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Awarlesta Black · 01-19-2013, 07:00 AM

SPOILER!!: Mr. Professor

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Ah yes, Mr. Odessa was at THAT age. Once he got past puberty that would all even out. It would just be ridiculously awkward and uncomfortable for a few years less if he was lucky. Airey had hated that phase. Really put a damper on his singing career at Hogwarts, but there were potions and home remedies that one could take should they so desire.

Not that he would bring that up NOW. Poor boy was probably already feeling a bit awkward as it was.

"Thank you for that, Mr. Odessa," Airey replied with a wide grin as he gave the boy a round of applause. No need to go into how this song in particular related to astronomy, right? "Funny that you should mention jars," he smirked, nodding his head towards the pickling jars on the floor. They would be getting to those soon. After a bit of fun.

And he didn't comment about the slight improper use of a lint roller. It wasn't a microphone...but at least the boy wasn't trying to wear it as a hat. He was keeping it clean.

AHA! Shooting stars. Yes! This was on the right track with today's lesson. "Thank you, Miss Castell," he nodded, offering the Ravenclaw a round of applause as well. "We will be discussing the concept of shooting stars in more depth in a moment," he said, using air quotes around the word star. Kids these days knew what air quotes were, right? "But you bring up a valid point here. Wishing on shooting stars in hopes that that wish comes true. For centuries and centuries humankind has romanticized the stars and space as an attempt to explain astronomical phenomena."

But he was going to leave that there for now and move on to the next student who had raised their hand to share a song.

Elvis! Bless this young Hufflepuff for knowing a classic like that! She got some applause simply for knowing the name of the legen wait for it dary figure in music. "Thank you, Miss Wheatborn. We see in your example a more figurative usage of the term star, but also the concept of wishing upon stars as Miss Castell just mentioned. Very good." And several awesome points to you for knowing Elvis!

Where was this boy's Gryffindor courage?! Airey paused for a moment in front of the young man, waiting somewhat expectantly for him to jump up and sing, but did not linger too long when he didn't do so immediately. Perfectly alright to just listen as long as one was being attentive.

Oh oh oh! Airey clapped his hands together once VERY loudly at a certain point in the boy's song and LEAPED back onto the platform and did a sort of happy dance. "Humans just part of a peaceful Galactic community," he repeated. "This! Yes! While not the topic of our lesson today, this is a very important concept that I want you all to keep in mind." And no, we were not talking about aliens. "Many wonder just why even bother to study astronomy. Why is it important and how can is possibly relate to me seeing as all those stars and planets are billions of miles away. Well, this is why." And he pointed back at the Hufflepuff. "Those words just now. Humans being part of a peaceful Galactic community. As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, the atoms that comprise life on Earth are traceable to the very stars that you and I look up at every night. To quote the man, when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. Excellent reference! Take 5 points for that one."

After giving Miss Basthowe some applause, the astronomer nodded his head a little at her analysis. Yes yes, very good - although again a rather abstract use of the word star, but by no means any less relevant. "Another fine example of how stars have been romanticized by humankind, thank you Miss Basthowe. Some very nice connections you drew as well to show other aspects of astronomy, such as mapping out constellations." Very good.
[

SPOILER!!: Nigel

Space Oddity. Heh. Sounded like a nickname that Airey would have received as a student. Heheh.

But the song's lyrics themselves brought Airey back to his astronaut training and the....accident. Stepping off of the platform with a bit of a somber undertone in his step, he nodded at the Ravenclaw boy. "Thank you, Mr. Barrington."

Sorry for not giving more insight there kid.

Ah yes, here we go. "Thank you for that Mr....." Whatever this kid's last name was because he hadn't included it in his response. "Those lyrics bring up many things connected to astronomy besides the sun and stars. There is a reference to the Milky Way which is the galaxy that contains our Solar System." And was also a rather delicious muggle chocolate bar. "The Milky Way is something else that has been romanticized by humanity over the centuries and plays an important role in many myths and legends." But he would not be going into details on all that now. Perhaps a future lesson though.

These kids were giving him so many ideas!

THIS CONCEPT AGAIN! "YES! Brilliant!" Airey man!squealed as his energy came back to him tenfold. In fact, he was SO excited that instead of leaping back up onto the platform he leaped onto the girl's desk. "Miss Hudson has an even clearer example of what I was saying earlier with Mr. Stonewall's choice of song. While not starlight but atoms, we are just that. We are all made of the same bits that stars are. Take 5 points as well."

Oh! Airey liked this song and it was one that he was not familiar with. Still on the Miss Hudson's desk, Airey looked at Mr. Gunter and gave an approving nod. "A excellent choice, Mr. Gunter. Very education - much like Mr. Odessa's song. Keep that bit about hydrogen and helium in your mind, yes?" Actually EVERYONE should keep that bit in their minds because it was going to be important later. "And for the record, it is said that 1.3 million Earth volumes would fit into the Sun's volume."

Just a little fun fact for everyone since it had been brought up.

"Very good, Miss Nessie," he said with a nod. Although he did know that her last name was Dixon as he had made it his business to know the first and last names of the student leaders as they were ready available. "Another fine example of how humankind views the stars. Some say that they are diamonds in the sky, like you said just now and how they are referred to in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, while other notions include dead kings of the past and there is even one Native American tribe that described the stars as being holes poked into night's canvas by a hummingbird." Did they see how humans had a tendency to use their imaginations a bit when it came to space? Not that there was anything wrong with this, per say.

"Thank you, Miss Edwards," Airey grinned. Another educational song to add to his stash of music. "Nothing childish about something that is educational and helpful." OWL and NEWT students, should probably write that one down and memorize it. Could be very useful. Yep.

Airey couldn't help but chuckle a little under his breath. He was wondering when someone would bring up this particular song and there was a particular quote that he had been dying to use in response. "Thank you, Miss Potter. Here we see another example of how stars have been romanticized and perhaps the clearest example thus far of the idea of wishing upon a star." He paused here and finally jumped off of Miss Hundson's desk so he could walk around a bit. "There is just one problem with wishing on a star. According to astronomy when you wish upon a star you're actually a few million years late. That star is dead, just like your dreams," he said in a rather deadpan tone laced with sarcasm.

He waited a little bit more to let that thought sink in and for any possible reactions before slooooowly moving on to the next student.

"Very good, Mr. Kinsley!" Airey applauded. "Class, as you see in this example a star is being used as a metaphor for a girl, a girl that is so bright - or beautiful - that she is blinding. This is directly connected to the whole idea of wishing on a star. You see, in ancient times when people looked up at the night sky the planet Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love, was and is the brightest point in the sky and mistaken for an actual star by ancient peoples. The Romans built temples to Venus, and since it was the first "star" that could be seen in the sky for much of the year, and always the brightest whether seen in the morning or the evening, it was an easy way to remember it as a prayer point." He paused here to allow students to catch up with note taking. Mr. Kinsley didn't mind him going into all this detail, right? It was just a song after all. "You can probably all guess what the number one thing people prayed for was. That's right, love. The prayer evolved into a wish as people forgot completely about the Goddess of Love and her origins - as is something that humans tend to do with such things - and the wish expanded into realms well outside the cosmic sphere of love. 5 points to you as well, Mr. Kinsley. Excellent reference."

Good...but not quite what he meant with his question. Her reasoning that is. And oh? He wasn't allowed to use Miss with this one? Well then... "Thank you, Lady Pevensie." Was that alright? He would soon find out. "I think you have focused on the wrong aspects of the lyrics in terms of my question - although you are correct in your reasoning about it showing just how influential a person's life can be on another. Care to venture another try? Focusing more on the lyrics and how they relate to Astronomy that is." Because she had some good examples in there about the nature of how things worked.

Frank Sinatra! Another student that earned several ~~billion~~ awesome points for knowing such a legend. "Thank you for that, Mr. Rush. A classic song that is one of my personal favorites. Yet again showing us all the romanticized vision of astronomy, but also holds some truth. There are indeed seasons on Jupiter and Mars. Mars' spring, just to give some details, is obviously quite different from spring on Earth because Mars has not just permanent ice caps, but also seasonal polar caps of carbon dioxide. Are you familiar with dry ice? Same thing."

Board of Governors, right. Those people were here in the school...and some were slotted to come and visit his this lesson as well. Ug. He had completely forgotten about that until just now and the astronomy professor nearly let out a small man!wibble at the thought. First year at Hogwarts. First lesson of the year. First everything and people were coming here to judge him. SO not fair!

"Good choice, Miss Carter-Hope," he nodded. Black holes. Heh. Where all bad students went.

Just kidding.

"Black holes are another fascinating subject, but not something we will be discussing today unfortunately. Although, it is interesting to note that astronomers believe that many galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers." Something to think about.

Oh! Foreign music! Airey was certainly not familiar with this song, but it had several nice connections nonetheless. "Very good, Mr. Katharos. Cassiopeia is indeed one of the 48 constellations documented by Greek astronomer Ptolemy and remains among the 88 modern constellations." He would have to ask Mr. Katharos for some more of this music later. "It doesn't have to rhyme as long as it has melody," he added with a wink.

No stain on the suit? Hmmm? Airey raised an eyebrow at Miss Fischer and was tempted to march right over to her and take 5 points from Gryffindor for LYING and TEASING a professor about something that ought NOT to be joked around with, but he refrained.

For now. We are keeping a close EYE on you though, captain.

Oh yes, Owl City. He was familiar with this particular group and found himself humming along as the Hufflepuff prefect shared. "Thank you for that, Miss Lecium. It is nice to see other constellations referenced in songs, don't you think?" All constellations deserved some love, not just those associated with the zodiac ~~and that rubbish subject~~. "Hercules is sometimes hard to spot with the naked eye due to the high magnitude of the stars included in it, but should not be overlooked as it is the fifth largest of the modern constellations."

YELLOW! It was like this boy was a Seer or something! Airey's face lit up ~~like a star~~ and he grinned at the boy. "Very good, Mr. Keller. Keep in mind the color yellow as we move through the lesson, yes?"

Oh yes! He knew this song well too. Drops of Jupiter, brought him back to his school days and the one time he had tried to serenade a girl and...well...never mind. A very tragic a beautiful song to be sure. "Thank you, Miss Ella," he smiled. Since he was allowed to call her Miss Ella and all. "Another fine example of how astronomy is used metaphorically in everyday speech."

The Beatles! Airey knew that he like this Hufflepuff - even if she was sort of giving him weird looks right now about something. Was it the bumblebee comment? Oops. It WAS true though. "One of my personal favorites," he said with a quick wink. "Although one should technically say that the sun does not come as it is the Earth that is rotating around it and not the other way around so in fact it is we that come to it."

Yeah...that thought earlier about how everyone can sing despite ability? It was still true...but didn't mean that everyone should sing. Miss Skylar fell into the category of shouldn't, although he still applauded her efforts and smiled through the twitching vein in his forehead. Sadly, he hadn't been able to make out single thing the young lady had said, so he stood there just smiling and nodding at the Head Girl. "Thank you very much, Miss Skylar."

And we were moving on.

MUSICALS! Another one billion awesome points to this student! Airey just adored musicals - and perhaps should have included that in his little self introduction...oh well. "Nicely done, Miss Le Veela," he applauded, noting the tears but not commenting on them. "A good example of how stars and other celestial bodies are compared to more earthly things. Very good."

"Lovely, Miss Sung!" Airey applauded. At least there was one Gryffindor who could carry a tune. No offense, Miss Skylar. "While not something I will be going into detail, your song of choice brings up another aspect of astronomy and its connection to religion and mythology. Astronomical phenomena were often described as being the acts of gods and spirits by ancient peoples. For example, thunder and lightening were said to be cause by Zeus by the ancient Greeks. Comets were considered bad omens of deaths of kings or noble men, or coming catastrophes. Sometimes they were even interpreted as attacks by heavenly beings."

Ah yes, this song again. He should probably go back and explain things a bit more so that he didn't really look like a dream crusher - because that wasn't his intention at all! ~~Even if his dream of becoming an astronaut had been crushed and he was still very bitter about it~~. "Thank you, Miss Greingoth," Airey said with a small smirk as he looked back and forth between the Slytherin prefect and Miss Potter. "As I said to Miss Potter earlier, wishing on stars is somewhat laughable from a scientific standpoint because the star you are wishing on may very well not be there anymore. While the quote says late, you should not get confused with it being a measurement of time because it is not." Just to clarify that. "It is a unit of length, the distance that light will travel in one year, and when you see a star in the night sky you are looking at its light and not literally THE star. If the star is one thousand light years away then the light has been traveling one thousand years to reach your eyes. Therefore, you are seeing the star as it appeared one thousand years ago." Were they all getting the picture here? One thousand years was a LONG time ago and Merlin knew what all could have happened between that time and the present. Black hole. Supernova. Cosmic dust. So many possibilities. "Most stars last far longer than one thousand years so it is probably still there."

So keep wishing and dreaming kids.

Branxton. Just his luck that this one was related to the PRESIDENT of the Board of Governors and he had just taken points away from the kid. Don't go crying to mommy about it, okay? He assumed that the woman was his mother at least. Older sister? Aunt? Didn't matter, they had the same last name - a rare one at that - so they had to be related. Still...it was the boy's fault for rolling the lint roller in his hair.

Oh yes! A very interesting topic as well! "Very good, Mr. Branxton!" Airey applauded. "The universe is indeed always expanding and the explanation for this is rather complicated and requires that we all reevaluate how we look at such words as space and universe. The notion of an expanding universe comes from the Big Bang cosmological model, referenced in your song as well, where, in summary, the hot and dense components that evolved to create the universe was followed by a continuous expansion, cooling, and thinning out of these same components. Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, is a fascinating field to study." But not what they were discussing today. Another lesson idea!

What was with some of these Gryffindors and being nervous about singing? Oh, wait...cue a nervous glance at Miss Skylar. Never mind. "Flaming flowers, yes, very good Miss Cambridge," Airey applauded. "More good examples of how humans view the stars from a more creative angle. Thank you for that."

More nodding and another approving smile towards this Gryffinor. "Very good, Miss Hardwicke. While presented in a somewhat metaphorical way, there is still some scientific connections in this song. Stars being different distances away from us for example. The star closest to us is actually the sun," for those who didn't know. "The second closest is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.2 light years away." Some more fun facts for everyone!

Sailor Moon? Airey was not familiar with...whoever that was. A superhero? Hmmm...he would have to check his superhero books back in his office and see if she was listed there. BUT, from what he gathered in the lyrics themselves...there was mythological connections. Not so much straight up astronomy, but one could not study the subject without diving into the mythology a little. Something he had planned for future lessons. "Thank you, Miss Baltazar. I am afraid I am not familiar with this particular superhero, but I gather there is some Greek and Roman mythology about the planets and the moon involved?" Was this Sailor Moon's name Selene?

"Yes yes, shooting stars! I will be getting to those in just a moment," he nodded. As for that whole wishing thing, well, he had gone into that in great and gory detail already.

SPOILER!!: Dylan

MORE AWESOME POINTS BEING AWARDED HERE! Airey piratically beamed at the Quidditch captain and his choice in music. Very good taste. Yes yes. "Excellent choice, Mr. Montmorency," Airey nodded. "A few concepts came up in those lyrics that we have not yet discussed and ---" he glanced down at his sundial again. Merlin! He needed to get a move!

*blink blink*

Well...he had said that no reference was too obscure...but he was pretty sure that this song was more about pizza than it was the stars. However! "Interesting example Miss Phillips. For centuries humans often blamed behaviors and other things on the phases of the moon and other astronomical phenomena." Like comets as he had mentioned earlier.

EYEING YOU SO HARD RIGHT NOW MISS FISCHER!!

"That would be Monty Python," he corrected calmly as he gave an approving nod towards the girl. "A fine wizard who I believe was a Gryffindor." As for her song, well, the connections were obvious.

Giving the girl an approving nod - although wincing a little at a certain part in the song where something rather dire was mispronounced, the astronmer gave her a quick round of applause. "Thank you, Miss Fletcher. Plenty of good examples of astronomy in there." Many of which had already been discussed which is why he was going to move on now to the main topic of today's lesson.

Oh, hold on there. When had this man arrived?! Had he seen him jump on a student's desk? Oops? Hopefully the man had a sense of humor. Although, he had been expecting someone else to be observing him today. A Mr. Sherman - who he had been surprised had opted to come all the way up to the Astronomy Tower given his, erm, age and all.

Airey gave the man a quick nod and awkward smiling before turning his attention back to the students. Yes. He should be moving things along.

"Very good all of you and thank you for being brave and singing." Most of them anyway and it hadn't been a requirement to sing. They had humored him though, which he appreciated. Awesome points to them all! "However, none of managed to mention the song that inspired this lesson." Shame really. There had been house points up as a reward for anyone that did."Are any of you familiar with the song Catch a Falling Star performed by Perry Como?" With a quick tap of his wand on the projector, lyrics written in bold white text appeared on the domed ceiling over the night sky for students to read. "As you may have been able to infer from all this, the theme of this term is stars and today we will be focusing on something rather special. A star that isn't really a star but has been mislabeled as one by humans. Often called shooting stars or falling stars like in the song, there is a proper name for this phenomena. Can anyone tell me what that is?"

OOC: it is alright to repeat answers here. Your student character doesn't have to answer either if IC it would make more sense for them not to know which Airey is talking about. Points are not awarded for correct answers only This lesson will continue in hopefully 15 hours.

Catch up posts are allowed if you missed a question, but PLEASE put it under a spoiler tag or else you will not receive credit for your efforts.

[/QUOTE]

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."

01-19-2013, 07:00 AM	#86 (permalink)
Awarlesta Black MO & IMC Puffskein Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: #1e3b69 #7ea16b Posts: 1,899 Hogwarts RPG Name: Sirius R. Hazelwood Ravenclaw Fourth Year Hogwarts RPG Name: Nyx M. Lawrence Hufflepuff Fifth Year	Rucole Club Club\|\| film lyfe \|\| mac and cheese queen\|\| exits with trunkshot SPOILER!!: Mr. Professor Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie Ah yes, Mr. Odessa was at THAT age. Once he got past puberty that would all even out. It would just be ridiculously awkward and uncomfortable for a few years less if he was lucky. Airey had hated that phase. Really put a damper on his singing career at Hogwarts, but there were potions and home remedies that one could take should they so desire. Not that he would bring that up NOW. Poor boy was probably already feeling a bit awkward as it was. "Thank you for that, Mr. Odessa," Airey replied with a wide grin as he gave the boy a round of applause. No need to go into how this song in particular related to astronomy, right? "Funny that you should mention jars," he smirked, nodding his head towards the pickling jars on the floor. They would be getting to those soon. After a bit of fun. And he didn't comment about the slight improper use of a lint roller. It wasn't a microphone...but at least the boy wasn't trying to wear it as a hat. He was keeping it clean. AHA! Shooting stars. Yes! This was on the right track with today's lesson. "Thank you, Miss Castell," he nodded, offering the Ravenclaw a round of applause as well. "We will be discussing the concept of shooting stars in more depth in a moment," he said, using air quotes around the word star. Kids these days knew what air quotes were, right? "But you bring up a valid point here. Wishing on shooting stars in hopes that that wish comes true. For centuries and centuries humankind has romanticized the stars and space as an attempt to explain astronomical phenomena." But he was going to leave that there for now and move on to the next student who had raised their hand to share a song. Elvis! Bless this young Hufflepuff for knowing a classic like that! She got some applause simply for knowing the name of the legen wait for it dary figure in music. "Thank you, Miss Wheatborn. We see in your example a more figurative usage of the term star, but also the concept of wishing upon stars as Miss Castell just mentioned. Very good." And several awesome points to you for knowing Elvis! Where was this boy's Gryffindor courage?! Airey paused for a moment in front of the young man, waiting somewhat expectantly for him to jump up and sing, but did not linger too long when he didn't do so immediately. Perfectly alright to just listen as long as one was being attentive. Oh oh oh! Airey clapped his hands together once VERY loudly at a certain point in the boy's song and LEAPED back onto the platform and did a sort of happy dance. "Humans just part of a peaceful Galactic community," he repeated. "This! Yes! While not the topic of our lesson today, this is a very important concept that I want you all to keep in mind." And no, we were not talking about aliens. "Many wonder just why even bother to study astronomy. Why is it important and how can is possibly relate to me seeing as all those stars and planets are billions of miles away. Well, this is why." And he pointed back at the Hufflepuff. "Those words just now. Humans being part of a peaceful Galactic community. As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, the atoms that comprise life on Earth are traceable to the very stars that you and I look up at every night. To quote the man, when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. Excellent reference! Take 5 points for that one." After giving Miss Basthowe some applause, the astronomer nodded his head a little at her analysis. Yes yes, very good - although again a rather abstract use of the word star, but by no means any less relevant. "Another fine example of how stars have been romanticized by humankind, thank you Miss Basthowe. Some very nice connections you drew as well to show other aspects of astronomy, such as mapping out constellations." Very good. [ SPOILER!!: Nigel QUOTE=Meizzner;11300375]Well it seems like ravnclaw has lost points over a lint roller. Whatever that is. But at least it was not more points. Now a astronomy song. Nigel did remember one from a muggle movie he watched once. Now all he was to do is remember it. He put his hand up. "I'm Nigel Barrington and the song is Space Oddity" Now all he had to do was sing a verse. "This is major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door And I'm floating in a most peculiar way And the stars look very different today Here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do" Now he had to wonder what a lint roller was and why it made such a good fake microphone. Space Oddity. Heh. Sounded like a nickname that Airey would have received as a student. Heheh. But the song's lyrics themselves brought Airey back to his astronaut training and the....accident. Stepping off of the platform with a bit of a somber undertone in his step, he nodded at the Ravenclaw boy. "Thank you, Mr. Barrington." Sorry for not giving more insight there kid. Ah yes, here we go. "Thank you for that Mr....." Whatever this kid's last name was because he hadn't included it in his response. "Those lyrics bring up many things connected to astronomy besides the sun and stars. There is a reference to the Milky Way which is the galaxy that contains our Solar System." And was also a rather delicious muggle chocolate bar. "The Milky Way is something else that has been romanticized by humanity over the centuries and plays an important role in many myths and legends." But he would not be going into details on all that now. Perhaps a future lesson though. These kids were giving him so many ideas! THIS CONCEPT AGAIN! "YES! Brilliant!" Airey man!squealed as his energy came back to him tenfold. In fact, he was SO excited that instead of leaping back up onto the platform he leaped onto the girl's desk. "Miss Hudson has an even clearer example of what I was saying earlier with Mr. Stonewall's choice of song. While not starlight but atoms, we are just that. We are all made of the same bits that stars are. Take 5 points as well." Oh! Airey liked this song and it was one that he was not familiar with. Still on the Miss Hudson's desk, Airey looked at Mr. Gunter and gave an approving nod. "A excellent choice, Mr. Gunter. Very education - much like Mr. Odessa's song. Keep that bit about hydrogen and helium in your mind, yes?" Actually EVERYONE should keep that bit in their minds because it was going to be important later. "And for the record, it is said that 1.3 million Earth volumes would fit into the Sun's volume." Just a little fun fact for everyone since it had been brought up. "Very good, Miss Nessie," he said with a nod. Although he did know that her last name was Dixon as he had made it his business to know the first and last names of the student leaders as they were ready available. "Another fine example of how humankind views the stars. Some say that they are diamonds in the sky, like you said just now and how they are referred to in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, while other notions include dead kings of the past and there is even one Native American tribe that described the stars as being holes poked into night's canvas by a hummingbird." Did they see how humans had a tendency to use their imaginations a bit when it came to space? Not that there was anything wrong with this, per say. "Thank you, Miss Edwards," Airey grinned. Another educational song to add to his stash of music. "Nothing childish about something that is educational and helpful." OWL and NEWT students, should probably write that one down and memorize it. Could be very useful. Yep. Airey couldn't help but chuckle a little under his breath. He was wondering when someone would bring up this particular song and there was a particular quote that he had been dying to use in response. "Thank you, Miss Potter. Here we see another example of how stars have been romanticized and perhaps the clearest example thus far of the idea of wishing upon a star." He paused here and finally jumped off of Miss Hundson's desk so he could walk around a bit. "*There is just one problem with wishing on a star. According to astronomy when you wish upon a star you're actually a few million* years late. That star is dead, just like your dreams," he said in a rather deadpan tone laced with sarcasm. He waited a little bit more to let that thought sink in and for any possible reactions before slooooowly moving on to the next student. "Very good, Mr. Kinsley!" Airey applauded. "Class, as you see in this example a star is being used as a metaphor for a girl, a girl that is so bright - or beautiful - that she is blinding. This is directly connected to the whole idea of wishing on a star. You see, in ancient times when people looked up at the night sky the planet Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love, was and is the brightest point in the sky and mistaken for an actual star by ancient peoples. The Romans built temples to Venus, and since it was the first "star" that could be seen in the sky for much of the year, and always the brightest whether seen in the morning or the evening, it was an easy way to remember it as a prayer point." He paused here to allow students to catch up with note taking. Mr. Kinsley didn't mind him going into all this detail, right? It was just a song after all. "You can probably all guess what the number one thing people prayed for was. That's right, love. The prayer evolved into a wish as people forgot completely about the Goddess of Love and her origins - as is something that humans tend to do with such things - and the wish expanded into realms well outside the cosmic sphere of love. 5 points to you as well, Mr. Kinsley. Excellent reference." Good...but not quite what he meant with his question. Her reasoning that is. And oh? He wasn't allowed to use Miss with this one? Well then... "Thank you, Lady Pevensie." Was that alright? He would soon find out. "I think you have focused on the wrong aspects of the lyrics in terms of my question - although you are correct in your reasoning about it showing just how influential a person's life can be on another. Care to venture another try? Focusing more on the lyrics and how they relate to Astronomy that is." Because she had some good examples in there about the nature of how things worked. Frank Sinatra! Another student that earned several ~~billion~~ awesome points for knowing such a legend. "Thank you for that, Mr. Rush. A classic song that is one of my personal favorites. Yet again showing us all the romanticized vision of astronomy, but also holds some truth. There are indeed seasons on Jupiter and Mars. Mars' spring, just to give some details, is obviously quite different from spring on Earth because Mars has not just permanent ice caps, but also seasonal polar caps of carbon dioxide. Are you familiar with dry ice? Same thing." Board of Governors, right. Those people were here in the school...and some were slotted to come and visit his this lesson as well. Ug. He had completely forgotten about that until just now and the astronomy professor nearly let out a small man!wibble at the thought. First year at Hogwarts. First lesson of the year. First everything and people were coming here to judge him. SO not fair! "Good choice, Miss Carter-Hope," he nodded. Black holes. Heh. Where all bad students went. Just kidding. "Black holes are another fascinating subject, but not something we will be discussing today unfortunately. Although, it is interesting to note that astronomers believe that many galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers." Something to think about. Oh! Foreign music! Airey was certainly not familiar with this song, but it had several nice connections nonetheless. "Very good, Mr. Katharos. Cassiopeia is indeed one of the 48 constellations documented by Greek astronomer Ptolemy and remains among the 88 modern constellations." He would have to ask Mr. Katharos for some more of this music later. "It doesn't have to rhyme as long as it has melody," he added with a wink. No stain on the suit? Hmmm? Airey raised an eyebrow at Miss Fischer and was tempted to march right over to her and take 5 points from Gryffindor for LYING and TEASING a professor about something that ought NOT to be joked around with, but he refrained. For now. We are keeping a close EYE on you though, captain. Oh yes, Owl City. He was familiar with this particular group and found himself humming along as the Hufflepuff prefect shared. "Thank you for that, Miss Lecium. It is nice to see other constellations referenced in songs, don't you think?" All constellations deserved some love, not just those associated with the zodiac ~~and that rubbish subject~~. "Hercules is sometimes hard to spot with the naked eye due to the high magnitude of the stars included in it, but should not be overlooked as it is the fifth largest of the modern constellations." YELLOW! It was like this boy was a Seer or something! Airey's face lit up ~~like a star~~ and he grinned at the boy. "Very good, Mr. Keller. Keep in mind the color yellow as we move through the lesson, yes?*" Oh yes! He knew this song well too. Drops of Jupiter, brought him back to his school days and the one time he had tried to serenade a girl and...well...never mind. A very tragic a beautiful song to be sure. "Thank you, Miss Ella," he smiled. Since he was allowed to call her Miss Ella and all. "Another fine example of how astronomy is used metaphorically in everyday speech." The Beatles! Airey knew that he like this Hufflepuff - even if she was sort of giving him weird looks right now about something. Was it the bumblebee comment? Oops. It WAS true though. "One of my personal favorites," he said with a quick wink. "Although one should technically* say that the sun does not come as it is the Earth that is rotating around it and not the other way around so in fact it is we that come to it." Yeah...that thought earlier about how everyone can sing despite ability? It was still true...but didn't mean that everyone should sing. Miss Skylar fell into the category of shouldn't, although he still applauded her efforts and smiled through the twitching vein in his forehead. Sadly, he hadn't been able to make out single thing the young lady had said, so he stood there just smiling and nodding at the Head Girl. "Thank you very much, Miss Skylar." And we were moving on. MUSICALS! Another one billion awesome points to this student! Airey just adored musicals - and perhaps should have included that in his little self introduction...oh well. "Nicely done, Miss Le Veela," he applauded, noting the tears but not commenting on them. "A good example of how stars and other celestial bodies are compared to more earthly things. Very good." "Lovely, Miss Sung!" Airey applauded. At least there was one Gryffindor who could carry a tune. No offense, Miss Skylar. "While not something I will be going into detail, your song of choice brings up another aspect of astronomy and its connection to religion and mythology. Astronomical phenomena were often described as being the acts of gods and spirits by ancient peoples. For example, thunder and lightening were said to be cause by Zeus by the ancient Greeks. Comets were considered bad omens of deaths of kings or noble men, or coming catastrophes. Sometimes they were even interpreted as attacks by heavenly beings." Ah yes, this song again. He should probably go back and explain things a bit more so that he didn't really look like a dream crusher - because that wasn't his intention at all! ~~Even if his dream of becoming an astronaut had been crushed and he was still very bitter about it~~. "Thank you, Miss Greingoth," Airey said with a small smirk as he looked back and forth between the Slytherin prefect and Miss Potter. "As I said to Miss Potter earlier, wishing on stars is somewhat laughable from a scientific standpoint because the star you are wishing on may very well not be there anymore. While the quote says late, you should not get confused with it being a measurement of time because it is not." Just to clarify that. "It is a unit of length, the distance that light will travel in one year, and when you see a star in the night sky you are looking at its light and not literally THE star. If the star is one thousand light years away then the light has been traveling one thousand years to reach your eyes. Therefore, you are seeing the star as it appeared one thousand years ago." Were they all getting the picture here? One thousand years was a LONG time ago and Merlin knew what all could have happened between that time and the present. Black hole. Supernova. Cosmic dust. So many possibilities. "Most stars last far longer than one thousand years so it is probably still there." So keep wishing and dreaming kids. Branxton. Just his luck that this one was related to the PRESIDENT of the Board of Governors and he had just taken points away from the kid. Don't go crying to mommy about it, okay? He assumed that the woman was his mother at least. Older sister? Aunt? Didn't matter, they had the same last name - a rare one at that - so they had to be related. Still...it was the boy's fault for rolling the lint roller in his hair. Oh yes! A very interesting topic as well! "Very good, Mr. Branxton!" Airey applauded. "The universe is indeed always expanding and the explanation for this is rather complicated and requires that we all reevaluate how we look at such words as space and universe. The notion of an expanding universe comes from the Big Bang cosmological model, referenced in your song as well, where, in summary, the hot and dense components that evolved to create the universe was followed by a continuous expansion, cooling, and thinning out of these same components. Cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, is a fascinating field to study." But not what they were discussing today. Another lesson idea! What was with some of these Gryffindors and being nervous about singing? Oh, wait...cue a nervous glance at Miss Skylar. Never mind. "Flaming flowers, yes, very good Miss Cambridge," Airey applauded. "More good examples of how humans view the stars from a more creative angle. Thank you for that." More nodding and another approving smile towards this Gryffinor. "Very good, Miss Hardwicke. While presented in a somewhat metaphorical way, there is still some scientific connections in this song. Stars being different distances away from us for example. The star closest to us is actually the sun," for those who didn't know. "The second closest is Alpha Centauri, which is 4.2 light years away." Some more fun facts for everyone! Sailor Moon? Airey was not familiar with...whoever that was. A superhero? Hmmm...he would have to check his superhero books back in his office and see if she was listed there. BUT, from what he gathered in the lyrics themselves...there was mythological connections. Not so much straight up astronomy, but one could not study the subject without diving into the mythology a little. Something he had planned for future lessons. "Thank you, Miss Baltazar. I am afraid I am not familiar with this particular superhero, but I gather there is some Greek and Roman mythology about the planets and the moon involved?" Was this Sailor Moon's name Selene? "Yes yes, shooting stars! I will be getting to those in just a moment," he nodded. As for that whole wishing thing, well, he had gone into that in great and gory detail already. SPOILER!!*: Dylan* QUOTE=THE Govoni;11300683] SPOILER!!: Beforehand After lint-rolling himself like the sign had indicated, Dylan strolled into the classroom. Everyone was already present...which was good. SOMEONE was going to be able to make an entrance...and, you know, the Captain enjoyed that. Making an entrance, that is. ........ Wait. They were in a Planetarium. .............. That..........was awesome. Why hadn't they had a Planetarium before? Or did they have it and it just wasn't used? Dylan had questions...and then class was beginning. His curiosity would have to wait...Also, he'd want to ask about that awesome suit... Then the Professor was singing. Yes, the Slytherin Captain felt he and this particular Professor were going to get alone quite well. Raising his hand, Dylan smirked. The clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst Out at you from their hiding place Miss carrie nurse and susie dear Would find themselves at Four Winds It's the nexus of the crisis And the origin of storms Just the place to hopelessly Encounter time and then came me. "The original song was by Blue Oyster Cult...but then redid by Metallica. Both are muggle bands."...and totally awesome ones, at that. Ever heard DON'T FEAR THE REAPER?! Epic rock classics![/QUOTE] MORE AWESOME POINTS BEING AWARDED HERE! Airey piratically beamed at the Quidditch captain and his choice in music. Very good taste. Yes yes. "Excellent choice, Mr. Montmorency," Airey nodded. "A few concepts came up in those lyrics that we have not yet discussed and ---" he glanced down at his sundial again. Merlin! He needed to get a move! blink blink Well...he had said that no reference was too obscure...but he was pretty sure that this song was more about pizza than it was the stars. However! "Interesting example Miss Phillips. For centuries humans often blamed behaviors and other things on the phases of the moon and other astronomical phenomena." Like comets as he had mentioned earlier. EYEING YOU SO HARD RIGHT NOW MISS FISCHER!! "That would be Monty Python," he corrected calmly as he gave an approving nod towards the girl. "A fine wizard who I believe was a Gryffindor." As for her song, well, the connections were obvious. Giving the girl an approving nod - although wincing a little at a certain part in the song where something rather dire was mispronounced, the astronmer gave her a quick round of applause. "Thank you, Miss Fletcher. Plenty of good examples of astronomy in there." Many of which had already been discussed which is why he was going to move on now to the main topic of today's lesson. Oh, hold on there. When had this man arrived?! Had he seen him jump on a student's desk? Oops? Hopefully the man had a sense of humor. Although, he had been expecting someone else to be observing him today. A Mr. Sherman - who he had been surprised had opted to come all the way up to the Astronomy Tower given his, erm, age and all. Airey gave the man a quick nod and awkward smiling before turning his attention back to the students. Yes. He should be moving things along. "Very good all of you and thank you for being brave and singing." Most of them anyway and it hadn't been a requirement to sing. They had humored him though, which he appreciated. Awesome points to them all! "However, none of managed to mention the song that inspired this lesson." Shame really. There had been house points up as a reward for anyone that did."*Are any of you familiar with the song Catch a Falling Star* performed by Perry Como?*" With a quick tap of his wand on the projector, lyrics written in bold white text appeared on the domed ceiling over the night sky for students to read. "As you may have been able to infer from all this, the theme of this term is stars and today we will be focusing on something rather special. A star that isn't really a star but has been mislabeled as one by humans. Often called shooting stars or falling stars* like in the song, there is a proper name for this phenomena. Can anyone tell me what that is?" OOC: it is alright to repeat answers here. Your student character doesn't have to answer either if IC it would make more sense for them not to know which Airey is talking about. Points are not awarded for correct answers only This lesson will continue in hopefully 15 hours. Catch up posts are allowed if you missed a question, but PLEASE put it under a spoiler tag or else you will not receive credit for your efforts. [/QUOTE] 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."