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Originally Posted by
Suziella 
Juno wasn't a hundred percent sure on this one but she raised her hand anyway. When she was called on she replied, "I believe that would be a Parsec, Professor." She was pretty sure that was it.
When she heard other people say Parsec and light-years, she was pretty it was the former. But she would wait to see what the professor said.
Hah! She was right it was a Parsec afterall!
Juno quickly grabbed a telescope and found an open area to set up. Once she was set up, she turned to the page in her textbook about 61 Ursae to look at the star chart so that she could properly find the star. She re-positioned her telescope to the area in the sky that 61 Ursae should be. She knew from looking in her text that it would be an orange-yellow color.
It took a little time, but she finally spotted the star. She quickly raised her hand and waited to be called on. When she was, she replied. "We know that 61 Ursae is smaller than our sun." Yep. That was pretty much what she knew....other than the color.
"
True indeed, dear," Marion nodded.
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Originally Posted by
RachieRu Aahh! They had finally got to the bit that Hattie was excited about! Harriet loved looking at stars. Star gazing was amazing. But she was really excited to learn more about looking at them properly. That was why Harriet literally jumped up onto her feet, and practically skipped after the Professor with her telescope. She was really excited to see a star!
She set up her telescope, and listened to the Professor. She didn't want to get it wrong. Smiling, she began to look for the star. It took a good few minutes to find it. She wasn't too used to this yet, she was only a second year. But she soon found it. "ooooh...." And she liked it. But now she needed to think of a fact. She did have a little sneaky look in her text book. That was the best place to find out information after all
Smiling, Hattie put her hand up in her air. "This star has served as one of the stable anchors by which other stars are classified" So that meant it helped classify other stars. That was pretty cool. "And....did you want us to look at it because of that? Cause it's kinda important?" She wasn't sure really, but she'd given it a go.
"
A VEEEEEEEEERY good point, my dear," the ghost applauded. LOUDLY. "
Certainly an important little nugget of information for ALL to take away from this little observation."
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Originally Posted by
FwooperOnYourLeft Ohh! Her question had gotten answered. She was happy about that.. and now she sorta knew the difference between Light years and Parsecs.. Sorta.. She had scribbled down as much as she could on her notes.. but she might have to come back later and ask the Ghost for more information.. Just to make sure it really sunk in..
She smiled as they were instructed to go over and find a certain star.. So she moved over to a window and grabbed a telescope and then set it up and then.. The third year flipped through her text book to try and find exactly where they star was..
Ahh.. There it was..
She looked back at the Professor as she spoke and she raised her hand.. "I know it's in the Ursa Major Constellation which also has the Big Dipper in it." She said with a nod as she bit her lip a little as she wondered why the Professor had asked them to find this star Specifically. Though Hattie spoke up before Azura had a chance to speak again.. That sounded like a good answer..Though Az had another one.. she hoped.. "It doesn't have any stars that orbit it?" Ohh.. Was it lonely?
That was so sad..
"
Mmmmhmmmm true statements," she replied with an encouraging nod.
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Originally Posted by
SarcasticStrawberry What.... wait? She was right? She was right. She was so confused by the professors question though, AND she still got the answer right. Maybe she wasn't as terrible as she thought she was. She did know her stuff. Stars moons everything!
As soon as the professor told them to get up Kat was up on her feet. It had been killing her sitting and being cold .At lease now she could get up and get warm. She bounced by her desk to get warm again, tighten up her sweater, grabbed her textbook and telescope. Joining the others, she tried to find it with her bare eye. Nothing, maybe just a tiny speck. Maybe not even that much. Setting up her telescope, she took a look. THERE IT WAS! Thinking about what her reply was going to be, they were just talking about lightyears. So maybe... "Is it because its so far away that its barely noticeable with the naked eye?'
"
It's diiiiiiiiiiistance is certainly significant," she giiiiiiiiggled. A bit TOO profusely really. "
Speciiiiiiifically when it comes to light years."
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Originally Posted by
DaniDiNardo Giggling Ghost Professor say what now? Blaise blinked a couple times at the ghost!woman, turning away only to look at Char before looking back to her.
Flirting? With...Char.....? "Flirtatious advances"?
Er.........No doubt his quill had taken that down but it was the lesser of his concerns. "I'm not flirting Char, Professor........" What even? "She's my friend and she knows things in class." Just gonna.....eye the ghost for a little longer. First the Friar and now her. Sweet Merlin.
He wished he could say it was enough to distract him from the explanation that followed but he'd only be lying. The idea had already left his mind and the Professor's words STILL weren't readily accepted. More technical stuff he'd have to review later. Good thing his quill was taking notes. The boy had never been one to swallow blocks of information whole.
At the end of it, Blaise grabbed his telescope and made for a window. Text laid before him, he got to looking. "You've got a soft spot for bears?" Seemed as legit as anything else. It was just a star.
Not flirting? HMMMMMMMMMMM. Marion would silently beg to differ, but not call out the young man further.
"
Oooooooh I suppose in a SENSE I doooooooo," she beamed, remembering her dearly beloved husband in his prime.
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Originally Posted by
Cassirin Katy wasn't immediately familiar with 61 Ursae Majoris, but she WAS familiar with how text books worked. She grabbed a telescope near bestie!Kat and flipped through the textbook in search of... 61... Ursae... thingy. Did that mean there were 60 previous Ursae thingies? How many were there total?
Ah, there it was. Katy shifted her telescope slightly to point it in the right direction and took a squint through the lens. Star. Got it. And back to the book. "Professor Gho... Burbage? Like what Hattie was saying, 61 Ursae Majoris is sort of like the spectrum baseline that other stars are measured against."
"
Mmmhmm. That IS a very important bit of information to latch on to." And in any normal lesson would be THE thing to hold on to, but things were just a tiny bit abstract today. Abstract and a bit light and therefore...
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Originally Posted by
Sonea Blah blah blaaaaah! That was what Leesha was hearing while trying to listen what was being said. She absolutely remembered again why she always had so much trouble with her homework, this lesson was so boring! Sighing out loud she closed her eyes for a few minutes, it was already dark outside after all and she wished to be back in her common room, nice before the fireplace with a nice hot chocolatemilk...
The sounds of the classroom faded and she fell asleep, just when everybody started moving.
...................................
WELL, OF ALL THE NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERVE!
Marion prided herself on being an understanding spirit, but such RUDENESS would NOT be tolerated in her classroom.
Huffing and puffing and gliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiding through the air quickly towards the Slytherin, the ghost wiggled and jiggled in annoyance for a moment before opening her mouth.
"EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE YOU," she fussed, decided that THE best way to wake the girl on her own was to just pass riiiiiiiiiight through her and give her a bit of a chill. "
That will be 10 points from Slytherin for such RUDE behavior as to fall asleep in the MIDDLE of class."
There was also some flapping of the arms like a hen fending off a fox from her chicks occurring.
"
Now if you are quite DONE," she fussed some more, turning her attention to those ACTIVELY participating. "
Let us ALL continue." She paused to clear her throat. "All very good points, my dears. "
As we have been discussing, astronomers use both parsecs and light years to measure the distance of stars and it is thanks to our studmuffin of the day that light year measurements were even fathomable. Now, as already said, one light year is the distance light travels in one year. Theeeeeeerefore if you look at a star ten light years from Earth, the light you see from it left ten years ago making that star ten years old. The particular star I have asked you to look for is 31 light years away...whiiiiiiiiiiich just SO happens to be the SAME as as your studmuffin of a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor making that starlight the SAME age as the man."
Wasn't that just darling? Oh ho ho hooo.
"
Now, using your textbook and starcharts, I would like each of you to try and find a star with starlight the same age as yourself, meaning if you are 13 you need to find a star that is 13 light years away from our planet. Once you have found it and seen it yourself, please write it down on your parchment along with some important information - whatever you feel is significant - and set it on my desk. If you are feeling especially ambitious you may find more than one star IF possible. We will use our remaining time today for you to complete this. Keep in mind that some stars you see on your chart may not be visible with the naked eye and you will need to use your telescope to spot it. I am available for any questions you may have, dears."
OOC: some resources for you to use. Just to keep thins simple, focus on the light years only, dears. No need to round up. Something that is 15.7 light years away, for example, may remain 15 light years and not 16.
1. Seeing in the Dark . Explore the Sky . Birthday Stars | PBS
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...t_bright_stars
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...d_brown_dwarfs