thought to herself. "Very close, Miss Potter," Airey said with a nod. "You are on the right track with your thinking, but have some of the terminology mixed up." These things were a bit confusing, especially when all the words involved. "A meteorite is a particle of space debris, sand to boulder in size, that has not only entered the Earth's atmosphere, but it has reached the ground AND survived the impact. You could say that it has already 'graduated' from the colloquial 'shooting star' phase." Graduate being use very loosely and very metaphorically. Dead stars. Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have use that quote on this one. Bad Airey. "I'm afraid that no rocks will have come from stars." He had been hoping to save this next bit for at the end of his lesson, but it seemed as though the introduction was needed now. "Stars are made from approximately 73% hydrogen, 25% helium, and the remaining 2% being other elements. They are, in the most basic of terms, burning balls of gas. You won't find any rocks, but you can find matter. What happens when a star 'dies' is an entirely different process that I will touch on later in the lesson." Quote: Originally Posted by Syd ...Yellow? Jake blinked, surprised. So yellow had something to do with the lesson, then? It must, since Flamsteed's face brightened up like that. Slowly, Jake smirked. He was pretty good at guessing lesson topics. Unintentionally. Looking up at the ceiling, Jake thought about the question. Falling stars. He knew they weren't stars... maybe... "Comets?" He thought out loud, raising his hand. Except it was probably wrong, because most people knew when it was actually a comet. Ah yes, another good guess. "Many people have mistaken comets for 'shooting stars,'" Airey nodded he used air quotes again around the words shooting star. "In fact, the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle first described comets as 'stars with hair.' Good guess though, Mr. Keller." He would have gone into a little more detail now, but that would have given away the real answer. Quote: Originally Posted by lemon WELL. Someone was obviously in a bad mood. "Sorry, Professor. I meant MONTY," she said bluntly, averting her eyes from the man. So she'd gotten a name wrong. Hmph. And now they were talking about stars, huh? Her hand flew up immediately. "A shooting star is meteoroid that burns up as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere to become a meteor." Was that right? Who knew about science, anyways? She was probably a bit off, but she didn't really mind. MONTY Python, yeah? One class she didn't suck at, yep. STILL WATCHING YOU LIKE WOAH MISS FISCHER! AHA! Here we go! "BINGO!" Airey said as he jumped up on to the platform again. He would have jumped on her desk, but he didn't trust her. She HAD lied to him about his suit and he was still debating in his head about proper punishment. "A meteor, yes! Or a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere." Because those two were the same thing. And THIS is where things got a bit confusing. Quote: Originally Posted by lemon Sherman was LATE. Really, really late. What was he supposed to do if his wheelchair was hard to maneuver around the castle? He was old. Not his fault, he supposed. Either way, he burst into the Planetarium to find a bunch of little children already in there, listening intently to a Professor. Trying to make as little noise as possible, the man wheeled in quietly and slipped to the back of the room after beaming at the professor in the impeccable suit, sliding next to Corin and observing quietly. OH THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT MONTY PYTHON. He could not believe he had missed this. Stupid wheelchair. But before he could go on to explain the elderly gentleman finally made his appearance. Sweet solstice, did they really have to send the old man all the way up here in a wheelchair? Oh...wheelchair... Airey was going to have to charm that to the floor here in a bit. Probably the old man as well. Giving the man a nod in greeting, Airey turned back to Miss Fischer and...lost his train of thought due to the distraction of the other observer making their appearance. What had he been talking about again? Or...where had he left off in his response to her? Quote: Originally Posted by McFeisty Amelia looked up at Airey and just queitly listened to the responses. In fact he probably didn't hear her singing because she was almost as quiet as she was not. Something about stage freight. "Professor Flamsteed," she quietly smiled, gulped and looked up at him her hand raised into the air of course. "W-would that term be a bolide?" She asked. "Er the term basically defines any extraterrestrial body that collides with our atmosphere and makes a big ball of shiny-light...i know sometimes they are called fireballs, and sometimes they explode and don't make it to earth but when they do make it to earth there can be craters formed." Oh! Another hand. He would just move along to this student and hopefully come back around to whatever it was he was going to say next in response to Miss Fischer. Oh, an answer he had not been expecting. "That is another possibility," Airey nodded, clearly impressed that someone so young knew about that term. "A bolide is an especially bright meteor and the term is synonymous with 'fireball' - which means a 'a meteor brighter than any of the planets.' However, in general bolide tends to refer to those that explode." Quote: Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19 Jory stared as Professor Airey clapped and bounded onto the platform then followed it all up by a dance. If he weren't so surprised, he might have burst out laughing. The Puffer listened as the very excited teacher launched into an explanation about studying Astronomy. The astrophysicist's quote interested him and he made a mental note to learn about the man. And then... five points! Jory grinned. "Thanks, Professor,'' he said. And to think he was nervous about his voice and all. Jory raised his hand. "It's called a meteoroid,'' he said. "It burns as it goes through the Earth's atmosphere.'' No need to thank him, really. It had been the boy that had excited Airey and brought up some good points with his song choice. "Very good," Airey nodded. "Although to be more specific, as well as to clarify, it is the---." Quote: Originally Posted by Lockhartian Honestly. Lottie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at him on the account that he was the Professor and this sort of clarification needed to be made, but it was only a song, "I'm quite aware of that, yes, Professor," she said, with a nod. She wasn't stupid. She knew the basics of Astronomy anyway. But it was a personal favorite of his. So, she still smiled. Also, no, we're not familiar with that because we only listen to The Beatles. There cannot be anything better than them. Old music was the best. Her eyes landed on the Gryffindor Prefect that said comets and she was reminded of the conversation she had with Airey at his office. Also, comets are pretty. But had little to do with the topic at hand. Her hand was raised, "Well, you see, the 'shooting' part of said 'star' is actually a path that's left visible to our eyes of...not a star but a meteoroid. Which...is called meteor when it comes into our atmosphere...but then changes its name again to meteorite once it touches ground." Can they be more complicated? We have something else to add, "Meteor showers look amazing, too." And he was distracted again by another hand being raised. Oops. He had apparently hit a nerves with Miss Wisteria. He had been joking and somewhat teasing there, hadn't meant to offend or anything. Merlin was this one tricky and somewhat hard to read Hufflepuff. "THIS! YES! THIS RIGHT HERE!" Airey said, clearly excited by the words of Miss Wisteria to the point that, yes, he jumped up on her desk and did a sort of happy dance there as well. "I hope you all were paying attention just now to what Miss Wisteria said." And had been taking notes. Quote: Originally Posted by fanficfanatict Okay, Selina wanted to crawl up in a hole right about now. Singing in front of her entire class knowing that she was extremely tone deaf was really hard. And now that suit man had heard her sing she was NEVER going to sing again. If anyone had a problem with that they could have a nice, long chat with Mortimer. After that perhaps they would see eye-to-eye on the issue. Honestly, Selina did not want to deal with the whole singing thing... she knew she couldn't sing. End of story. But it was awfully nice of Mr. Airey to lie to say thank you... he was welcome! Okay cool, they were starting with some astronomy now. That was good. No more singing was ALWAYS a positive. Seriously, she NEVER wanted to sing again. That was horrifying. When he asked the first question- suit man that was- Selina was sort of surprised thats he knew the answer. Then again, she had dated an astronomy enthusiast for almost four years. If she hadn't picked up SOME knowledge on the subject she might as well just go through with dying her hair blonde. Shrugging a little at the thought, she rose her hand and spewed out, "Its a meteor, well-dressed man." He WAS really well dressed. Was he SURE he was a Gryffindor? "It is indeed," he grinned. Okay, so the Head Girl couldn't carry a tune, but she did seem to know a thing or two about astronomy. His eardrums somewhat forgave her. Somewhat. Quote: Originally Posted by DecemberMoon [ Ah falling stars. They are so pretty aren't they? But as to the proper term for them, Eliza did not know much of it. She raised her hand to try a guess none the less. "Are they called comets or meteors? Or is it meteorites?" She furrowed her brows and twisted her mouth in doubt of her answer. "A comet IS a good guess, as I told Mr. Keller, but it is not the correct one," Airey replied with a reassuring nod. Oh, she wasn't done just yet. Ah yes, another victim of the confusing terminology. "A meteor, yes! And, as I explained to Miss Potter, a meteorite is a meteoroid that has landed on Earth." Quote: Originally Posted by Awarlesta Black The Muggle movie, Star Wars's, theme song was stuck in her head as they all pointed out star related songs and this was the only one that stuck. She hummed it to herself. Then the professor mentioned that song! Oh it took her back to when her mother used to sing it to her. Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save for a rainy day. Great, it was going to be stuck in her head for the rest of the day! "Aren't shooting stars astroids with a fire tail or something like that?" She said timidly, before realizing she didn't answer the last question so she should probably mention her name. "Er...I'm Awarlesta Black." Asteroids with a fire tail? Holy Orion did that bring up some rather unpleasant images in the astronomers head - not to mention some ideas for next term as well. These students were so inspirational! Oh, look at that. Airey hadn't thought someone would make this connection - and he had momentarily forgotten about it himself - so the man was tickled pink."Impressive, Miss Black! Not the concept I was aiming for this lesson, but true none the less." He paused for a moment, off of Miss Wisteria's desk and back to the platform so that everyone could see him. "The most basic difference between an asteroid and the concepts we are focusing on today is location. You see, an asteroid is always going to be in space orbiting around the sun. There are tens of thousands of them grouped in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and if one were to break orbit and enter the Earth's atmosphere then it would become a meteor and if it were to hit the ground and survive the impact then it would become a meteorite. When an asteroid had become a meteor, it too is called a shooting star by laymen's terms." Was everyone following this? Yes? Follow up questions were always allowed should they have them. "Excellent thinking, Miss Black. Take 5 points." Quote: Originally Posted by LilFox06 Anya smiled happily to herself. She didn't quite realize that interesting was code for Anya Phillips, you are an insanely weird child. That could have been due to the fact that she was only half paying attention though. The ceiling was covered in stars. So... she really couldn't be blamed. It was essentially the Professor's fault for having such an interesting ceiling. Didn't he know that kids were easily distracted? Whoa. And... then there were words. She hummed the song to herself as she read the lyrics. ... then was distracted by an old man. OH!! It was Alipop's grampypop. Fun. Was he here to learn too? ... wait a second. ... how did old!dude get his wheelchair up here?! It was like... a mystery of the universe. She'd have to ask him after class. ... and did the Professor just ask a question? She raised her hand. "They're called meteors when they are falling... and meteorites when they hit the ground. ... and you also probably shouldn't catch them. I'd imagine falling through the atmosphere would make them pretty hot." And fast. ... which sounded like a painful combination. Ah yes, the limper who had saved his lint roller. Airey gave her an approving nod with her answer, but wanted to clarify a few terms just to make sure everyone avoided confusion. "Very good, Miss Phillips. But we ought to avoid such simple terms as falling when describing meteors. Some would use that phrase to describe meteoroid approaching Earth. Instead I would rather you remember it as a 'they are called meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere.'" She wasn't wrong, but could easily confuse herself by over simplifying things. As for that bit about catching... "We will just have to see about that, Miss Phillips," he said with a knowing smirk as he moved on. Quote: Originally Posted by the fastest seeker So she was quiet and all. But because she wasn't so strong in this subject which exactly why she was here. To learn more. With her quill in hand she scribbled down important stuff. She didn't write the songs though because it was hard to write and listen at the same time. She'd ask people who sang to give her the lyrics later. How come she didn't know many songs about starts and stuff. Well, she does now. Listening attentively to students' answers and the nice Professor's replies. Cassia felt stupid not having any thing to answer. She needed to read ahead in the book and prepare next time. Bad first impression. That of course if the Professor noticed her here. She like hadn't spoken a word! Falling stars.. She knew that! Cassia raised her hand enthusiastically because she had an answer. "IT's a very very hot rock. And we might see it in the sky like a faint arrow-shaped line." She said with a grin. Because she was glad she knew a little about this. And she wanted to add that it was her dream to see a star actually falling from the sky. So she could catch it. This Slytherin had been quiet the entire time, but that wasn't a bad thing. However, a smile did appear on the astronomer's face when he saw her hand up and when she offered up an answer to the best of her abilities. That a itself was a victory in his eyes, students becoming brave enough to venture a guess or ask questions. Yep yep! "As a very basic definition, precisely," he said with a smile and a nod. "But sometimes these can be chunks of ice as well, not just rock. And, contrary to pop culture's belief, they definitely don't hit the ground as a flaming fireball, the way you sometimes see it depicted in muggle movies." Which involved describing the entire process of what happened when a meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere, but he was going to touch on that a little bit later. Quote: Originally Posted by Tegz So from what he could tell with this class, they would get weird points and lose weird points regardless of what they did or said? Soooo why didn't he randomly get points for mentioning jars? ~~Or lose points for singing into a lint roller?~~ While he was wondering these things of course a lot of answers got said... West still stuck his hand up though. "The meteor, thats the burning trail of light bit what we see as a falling star, what is made by a meteoroid, and only if it doesn't hit the ground, then it gets called a meteorite." He paaaaaused thoughtfully and then asked a question, "Professor, Asteroids are like bigger Meteroids right? Except one what is big enough to be in a orbit? So if one of them burned up in our atmosphere, would its trail be a Asteor? And if it impacted would it be a Asteorite?" Airey couldn't help but chuckle at Mr. Odessa's logic. It reminded him of his own curious self at that age and, while flawed logic, the man could appreciate the boy's out of the box thinking. "As I said to Miss Black and the class earlier, the main difference is location, so yes, one could say that an asteroid is sort of a big meteoroid. However, as logical as your words may seem, I am sad to say that they do not exist. When an asteroid enters the Earth's atmosphere it becomes a meteor and if it makes impact with the ground it is a meteorite. Some people will say that it was a single asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs over 65 million years ago, but the more correct wording would be that a single meteorite impact that killed the dinosaurs." He gave the boy another nod. "I like your thinking though, Mr. Odessa. Take 2 points." Even if it hadn't been correct. Quote: Originally Posted by WeasleyGirl Continuing on with the lesson, Flamsteed asked the first question because the last one didn't count. Again she raised her hand "Meteor shower?" Oh yes! Meteor showers! "Those are in fact a part of the answer, yes," he grinned. Boy were students going to be excited at the end of the term - assuming his calculations and everything were correct. "Most meteor showers are caused by debris left by comets as they orbit the sun. As they do so, a comet will shed an icy, dusty debris stream along its orbit and if the Earth were to pass through that stream we would see a meteor shower. Of course, meteor showers can occur in other ways as well, but comet debris is the most common." Quote: Originally Posted by Emzily ... Wow. Theodore's face went a little pink as the professor starting talking about girls and love, regarding his song choice. In front of the whole class. In front of ELLA. ELLA WAS IN THE ROOM, PROFESSOR. Get with the program. He ducked his head low and didn't look to anyone in particular. He may have given Theo 5 points, but Professor Flamsteed just LOST 5 Theo!points. "*Thanks for that, sir." Theo liked to think that his knowledge of stars was pretty good, but the question seemed to be a lot more complicated in his head than what it actually was. Falling stars kinda gave it away in the end. Phew, he knew this. Shooting his hand up, like a shooting star, Theo said, "That would be a meteoroid, I think." Or an Asteroid, or a comet. He didn't know this stuff, so he just ducked his head down low again. Was it just him or was Mr. Kinsley giving the professor odd looks? Was it something he had said? Hmm...perhaps he wasn't a fan of mythology? After a quick 'you're welcome' and another grin, Airey nodded to the boy. "Yep yep, but to be more specific it is a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere and this is also called a meteor." Quote: Originally Posted by Hayden* So, this is how Professor Sleepy is like. Judging from the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Alex didn't expect the professor to have them singing in class in midday... Being the shy boy he is, Alex mumbles the tune to himself rather than singing it out loudly for the whole class to hear. He knows what shooting stars are! The thing that killed dinosaurs millions of years ago. And so the boy raises his hand, "The... Dinosaurs killers...?" ............. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, Airey rather liked this somewhat innocent sounding answer and the best part was that it was not entirely incorrect - although not fully correct either. "In a sense, yes you could say that," he said while still chuckling a bit. "The important thing to remember is that what killed the dinosaurs, as I explained earlier, is a meteorite where as what is commonly referred to as a 'shooting star' is a meteoroid that has become a meteor because it has entered the Earth's atmosphere." Hopefully students were beginning to understand the difference between the three terms. It was going to help them IMMENSELY with their homework if they did. Quote: Originally Posted by RandomRaven The head boy actually didn't know about the 'astronomy facts' on that song. He just knew that it was a very old love song and his uncle loved to sing that. Well, no wonder. This professor was such an astronomy geek, right? Back to the lesson. Falling stars. Hmmm... It wasn't a real stars that fallen from the sky right? "It's a meteor, sir." he said as he raised his hand. "A meteor is a particle of solar system that had passed the Earth atmosphere." So, if it is just a particle why many people like to wish something when they see the falling star? Well, it's just a silly myth actually. "I prefer the wording of 'a particle of debris in the Solar System that has entered the Earth's atmosphere,' but yes, you are correct Mr. Rush," Airey said with a cheerful nod towards the Head Boy. Quote: Originally Posted by MagicalWorld Dylan just watched everyone as they named song names and some of them even sang! Like seriously? What was up with this professor, first he lays there in their runes class where they didnt even get to test spells on him by the way! Now! he was getting them to name songs linked to astronomy, did Dylan look like the kind of guy that listened to songs? No.. right? exactly he steered away from those if he could cause he was too busy planning things and the songs? they would just break his focus and concentration when he was 'working' So songs were never on his list of things to do, he just watched as some sang and some just named songs. When would they be over already.. Oh finally! He was getting bored of it all and nearly opted to leave class, now they were talking about things falling from the sky. Now they were talking! "Professor I have no idea of the name, but they look really cool. Its like rocks on fire falling from the sky, cant go wrong there! Those rocks never get effected by the fire! unless you are one of the smaller rocks that just cant take the heat" how did Dylan know all this? well lets just say that he has some experience in trying to see what fire does to rocks, and has found that some smaller ones cant take contact with fire..whereas others just... dont break or melt or even pop or anything! Oo he was now wondering what else he could set on fire.. some balls?.. they could call them.. fireballs! He was great right? .. oh yeah.. Ooo or maybe the professor's suits.. maybe? He had heard that the professor loved those.. that would be fun to see. A professor freaking out over some clothes.. mmm.. Dylan took out his parchment to add this one to the to-do list too! blink blink staaaaaaaaaaaaare blink blink Rocks on fire. Fiery rocks falling from the sky and something about not being able to take the heat. Yep, this Gryffindor was going to need a lot of extra protective gear during the activity, Airey could feel it. "I think you should reflect upon the response I gave Miss Somerlad." About this whole fire business. Quote: Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa Oichi was glad she managed to come up with something for last question. However this academic Question was one she knew the answer to, she is in her owl year afterall. She raised her hand and responded, "A shooting stars technical name is a meteor, if and when it hits the Wrath it becomes a meteorite.". Hits the Wrath? Airey was just going to assume that she meant Earth and had simply gotten too excited and had a small slip of the tongue. Nothing wrong with that. It was a rather fascinating and exciting subject! "Very good, Miss Paulidine. A meteor is the answer I was looking for." But there had been some other revelant answers as well. Hopefully everyone had been paying attention to those too, yes? Quote: Originally Posted by Harry174 Laura looked at the Professor, singing they had to sing, well she could sing but she really didn't want to and she couldn't think of a song that no one has said. "How about Dancing in the Moonlight." Laura thought she would have a guess. "Please keep up, Miss Hyde," Airey said with a slight eyebrow raise. Quote: Originally Posted by Anna Banana Sierra blinked. Dear Merlin, this man could TALK. She nodded along, pretending to be really interested in what he was saying. Ehh...who cared if stars could really be wished upon or not? "It's okay, Professor. I don't actually wish upon stars anyway," she said. That sort of thing was for the PUFFERS. She was just trying to get house points. Nope. She wasn't familiar with that song. ...and this guy was weird. Just weird. Yup. Sierra nodded nce in the direction of the student just to the side of her then raised her hand. "I agree. It's called a meteor." She didn't know any specifics, though. That's what she was in class for. To get the specifics. Another student that didn't seem to have a sense of humor. Sheesh, tough crowd? Or maybe it had been his wig comment from earlier that had put the Slytherin prefect in a foul mood? Note to self, no more wig comments to the girl. Or things about wishing on stars either. "And you would be correct to agree with your classmates," he grinned with a nod. Quote: Originally Posted by emjay Once he finished his song, Ethan turned his attention back to the Professor and what he now had on the board. That song sounded remotely familiar.. like something he might have heard when he was very young. Shooting stars.. yes, he had just recalled a song about them.. Should he sing it again? No? Maybe he'd just answer the question.. Raising his hand, Ethan offered, "I suppose the phenomenon is called a meteor shower.. but it depends on where the object is located in order to give it a name. If it's moving through space it's called a meteoroid, but once it enters the Earth's atmosphere it's called a meteor." And that's where it would be visible enough to be seen. "Then if it actually hits the ground, it's called a meteorite." "Yes, and no," Airey said with a nod. "What is referred to as a shooting star in laymen's terms is only a meteor. When a meteoroid is moving through space and has not entered the Earth's atmosphere it is not visible to the naked eye. Once it has, typically in the typically occur in the mesosphere, it creates a visible path and THAT visible path is what people refer to as a 'shooting star.'" See the difference? It was being a bit picky on the terminology, but it was an important distinction that he wanted students to walk away with from this lesson. Quote: Originally Posted by hpfan18 As Belle listened to the Professor agreeing with her song choice, she was quite relieved Professor Airey knew about Owl City. "Thanks for liking my song choice Professor. I am glad you knew the band and i think constellations do get forgotten but i do still love them." she smiled. Then he went to talk about Hercules and Belle learned something new today. She was interested. Belle awed at knowing it was the fifth largest. Then once he was back in the class, no one mentioned his song of choice. Well it would be kind of hard since there are so many out there. Then the professor was talking about shooting stars and falling stars and what they are referred to. Belle had a brain fart and could not think of it. She was struggling but she would let the professor continue to teach the lesson. Hmmm, seemed as though Miss Lecium was choosing to sit this question out. As long as she was being an attentive listener he didn't mind at all. Just hopefully he hadn't lost the Hufflepuff prefect with all these concepts and terms. It could be a little confusing. Quote: Originally Posted by Meizzner Nigel was still wondering why they had to sing the lyrics. It seemed like the professor with his awesome suit just moved on right along with the lesson to shooting stars. "It's just a meteoroid on fire when it enters the atmosphere. But if it is big enough it can leave meteorites." Though Nigel was not familiar with the music he was mentioning. and he seemed to talk about Theo's song for a long time and even gave him five points. Well this new professor was interesting at least. These kids...really liked fire, didn't they? Should he be concerned? "Funny you should also mention fire, Mr. Barrington." Seemed like he couldn't avoid this explanation anymore. "What happens when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere, and becomes a meteor, is that the outside of it begins to heat up. This forms something call the "fusion crust" on the meteorite when it eventually hits the ground - if it does so. The hot outside on the meteor begins to ablate, or strip off, which actually removes heat so by the time they reach the ground, at least with larger rocks, only the outside part has time to be heated and there is certainly no flame." Which he had said earlier. Quote: Originally Posted by Mystic Melody Melody was busy dancing in place. She was paying attention really she was, but she was also singing the whole song that she just sung parts of a moment ago. Melody paused and stoped dancing to answer his question. "I think those things are called meteorites or something like that, sir" See she was paying attention some what. Back singing and dancing. The song was one of her favorite songs. She couldn't just stop singing it without finishing it and she couldn't help to dance while she was at it. Well, Miss Sparks was certainly feeling the music and this brought a smile to Airey's face. Always nice to find a fellow music lover. "Close, Miss Sparks. A meteorite is what we call a piece of space debris that has already fallen through the Earth's atmosphere and has hit the ground and survived the impact of doing so." She had been paying attention to everyone else, yes? No need to go into the difference between a meteoroid, meteor, and meteorite again, right? Quote: Originally Posted by PotterHeadforLife Yeah, Professor was going to say how 'unrelated' her song was. Until he started squealing and leaped onto Kat's desk. O____O MERLIN. The man was half-toad. SNORT. Kat was still convinced that her toad was better, even if Flamsteed was half-toad, cos B.O.B. farted pixie dust. That's strange. So like. Uhm. He liked her song? Kat smiled. "Thanks Professor," she said. AND FIVE FRICKIN' POINTS FOR HER. WOOHOO SLYTHERIN, YO. And then... questions. RIGHT questions. Catching a Falling Star? Well. "I haven't heard of that yet, Professor, but I believe it would be a good song." Kat was kinda into music and she liked new stuff. Unless it was boring. Yeah, okay. So... SHOOTING STARS. Kat loves those stuff. So... her hands shot up. "Initially, they're meteroids," Kat said. And... PAUSE. "But when it enters the earth's atmosphere, it starts to burn up and becomes a so-called meteor." Hopefully though, she wished it would burn up and hit some people in the face. For obvious hate!reasons. "Nothing so-called about it," Airey said with a wink. Yes, he was sort of getting fresh with the wording of students, but science did sort of demand that one be such. "A meteor is indeed what a 'shooting star' is." Quote: Originally Posted by Cassirin Shooting stars were pretty interesting. Mo recalled several middle of the night excursions to the top of the fell at home to watch meteor showers, complete with a thermos of hot chocolate and his father's pedantic explanation of the night sky that nearly put Mo right back to sleep. What was it he'd said about shooting stars? "Professor, shooting stars are essentially space debris that have crossed into our atmosphere. They're called meteoroids if they're relatively small; larger debris is known as an asteroid. Once they cross into our atmosphere, the visible path of them burning up in the sky is a meteor." Oh look at this! Did this mean that Airey had been forgiven for the lint roller incident? The boy had somewhat looked like a kicked cruppy after the initial blow, but had come back to provide a rather brilliant answer. Too bad there was punishment yet to come. Ahem. "Excellent, Mr. Branxton. Very good. I mentioned earlier that a difference between asteroids and meteoroids was location, but size also comes into play as well. Anything smaller than 1 mile across is considered a meteoroid and anything larger is an asteroid. Both become meteors when they enter the Earth's atmosphere." And yes, meteor was correct, but that went without saying now, yes? Quote: Originally Posted by Hermione Lily Potter Singing was definitely not Lily's thing, so she was very happy when they moved on from that to speaking about falling stars. Falling stars were way more interesting than listening to people sing, especially people who didn't exactly know how to sing. Anyway...back to falling stars that weren't really stars. Listening to the others, the fourth year heard meteors and asteroids as the majority of the answers. They were typically what caused shooting stars, but there was more than just that. "Professor, couldn't space junk falling back towards earth and burning up as it falls through the atmosphere be seen as shooting stars? You know...because it would just look like a ball of light." Lily said, her hand raised. It made sense, and there was still plenty of space junk in space that may end up falling, rather than just space rocks. Space....junk. twitch Yes, that was correct, but junk was just...such a mean word. Wasn't it? Debris took some of the sting out of things. "You are correct, Miss Potter," he nodded. "And what you have just described is what we call a meteor, very good." Just no one remember it as junk, alright? Quote: Originally Posted by Princesspower So he did not find that song childish? Sarah was surprised, her muggle grandmother used to be a teacher and she used to teach it to her students. Sarah raised her hand,"a meteoroid is natural debris from the solar system. the size of a meteoroid i varies, from the size of sand to the size of a boulder. The path it makes as it enters a planets' atmosphere is called a meteor. If it survives impact it is called a meteorite. If many meteors are coming in quick succesion and from what seems to be the same spot in space it is called a meteor shower. It is funny that I really see them, as apparently 15,000 tonnes of meteoroids, space dust and debris enter the atmosphere of earth every year. Perhaps they coming in from less populated regions." Airey nodded at the girl's response - although he found himself sort of blinking and staring a few times as she seemed to be speaking in tongues at certain points, but there was one small issue. "While all true, Miss Edwards, I am afraid you did not tell me at which point these terms refer to a 'shooting star,'" he said with a kind smile. Defining terms was perfectly fine, but he was trying to get students to apply them as well. Not just memorize. Quote: Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom Wait, they were going from songs about stars to falling stars? Which, in reality, weren't stars at all? Weird. Couldn't this dude pick a theme and stick with it? Despite his slight annoyance at the topic change, he smiled and raised his hand because he KNEW this one. Again. Hehe. "Those are called meteors. They're basically pieces of space rock that enter our atmosphere and make the shooting star effect. However, they usually just disintegrate in the atmosphere, or if they do hit Earth, their impact isn't TOO significant usually, unless you're talking about the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs. Which, actually, some scientists are arguing didn't kill them and they were actually still alive hundreds of years ago," he added. He knew the professor hadn't asked for THAT bit of information, but Alex had just watched a muggle documentary on that at Cale's house and it had FASCINATED him. Oh yes, another fantastic answer and then some. "Very good, Mr. Greingoth." Hey, wait... was he related to the Slytherin prefect who seemed to have her wand in a permanent knot? Interesting. Very interesting. But not the point. "Dinosaurs aside, for now, you are correct. Meteors is just the answer I was looking for. Just be sure you haven't blended the meanings of a meteor and a meteorite." Since he had talked about impacts and all that. Not that Airey doubted this Hufflepuff. He seemed to know what he was talking about. Quote: Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl Oh, and look at that. They were talking about shooting stars, though his song didn't match hers. That was okay. They weren't really stars though? That was kinda lame. Penelope didn't know what the "proper" name for it was though, at least not before other students started answering. She wasn't gonna repeat those answers now though. So she sat there and listened for the time being. Maybe she'd answer the next question. Seemed as though Miss Greenwell too was going the listening route as well. He offered the Gryffindor an encouraging smile and then proceeded to the next student. Quote: Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo Lex beamed up at the Professor. He thought her song was a good one. That was all she needed to hear. Feeling quite happy with herself she focused on him as he spoke. Now he was saying stuff about other things that had something to do with more things. Yup. Excellent listener this one. She even had on that face! You know, the face that said I don't know what you're talking about but I'm listening anyway? THAT face. The face got even clearer after his next question to which she dutifully raised her hand with a smart little expression on her face and the sweetest smile. "I don't know the answer Professor but I feel I should say something anyway...so yeah..." There. She said something. BEAM. Erm. Right. "Don't feel as though you have to say something, Miss Cambridge," he said with a kind shake of the head. "If you knew the answer to everything then myself and your other professors would be out of jobs. Listening and taking notes is another form of participation." Chuckling a bit, he moved on to the next student. At least he knew of one student in his lessons with a ~~odd~~ sense of humor like himself. Quote: Originally Posted by Luna004 Susan always thought stars where just stars nothing special. Her mom always told her that falling stars was when they died and you could make one last wish on them. Susan didn't get to see very many of them but it turns out it wasn't true. Susan frowned at this realization. Now she was wondering what they actually were "Um...I'm not sure...actually I have no idea." Was she suppose to know? Oh. Oops? This Hufflepuff looked like a kicked cruppy now and it was clearly all his fault. What was it he had said? Or perhaps she was one of those children who had fully believed in the notion of 'shooting stars'? Just call him bubble bursting Airey? "It is alright to not know the answer, just as I told Miss Cambridge a moment ago," he said as he gave the girl an encouraging smile. Maybe that is why she was looking so sad? Because she hadn't known the answer? Maybe he wasn't a bubble burster? Quote: Originally Posted by Bazinga Minerva listened to the other answers and smiled as he said she was on the right path. She liked this professor already, he seemed knowledgeable and nice. Then he talked about another song and without thinking Min started singing a bit, "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket..hmmm" Cheeks red she leaned down in her seat, well that was not what she should have done. Then she put her hand up, "Professor could it be comets that people mistake as shooting star." She wasn't sure, but that was the first thing that she thought it could be. Airey nodded. "Comets, as I told Mr. Keller earlier, are something else that people will call a shooting star. However, to clarify a bit more, a comet is a bunch of ice and rock whereas a 'shooting star' is basically just a small rock flying through the atmosphere really fast. A comet is much larger than a 'shooting star' and is also much farther away. Likewise, a comet can be seen for weeks and months at a time, whereas a 'shooting star' is seen for a fraction of a second." And there were some other differences as well, but that was enough for now. Quote: Originally Posted by cake.ninjak Dustin was startled to see another adult in the classroom, at first. But remembering the last DADA lesson when the other adult had been, in fact, Suit!Guy, he wasn't so weirded out. Must be a thing around here. Dustin had NO clue what the proper term for shooting and falling stars was, but who said he couldn't be creative? He stared up at the projection screen, thinking of what they might be called. Once he had decided, he raised his hand again and offered his ideas: "Well, they kind of make me think of the game Hot Potato, because they're probably hot and I wouldn't want to touch one, but I don't think they're actually potatoes or anything. But maybe you could call them....uhh...Hot Falling Rocks? I mean that's basically what they are, right?" This Ravenclaw...amused Airey very much - flatulent question aside that is. Ah yes, the heat and fire answer. He had gone into much detail on that with some other students, but while he was here... "When space debris first enters the Earth's atmosphere it would probably be unwise to touch it, but not just because of the surface head but also due to the speed." Can we all say snap off one's arm or perhaps make hole in one's body? "However, astronomers have a hard time getting good statistics on which fallen space debris are hot or cold as there really aren't very many that are picked up directly after impact. However, many astronomers believe that small meteorites should be barely warm, or even cool when they hit the ground. The temperature probably varies depending on the size and composition of the original rock." Quote: Originally Posted by DJ ExpelliarMOOSE This wasn't to hard, Oakey put his hand to his chin and thought on this answer for a minute or two before he had something on mind. "Is the Phenamena a Meteor Shower?" Oakey stayed quiet for a a few seconds before going on, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was saying "A Shooting star is also called a meteor, and when they fall to Earth they are called meteorites." He was sure that was it. Yeah, no wait! "I mean it's a Meteorite first then a Meteor when it hits the ground!" Total doofus Oakey, why were you up in Astronomy if you don't get it? At least he got to sing... Yes. No. Yes. Wait. Airey took a moment to think about what the Hufflepuff prefect had just answered and smiled faintly. Another victim of all the words sounding and looking the same! "Meteor showers can be involved," he nodded before going on to clarify for the boy. "A 'shooting star' is first a meteoroid floating in space then then enters the Earth's atmosphere and becomes a meteor. This is when it creates a visible path across the night sky and is what people call a 'shooting star' or a 'falling star.' A meteorite is essentially the final step and is when a meteor has hit the ground and survived the impact." Did that clear things up for him? Quote: Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow The blonde badger scribbled down notes at she watched Sir Snappy Suit comment on everyone's song choices, smiling a little as her friends were mentioned. The blonde sort of avoided eye contact with Theoman when it was his turn, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable or anything...cause reasons. Mhm. And then Professor Stylish was talking to her and the fifteen year old smiled. "You're welcome, Professor!" BEAM. He was really quite nice, Professor Airey was. A song about falling stars? Hey! Ella knew that song! She also really liked the topic of conversation and she sat up straight in her seat, waiting to offer her explanation. "Professor, falling stars are actually um...well they're meteors. And the meteors are the streaks of light caused by tiny dust and rocks" "Very good, Miss Ella," he grinned at the Hufflepuff. "Just be sure to include 'entering the Earth's atmosphere' somewhere in that description and you are spot on." Quote: Originally Posted by xXxPandora [Shooting stars, hmm? INNER!FLAIL Ugh. She simply was fascinated by these celestial bodies. And it will be their focus for the whole term? Was he kidding? No. He seemed serious when he said that. SO...stars all the way? How amazing was that?! But that song. Oh. She knew how that went but it didn't actually cross her mind. "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket. Never let it fade away." Beezus sang the said song in her mind as Professor Flamsteed talked. At the question, she raised her hand, "Shooting or falling stars are officially called a meteor, a chunk of extraterrestrial rock pulled into the Earth's atmosphere by gravity." Nodnod. Will they be stargazing? Oh yes, very good! Airey did another little dance as he walked by Miss Castell and gave her a quick grin. "Very good, Miss Castell." She seemed to be just as excited as he was. Brilliant! Quote: Originally Posted by Mordred Mordred sat back and looked at the screen above and contemplated on his answer. *“Shooting stars aren’t literally stars, yes?”* Because he thought they were when he was younger, and it made him feel stupid because stars don’t move. Whoever coined the ‘Shooting Star’ term, must be sent to Azkaban. The Slytherin raised his hand to answer the professor. *“Shooting stars aren’t stars, but space rocks* called Meteorite.” And yes, he needed to emphasis the rock word…for reasons. “And as it enters our atmosphere, the rock emits light making it into a fireball.” Yes. The term Fireball was cooler than Shooting Star. Just saying. “And I’m Mordred, by the way.”** Grin. Shooting stars aren’t literally stars, yes? Yep, that is what Airey had said earlier, hence the discussion, so he gave the boy an encouraging nod for him to go on. "Very good, Mr. Mordred," he nodded - again, students not giving him last names meant a Mr or Miss in front of your first name. Heh. "A 'shooting star' is indeed a meteoroid that has entered the Earth's atmosphere and, as you said, is what we call a meteor." Good good. This boy was following. Quote: Originally Posted by Silver Ninja She really didn't like astronomy much but knew she had to be there, so far she hadn't really spoken up and answered a question. She didn't want to look like a bookworm or anything right? Looking around as people answered the question she wasn't sure if she should answer or not, probably should right? Nah, she just sat there and folded her hands in front of her again, in her lap. Maybe if she stayed quiet the professor wouldn't call on her or anything and she could just fade into the background... Another quiet student. Airey gave the young Slytherin a small smile and a nod before moving on to the last few students with their hands raised. Perhaps this one would find the courage to participate with a different question and hopefully she would find the activity fun. Which he needed to get to soon... Just a few more hands... Quote: Originally Posted by ForeverYours OH. So that was why it was relevant to sing a song. The name 'Catch a Falling Star' did seem familiar to her. Hmmm. She hummed it under her breath and realised that she clearly HAD heard it before. Anyway, focus, Bliss. Shooting stars, weren't they lovely? "I believe that they're called meteorites and they buuurn as they fall through the earths atmosphere." Or something like that. Yeah. So they'd be learning about them in this lesson? That would be fun, shooting star were pretty and cool and yeah...this would be a good lesson. She just knew it. "Almost," Airey said with a smile and a nod. She was on the right track, which was good. "A meteorite is when a piece of space debris has entered the Earth's atmosphere and hit the ground. The answer I was looking for was a meteor, which is the stage before the space debris hits the Earth and has simply entered the Earth's atmosphere which creates a visible trail in the sky." Okay? All clear? Or had he confused her further? Quote: Originally Posted by ortalismusicoh Good. He used Nessie and not Dixon. Exactly the way she preferred it. One point for Mr Weird Star teacher. The red head gave him a nod pretending to pay her full attenion. Meanwhile in her mind she was humming the song she had just mentioned. For right now she was more interested in that, it was only when the Professor spoke to the class in general that she half listened again. Stars. They were pretty, she'd give Professor Weird that. But as for his questions about falling stars and shooting stars, yeah she was just going to nod her head some more and say nothing. Silence was golden no? In this case Nessie thought so. Oh? Miss Nessie was remaining silent for this question? She didn't seem the most, erm, passionate about the subject, so perhaps she was sitting in her seat silently judging him? Either that, or maybe she was just silently contemplating an answer? Either way, he paused for a moment in front of her to see if her hand went up, but when it didn't he moved on to the next student who did have theirs. Quote: Originally Posted by jujune29th Sophie had no song to offer so she satquietly while listening to others sing. What a fun class that was! So far, at least. But that professor was amusing, so that was bound to be a nice class. And a question! Sophie didn't really know what those were really called, but she was going to guess meteors and look! Everyone was saying that! "I also think they're meteors, professor!" She said after raising her hand, grinning. Wait, she should say her name, right? "I'm Sophie Campbell, sir." Ohwait! He had said earlier that they didn't have to call them 'sir'. "I mean, professor." Another grin. "And you would be correct in your thinking, Miss Campbell," he replied with a wink. Looks like there was just one more hand raised... Quote: Originally Posted by demented_death_eater Rawdon had to think real hard about what he learned when his parents took him to a planetarium. He thought he had a sensible answer and raised his hand. "A falling star is actually the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the Earth's atmosphere to become a meteor. It's pretty awesome phenomena to watch." Grin. Airey grinned back at the Ravenclaw boy - one that almost seemed sane compared to the other boys in this lesson. Yep, cue a quick glance towards Mr. Did-you-just-fart. "Excellently put, Mr. Vindictus. Exactly." Looking around the planetarium for any other hands that may be raised before checking his sundial again. Yep, it was time to move on. "Very good all of you! While other relevant astronomical bodies where also mentioned, the one I was looking for was a meteor. Just to recap a bit. What people refer to as a shooting star begins its existence as a meteoroid which is a solid object, space debris moving in interplanetary space that is less than 1 mile in size. It becomes a meteor when it has entered the Earth's atmosphere and creates a visible path of the meteoroid across the sky and lasts about a fraction of a second. This visible path is what is referred to as a shooting or falling star." He paused for a moment to allow students to catch up with their notes and to let all this sink in. "A meteoroid that has passed through the Earth's atmosphere and made it all the way to the ground, surviving the impact, is called a meteorite. Many of your classmates brought up meteor showers. These are when many meteors appear seconds or minutes apart and seem to originate from the same fixed point in the sky." And it just so happened that there would be a surprise for them all at the end of the term. Best not mention that now though seeing as he needed students to be alert for this activity. "So, shooting or falling stars are not real stars at all. Stars are made up of gases, as I explained to Miss Potter earlier." Bits of information that would become very VERY important here in a moment. "Shooting or falling stars are essentially just small rocks flying through the atmosphere really fast. As Miss Phillips mentioned, in relation to the song I assume, one probably does not want to actually try and catch them." Cue a pause for dramatic effect as he looked around the classroom and made eye contact with each student. "HOWEVER! That is precisely what we are going to do!" WASN'T THIS EXCITING?! With another wave of his wand, the lyrics to Catch a Falling Star vanished from over head and soon what could only be described as a meteor shower appeared in its place. Only there was something different about this shower as the streaks of light zooming across the room were two very distinct colors - blue and yellow. Airey stood in front of the students with a smirk on his face that just seemed to get bigger and bigger with each passing moment. Heh. THIS was going to be fun. "I would like you all now to, if you have not brought one yourself, to please grab a muggle baseball glove from this box," he said as he levitated a large cardboard box filled with gloves of all sizes for students to see. "When you have a glove I would like you to also put on this protective gear," he continued as he levitated another box with gear in each house's respective colors. "Once you have your glove and gear on please come and stand in front of the projector. Oh...you...um...you may want to use a Sticking Charm on your things, or if you are not confident in your Charms abilities you can put your things in this box and pick them up at the end of the lesson." Airey indicated an empty box to the right of the one containing all of the protective gear. "And no, we will not be playing baseball." That was for Muggle Studies. "So, hop to it!" OOC: I am so sorry for the delay everyone! Two week old baby had a few fussy days along with a hospital appointment so those kept me away from all you lovely people wibbles Please RP your character grabbing the proper equipment and following Professor Flamsteed's instructions. Activity instructions will be posted in a few hours. EDIT :: once instructions for the activity have been posted there will be no more catch up posts accepted for credit. __________________ When you're stuck in a moment and your spark has been stolen .................................................. ........... this is our time to own it, so own it..................................... baby we were born with fire and gold in our eyes Last edited by sweetpinkpixie; 01-21-2013 at 04:48 AM.