Astronomy Class
 

Ana walked into the classroom "Hello Professor" and she let her body fall and sat down. After the past events she was a little depressed.

Nova entered the Astronomy classroom, taking a seat halfway between its front and the back. She was not really sure if she was excited, or even looking forward to the lesson, but she knew she had nothing to lose. Which, in the end, accounted for her presence, here.

"Good day, Professor?"Jane smiled and asked the professor, while looking for a seat.

Jane settled for a seat in the front row. This is after all, Astronomy. It's gotta be interesting. Planets..nom nom nom.. they looked like flavoured chocolate to her.

Raising his hand, Keefer said, "What about meteorites? They affect us if they hit the earth."

After opening her textbook and getting ready for lesson, Evangeline gave the question some thought and raised her hand. "There is the sun, Professor. Without the sun and the warmth it sends to Earth, there'd be no life." Yup. So the sun was REALLY important.

Ana raised her hand "The sun is very very important"

Shana raised her hand.Ermm Proffessor Is the sun important because if we didn't have the sun then we would have no light.

Cale raised his hand. "Well, I dunno if the sailors still use this, but they used to use the North Star to help themselves navigate," he suggested.

Very true! They affect us even as they come near because it's our chance to learn about them. Have a point.

"Excellent! 2 points for both of you. It's also helps with photosynthesis which gives us plants."

....."Yes, that's true, and the weather can affect how we feel, which is where we get adrenaline, have a point" okay....maybe not exactly true, but it worked...

Forrester nodded, "Yes, it is."



He looked around the room, "Now, people often say that there are beings in space that help us, who can name something that 'aliens' have done for us?"

Cale wrinkled his eyebrows. Weren't aliens like, not real? He raised his hand. "Well, not that this benefits wizards, really, but the 'alien' idea has given Hollywood a lottttt of movie plots and entertained millions of Muggles."

Shana wasn't sure about this but she raised her hand,she was willing to give it a go for her fellow slytherins Erm Professor,Have they helped keep our planets tidy ? Shana knew it was the wrong answer but she had to give it a go.

Okay - this one was a bit harder. Forehead creasing in thought, Evangeline slowly raised her hand. "They have created life on Earth, Sir?" She said, but then realised she probably needed to do some explaining. "Some Muggle scientists claim that life on Earth began, many many years ago, with some teeny weeny thingies ... organic molecules, I think that's how they call them. And one of the possible origins of those molecules is outer space." So maybe that wasn't exactly what Forrester was looking for, but hey.

"Welllll," Winnie began, "hasn't the possibility of life on other planets lead the Muggles to explore space, and to find out more about our solar system?" Her small white hand was raised tenatively.

"Who says it doesn't benefit wizards? Many of our kind enjoy the muggle inventions, and even more find ways to improve it. In fact, our kind wouldn't even make it to space without the ingeniousness of the muggles. Think about that for a minute or two."

"Very good to the rest of you, very interesting ideas, they've also supposedly given help to the ancient Egyptians and Myan's with their pyramids."

"This isn't a silly topic. Just because they haven't been found as yet, doesn't mean life doesn't exist elsewhere in the universe.

"In the public mind, the galaxy seems to be swarming with life, especially intelligent life. How much do we really know scientifically about the chance that life exists on other planets, however? And if life exists apart from Earth, is any of it intelligent?

The first man to try and put this question on a scientific basis was Frank Drake. Drake was an astronomer who wondered whether it would be possible to discover other intelligent life by using radio waves. Drake knew since the invention of radio in the early 20th century, mankind had been accidentally announcing its existence to the rest of the galaxy by signals from its radio and TV stations. He reasoned if others could detect Earth from its radio waves, it must be possible for Earth to detect other intelligent civilizations by listening for their electronic emissions."

Ana raised her hand "The universe is so big that it would be strange if we were the only ones. Maybe in some places they are less intelligent and in others more. I don't know..."

As her Head of House spoke about that Frank Drake dude, Evangeline scribbled down notes on a piece of parchment. "Have they tried that, Professor?" Evangeline asked, raising her head. "Detecting other intelligent societies by listening for their electronic emissions?" She assumed they had but you never knew...

Shana had no idea as what the answer to the next question was.So she got out her notebook and started to write notes on the Frank Drake Dude.She looked up at the professor and listened to what everyone else was saying.

"Good question Plymouth, Evangeline. How would we know when to contact? Is there a way to guess if and when another group of life forms is using radios for the same thing? That's why Drake came up with his equation that multiplied a number of variables together (for example, the number of stars in the galaxy times the fraction of stars that are "sun-like") to get an answer. However, the problem with this was highly dependent on the value of the variables entered. Some were well-known and accepted values, like the number of stars in the galaxy, while others weren't much more than wild guesses (like the number of years a technological civilization might exist before going extinct).

"What do you guys think happened because of this?"

Ana raised her hand "With more than one variable it would be really hard to calculate. An d with wild guesses the number could be... erm... wrong or very far from the truth"

Keefer raised both hands into the air, per usual. He attempted to answer Forrester by saying, "I bet people had mixed reactions. Some people would get really into it and be totally convinced by his equation. I'm guessing the majority of people thought that it was a load of dragon dung, though. Like, that number of years a civilization might exist thing.. That sounds kinda shady to me.

Hmmm. "If some of the values of the variables were nothing more than guesses.." Evangeline started as she raised her hand. "I suppose the equation didnt do much good? The results could be pretty random and not have any meaning at all.."

Cale raised his hand. "Well, I suppose since many of his variables were made up, he didn't get accurate answers. Without accurate answers, he can't be sure if his equation even worked. An equation that predicts when someone is using a device that we can contact them through sounds really absurb anyways--how can one really figure out when someone is going to be using a device of that kind? That's probably why he had all his bologna variables in there."

"Great job! 2 points all around!" Could he do that? Eh, who cares, HE was the one teaching after all.


"Great points, maybe the other life forms don't want to be contacted, maybe they weren't ready for the radio waves we sent, and, most likely, the equation was off. Many different scientists have come up with many different solutions, so it's entirely possible that we just may not know what we're doing as yet.

"The most optimistic result is that there are several billion civilizations in our galaxy. The most pessimistic estimate is about 100. Many scientists feel comfortable with a figure of million radio-using civilizations.

"The more optimistic figures have been used to justify SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) projects where receivers search the sky for signs of artificial, extraterrestrial radio sources. Even with as many as a million radio-capable civilizations in our galaxy at this moment, however, it might be hard to detect one from Earth. Why is that, do you think?" Ed Forrester looked about the room, hoping to get these kids thinking.

Both hands in the air, Keefer took a stab as this latest puzzling question. " Um.. It seems like with so many other celestial bodies out there, there is bound to be interference. Like, don't supernovas emit waves, and the sun as well? And what about the mere distance? What are the odds that a radio wave from a million light years away is going to travel all that distance and 'happen' to be received by a specific point on the earth with a receiver? It just doesn't seem too probable to me that we'll ever be able to pick up a signal. There might be aliens emitting signals, but it's a whole other problem to detect them."

He started to lower his hands, but then had another thought. "Professor, not to be a downer or anything, but why does it even matter if there are alien civilizations out there? Even if we could contact them, they would be so far away that traveling there would be highly impractical, wouldn't it?"

Oh goodness. Evangeline had no idea of what the answer to the question was, but still she raised her hand. Hey, maybe aliens would inspire her and she'd get the answer right! Snort. "Perhaps because their technology might be too advanced? Or they're too far away? Or they just don't exist at all.." She said with a small shrug of her shoulders. "Or maaaaybe, they're hiding their radio waves from us?" Wait, that was said already. Right. "Or perhaps all the stuff up there can interfer? Like satellites and celestial bodies and pollution itself?"

"Great answers, take another 2 points each.

"Keefer, it may be impractical to travel now, but what if we could continue to share information between our planets?" He looked out about the classroom,

"Does anyone in here even know why it's important and why scientists, not the crazy people in the muggle tabloids, scientists hope to find life on other planets? Hope to find life in the universe at all?"

Cale raised his hand again, practically giddy at the fact he had just earned two points. WOOT! "Well, if there are radio signals out there, we might not be able to recognize them, since we're so used to the kind of signals that OUR radios give out. We might not be looking for the right sounds, or if we are picking up sounds, we might not recognize them as something important and just ignore it or label it as unimportant." he said.

Whoops. They had moved on to the next question. Blushing, he raised his hand again. "Well, maybe if we find life in other planets we'll be able to find out more information about why WE can survive on this planet. Maybe if we discover other planets capable of sustaining life, we'll be able to figure out what it is about these planets and our own that allows us to live here, and we can figure out why we can't live somewhere like...Mercury."

Ana raised her hand "It could be because it takes light years to reach us and it may be interpreted as anything else. Or simple because it's not in our direction"

Pondering the question, he remembered something he had seen on the Muggle television a few years ago. Both hands in the air, he hesitantly shared. "I think I remember seeing something about global overpopulation. People were concerned that soon there would not be enough space on the planet for all the people. Some scientists thought we could try to find another inhabitable planet to move to, and others decided to build a space station to live on, which I hear isn't going to well."

Trying not to giggle at Clifford's reply, Evangeline raised her hand once more. "Like Clifford said, we could share knowledge with them. I mean, if they're more advanced, we'd learn with them, if not, they'd learn with us." She nodded her head before adding. "And you know, incase it becomes impossible for us to keep on living on Earth in the future, it's always good to have friends around the galaxy who can help us move.." Alriiiiight.

"For more advanced techniques" she said raisinh her hand.

"ALRIGHT!" Ed Forrester jumped up. "That's it exactly. 3 points to all." Maybe he shouldn't give as many points? Nah, it was alright, he was sure.

"In our own solar system Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is considered a possible haven for primitive life as well as Titan, a moon of Saturn. Both Europa and Titan are probably too far from the warmth of the sun to develop any kind of advanced life, but what about moons circling gas giant planets close to their stars in other solar systems? Would the mother planet of the stars provide the necessary tidal forces to accelerate life?

Perhaps some kind of life can also exist in the clouds of those gas giant planets. Picture a colony of huge jelly-fish-like animals floating though the alien sky. Even stranger possiblities exist. The late Robert Forward, a scientist and science-fiction writer, suggested in his novel Dragon's Egg life might even be able to exist on the surface of a neutron star, though such life would be radically different than our own.

As we venture out beyond our solar system, we should be prepared to find life, but it may be far different than the little gray men with large eyes we so often picture in our minds. Far different and much, much rarer."

Keefer pondered Forrester's words. It was simply too hard to think about such deep topics this close to Christmas holiday. I wonder what strange life forms could exist.. Maybe a planet exists where all the rivers flow with chocolate! That would be awesome!

Qaz raised her hand and said, 'They might not even be carbon based, like we are. The could be based on something else like copper, silicon...or they could be sentient plants...'

Looking about the class, Ed Forrester nodded, "Okay then, homework for tonight:

A: Tell why you think we have not contacted other-worldly beings.

B: Share your favorite Alien-related story/myth.


All homework must be PM'd to me, Mistress Vondella, no later than March 3rd, 10:55 PM CST (GMT -6). Be sure to read the class rules and apply them to the homework.

Wait... that's it?!? he thought. I was just getting in to this class! Oh man! But he couldn't wait to do the homework. It sounded awesome.

Walking up to Forrester, he smiled and said, "Thanks for the lesson, Professor! It was really cool!"

With a final wave at Forrester, he turned and skipped out of the classroom, humming merrily to himself.

Cale blinked. That was it? Homework already? That was so...unlike Forrester. In fact, he had been acting very strange throughout the whole lesson. Shaking his head to rid himself of this weirdness, he copied down the homework.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, my man, I can't wait to read your homework." He chuckled as the kid left. Professor. How silly.

Qaz copied down the homework and turned to go...sorry that the lesson had been so short....

"Have I?" Ed Forrester asked slyly, where did these kids come up with these things?? "Trust me, if I had seen an alien, one of three things would have happened: I'd be famous, I'd be thrown into the loony bin, or it'd be covered up and I'd be forbidden to speak of it. What do you think?"

Mariel was too bemused by the structuring of this class to do anything but copy down notes. This Astronomy class was nothing like the ones Forrester normally taught, not that she was complaining really, it was a pretty interesting lesson just different... in an odd way. And Forrester himself was acting strange, giving away many more points than usual. Shrugging, the Ravenclaw girl copied down the homework and slowly approached the professor's desk.

"Thanks for the interesting lesson, Professor," she said, eyeing him carefully. Then with a bright smile, she pulled out a chocolate frog from the hidden stash in her messenger bag and set it on his desk. "Have a good day," she added cheerfully as she left the room. If he wasn't feeling himself, maybe the chocolate would help. Chocolate always made things better for the 13 year old girl. And if he was just having an exceptionally cheerful day, then she was still happy to share.

Jake looked up at the Professor. He'd been listening, but staring out of the window and up at the sky, feeling extremely despondant right now. He didn't want to be in this class, not with this Professor and he'd had so much on his mind... and then it was over.

"Huh?" Jake said, looking around as the professor mentioned homework. "Oh... okay..."

Quickly writing it down, Jake chanced a quick look at the teacher. He hadn't noticed anything too bizarre aside from the seemingl short lesson. When he had finished, Jake shoved his stuff in his bag and went to leave. "Laters," he mumbled hastily. Scaaaary Professor!!!!!

Forrester bent down to Clifford's ear, "I do too." he stood back up, "I'm guessing you'll get a perfect Homework paper then? I bet you know lots of great stories you could share."

Ed Forrester twisted his face, "No, the library won't have any of the good books. Here," he turned and handed a couple of well-read books to Clifford, "These are the best books available, don't lose them, they're hard to find." He gave the boy a conspiratorial wink.