Quote:
Originally Posted by
Stefan 
...
Turning his attention now up front, Jace politely raised his hand and answered the professor’s question. It wasn’t really hard given that Charlotte already mentioned the studmuffin’s discovery. But what in the stars is that word? “The...studmuffin’s name is Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, professor.” He said slowly retracting his hand. Jace turned to face Charlotte and gave her a grin. Maybe she’d like to mention Mr. Studmuffin's discovery? Maybe she’d be able to explain the Parallax better too.
...
"
Veeeeeeeery good, Mr. Reed," Marion chirped at the third year. "
Would you be a dear and please write his name on the board for everyone?" Seeing as he HAD been the first to respond and her being incapable of gripping the chalk herself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tegz ...
"I'll do it!" Char said cheerfully and skipped past Paige (who she still hadn't talked to about things but would!!) and over to the door, shutting it with a flourish. AND OHHHH they got to do bluebell flames! Immediately Charlotte was distracted from answering the question in favour of conjuring a little jar with the flames burning merrily inside. Yeah!
"Anyone want one of these?" Because they were FUN to make.
Erm... what had been the question again?
"
Oh thank you dear," the ghost beamed in appreciation at the Gryffindor. That ought to help a little with the chill.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Steelsheen ....
"He's uh…..really REALLY knowledgeable about deep space things right Professor?"
Also bluebell flames! Toss one this way Char!
"
Not incorrect, son," she laughed at with the third year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
RachieRu ...
Now back to the Professor's question. Hattie actually had no clue who the guy was. Not at all. But she could try to guess what he had done in Astronomy. A guess was better than nothing after all. Raising her hand she smiled. "I don't know who he is..." Honesty is the best policy right? "But did he like name a star... or come up with some important Theory?"
"
Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue," Marion replied in a shrill sing-song voice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
FwooperOnYourLeft ...
Her hand went into the air as she spoke. "He invented a way to measure the distance from the sun to other stars Professor, by way of Parallax. " She knew that much. That was about it.
"
Mmmmhmmmmmmm," the ghost cooed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PhoenixRising ...
Bessel. Friedrich Bessel. One older boy in Ravenclaw - of course - suggested. Why did that name sound familiar? Oh duh!! Raising her hand, Sky spoke up rather quietly, "Aren't there some mathematical function named after him cause he like generalized some function?" she was pretty sure that was where she recalled it from; though didn't know much beyond that because the equation seemed incredibly complicated ....
"
Indeed, yes," she smiled. "
Very good, dear. Although I DO believe the equations you may be thinking of were aaaaactually discovered by another studmuffin named Daniel Bernoulli."
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Govoni
Getting herself in order a bit, which was a slow process given that her pain was real, the blonde nodded towards their ghostly!professor.
"Growing pains, Professor Burbage. All these stairs and the walking... My potion isn't working that great." That was it, simply put. Growing up was fun, but the phenomenon of actually getting bigger... Well, it wasn't as glorious as everyone made it out to be. She'd clearly been bamboozled. DECEIVED! SWINDLED!
....
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH YES.
Growing pains. Marion offered the young lady a sympathetic smile in reply. Poor dear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cassirin WHO was he? Well, now, how in the world was Katy meant to recognize someone when they hadn't been assigned reading ahead of time? She knew lots of people, but not... this one. He looked a bit like a personified hedgehog, sort of cuddly and not at all of the studmuffin genre.
"Is that your boyfriend, Professor? He looks like he'd be loads of fun. Is he a ghost now too?" Only, was it rude to point out the ghostiness of a person.
"OH HO HO HO HOOOOOOO," she chortled LOUDLY. "
NOOOOOOOOOO he is not, my dear. Although Johanna Hagen ceeeeeeeeertainly was one lucky young lady to marry such a FINE specimen!" She paused for a moment. "
And no dear, he is not a ghost."
Quote:
Originally Posted by
laurange Uh.
Yeah, even though they'd had Burbage filling in all semester, it really wasn't the same and Brian was still a little shell-shocked. He didn't really deal well with change, ask anyone. Especially not change of the abrupt variety. It was jarring and disorienting and weRE THEY TALKING ABOUT BESSEL? It appeared that they were. Would you look at that.
"He's important because by figuring out how to measure distance between stars, he accidentally invented time travel." And hear him out, please. "Because the way we see stars now isn't how they are right now. It's how they were YEARS AND YEARS AGO. And he also kinda helped discover Neptune, I think? And simplified the equation they'd been using to calculate eclipses? Unless I've got the wrong guy." Which he was certain he did not.
"
OH HO HOOOOO what a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiimply delightful answer, my dear," Marion praised the Hufflepuff prefect. Expanding on a few thoughts already shared by his peers but certainly some important little nuggets.
"
As has been said already, this studmuffin we have here is Germany astronomer Freiedrich Bessel whoooooooooo is credited with the astronomical achievement of the FIRST successful use of parallax to determine the distance to a star. NOOOOOOOOOOW...a parallax is a bit of a coooooooooomplicated concept...but if you all would be SO kind as to humor me with a bit of an physical illustration for this. ARMS UP!" She waited a moment for them to follow along, her own semi transparent arms raised and ready. "
Arms straaaaaaaaaight out in front of you, dears. Thumbs pointing up up UP! Now close your right eye first and then switch, closing your left eye and keep changing which eye is open and which is closed for a few moments." Another pause to allow that to occur. "
DOOOOOOOOOO you notice THAT as you change which eye is open, your thumbs seems to move back and forth compared to the background, just a smidgen but still mild movement? NOW move your thumbs so they closer to your face but not SOOOOOOOOO close that you go cross-eyed aaaaaaaaaaaaaand repeat this little experiment again. This time your thumbs will seem to move MUCH more back and forth. The closer your thumb is to you, the more it seems to move. THIS is a rudimentary understanding of a parallax!"
Weren't they all just DARLING playing along? Oh ho ho ho!
"
NOW, ooooooours are FAR too close together to see the parallax of the distant stars, but were we to take a picture of a star then wait...ooooooooooooh let's say six months...so that the star is now on the OTHER side of the Earth's orbit, we can then see how far the star shifted in the sky back and forth. The closer a star is, the MORE it will seem to shift. By measuring how much a star shifts, it is possible to figure out how far away that star is from us. And THAT is what Bessel taught humankind with the parallax reading of a star called 61 Cygni of 0.314 arcseconds in 1838 WHICH, after some calculations, will give us the difference in position of a star as seen from the Earth and Sun."
PHEW. Had they all caught that? Oh Marion DID tend to get a bit carried away with things. OOPSIE DAISY!
"
Now, this distance we keep referring to...the diiiiiiiiiiistance between a star and our own planet...or reeeeeeeally distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale...is known as what?"
OOC: thank you dears. We shall continue around same time tomorrow.