Oooh. They got to use their telescopes now! That was going to be so much fun. The onyl thing was that Indiana really didn't know how to use her telescope that much. She'd never used it before. She hoped that she didn't look too silly. But Indy figured that she needed to learn how to use it, and this would be the perfect place to do that. It was a lesson after all. She was sure that Professor Superman would help her. He was a professor afterall, it was his job. Standing up, she grabbed her telescope, and set it up infront of the windows. So she was looking for mercury. Now the thing was, she didn't know what mercury looked like either. So Indy was glad that she had brought her textbook with her, so that she'd be able to have a little look at what she was supposed to be looking at.

After reading in her textbook, she looked through her telescope. But couldn't see a thing, expect for a few random stars. Okay. So that was a bit of fail. She turned the page her in textbook, and re-positioned the telescope a bit, trying to see if she'd be able to see anything but stars. Stars were really pretty, but she didn't want to see them right now.

Star gazing at midnight, eh? Perfect. Aiden yawns continuously while setting up her brass telescope an observes the sky carefully looking for Mercury. Wait, how does it look lile anyways?

"Uhh... Professor," called Aiden after raising up her hand. "Is there any specific ways to find Mercury?" Honestly, she can't differenciate between the stars and planets.

Listening to instructions, Kurumi reached into her bag for her telescope and examined the lens. Merlin was it dusty. That WAS to be expected since she had not used it since last term, so Kurumi removed a small cloth from her bag to clean it. Satisfied with the cleanliness of her telescope, Kurumi walked over to one of the unoccupied windows and set up her telescope, but she didn't look in it just yet. First, she needed to look for something else, something that she could see with her own eyes.

Mercury was always elusive, never really a planet that one could see with the naked eye except for a few times out of the year. "Jupiter..where are you..." she wondered a loud as she looked out the window, squinting her eyes to focus. After several minutes of searching, Kurumi spotted the bright star that wasn't really a star and she clapped her hands together.

She heard several students asking about how to find Mercury, and she wondered if she should just right out tell them. Doing so would take away form the whole learning process though. "Mercury is really hard to see because the light it emits is very dim compared to the others. You need to look for something ELSE first," she said vaguely.

Kurumi then turned her attention back outside and was about to ready her telescope when...she lost Jupiter. Kurumi hung her head and rubbed her eyes. They were drooping a bit from it being so late. Combine that with squinting to find Mercury and you had one big mess.

So they were going to look for Mercury eh ? Alright. Beezus might get the hang of focusing on the planets first before comets. She slowly took out her brass telescope from her backpack and moved towards a window which was not yet claimed by any student.

She peaked into it. There were wonderful sparkling dots above, must be the stars. She could even point out some constellations. There were also different dark seemingly stones which kind of shines. But then, where was Mercury ? "Er-Professor, how do we exactly identify Mercury ?" she asked.

Ryden seemed to brighten up as the professor gave out the instructions for the next task. Grinning to herself as people began to move, the fifth year took out her telescope from her bag - well of COURSE she'd have one, she LOVED her telescope - and set it up by an unoccupied window, fiddling with it until she deemed it ready. She'd done this before... a LOT of times.

RIGHT. Mercury. Gazing at the sky, she was glad to see that it wasn't yet fully dark as Mercury wasn't visible during those times, being the closest planet to the sun. Gazing out at the sky near the horizon, she scanned it carefully, looking for that single bright spot she knew would be Mercury. Or, well, NOT so bright because it was November. It was one of the few planets one could see with the naked eye, though you had to be quick to catch it. It only appeared RIGHT after the sun set, or right before it rose, and moved much quicker than other planets.

Oh, and it 'twinkled' more. Hehe. As she looked, Ryden couldn't help but make a face at what the professor had said. Back home, it would be perfect now, or a month ago, really, to see Mercury at twilight... Here it wouldn't really be all that visible. BUT, Ryden was determined to find it. After all, it would be a horrible embarrassment not to the find one of the planets in the sky when she'd actually been looking at them all her life. True, the sky was different here but she should be able to find it no problem.

Making a face at the kids looking in the completely WRONG directions - HONESTLY, don't they know even a LITTLE bit?! Psht - the fifth year shook her head and went back to her searching, deciding to ignore. Getting angry at stupidity in astronomy AGAIN wasn't clever. Nope, not at all. Not even at little Miss Prefect over there, who was saying things that Ryden wasn't agreeing with.

MEH. "Planets don't emit light... they reflect from the sun. It's why Mercury has phases, like the Moon, or Venus, if you like," the fifth year said, unable to stop herself. At least her tone was nicely level - very academic and proper, not at all argumentative.

And Kurumi was suddenly reminded why she didn't like Astronomy. Giving up her search for Jupiter once again, Kurumi glanced over her shoulder at the Ravenclaw girl from last term that just ALWAYS seemed to want to pick a fight. At least she had a somewhat pleasant voice this time around, even if her body language indicated like she was in a foul mood.

"Forgive me for misusing the term," she said apologetically with a slight bow. No sense going into any more detail than that because she was sure that the Ravenclaw was going to explode or try to make it a bigger deal than it was. Shrugging her shoulders, Kurumi returned to her window and leaned out it. Looking north wasn't going to do anything, neither was south - which was behind her - so that left the other two directions. West wasn't going to make any sense since most of the time she had seen Mercury had been in the pre-dawn sky. But that had been in September...and here it was already November.

That certainly made things more difficult.

Kurumi leaned her elbows on the windowpane and looked east, hoping to once again find the bright spot in the sky that indicated Jupiter. The planet reflecting light.

Jonathan took out his telescope as the professor told them to find Mercury. Planet finding, not that it's not good but it's in the middle of the night. His eyes can barely see his own surroundings because he is too sleepy. He just needs to snap out of it and focus with the activity. This would be really fun if it weren't for the fact that he keeps yawning. Any minute now and he will seriously slap himself so that he will wake up.

Focus. Find Mercury.

Jonathan used the telescope to find Mercury. He searched for it long enough. He doesn't seem to know where it is. So what does he know about Mercury? Think. Mercury is the first planet. Correct. What else? Nearest to the sun. Ohhh, that should be an easy target to find since Jonathan needs to find it near to the sun... but right now, it's midnight.

Jonathan looked at his telescope again and try finding Mercury, again. It is also hard to find since it is the smallest among other planets. It might take quite awhile...

Sigh.

Confused with the different ways given by the two seniors, Aiden look at the both of them cluelessly. Maybe she shoupd give up on looking for the planet. After all, she is a disaster at Astronomy.

Nevertheless... "Sorry, but I don't quite understand what are you guys explained. Finding something else firat such as...?" she asks leaving the end of her question blank to be filled by someone who is good at the tiresome subject.

Marilyn pulled her bag up and grabbed her brass telescope. Yes, she'd felt a little embarrassed by not saying more planets.

Fail, Force!

They were to find Mercury...The blonde knew that Mercury was one of the five planets that was visible to the naked eye on most nights. She positioned her telescope and aimed it towards the west. Or would it need to be the East?

Clear view of the horizon? Check

Deciding upon the West, she peered into the scope, not seeing much at first. Perhaps Mercury wasn't ready to be seen tonight...

*frown*

Ashley took down some notes, because he hadn't written any of that stuff down yet. Even if he'd known that answer, he still felt the need to have it all in his notes. And once he was done, he took out his telescope and went to set up and start looking for this planet that wasn't bright even though it didn't emit light or whatever people were arguing about now.
He had no idea how to actually find Mercury. He had no idea, really, how to actually find anything. The few times he'd played around with a telescope, either he found a lot of stars, or something just happened into his field of vision accidentally. Would Mercury be so nice as to just wander by the part of the sky he was watching?
..
...
....
Apparently not. What a jerk.

Kurumi turned her attention to Aiden and smiled softly. "Think of it this way, there is always a trick to help find something in the night sky. A common example is trying to find the North Star. Once you know the Giant Dipper constellation, you follow the two stars that make up outer edge of the cup, the bit farthest from the handle. You then draw a line from the fainter star to the brighter star with your eyes and keep going until you see another bright star and you have found the North Star." It was a nice little trick to know to be sure. "Often times, Mercury is located near another planet in the sky, one that reflects more light than itself. So, you find that planet and you can find Mercury."

And she was assuming it was Jupiter at the moment, but Venus was always rather bright and Mercury sometimes appeared next to it as well. Kurumi peered into her telescope again. AHA! She had something. She pressed her eyes on it more and tried to focus it only to find that the dot she was looking at didn't change at all.

That was...odd...

Kurumi removed her eye from the view and examined her telescope. No wonder the dot didn't move. "That's...disgusting..."

Who was sending their owl on a night delivery?

"Professor?" Corey stuck his hand up. "Mercury... ain't that the little one that is only visible for a little while at dawn? Like right by the sun? How long until dawn?"

He wandered over and looked towards the Southeast , not bothering with a telescope, just getting his bearings. Maybe it was a trick question.

Penny removed her telescope from its case and set it up - apparently they were looking for Mercury....

Putting her eye to the scope, she began looking for the planets, but Mercury was elusive....

But she continued to keep looking for it...

Aspen quietly set up her telescope, wandering a ways from most everyone else. At home, the telescope was just already in place - and her Pops was there to help with the adjustments.

This telescope was new and her Pops was definitely not around to help.

It fell over once and Aspen caught it JUST before it crashed. The whole thing was awkward and even when she DID get it set up (somewhat steady... sort of), Aspen couldn't see anything. On the upside, the tiny bat in her pocket seemed happy enough to be out and awake so late. At least someone was happy.

Cael pulled out his brass telescope from his bag setting it carefully on the table. The people in Diagon Alley had thought it cute to wrap it in shimmering purple fabric covered in magically twinkling stars. Clever...

Tapping it once with his wand unwrapped it and tapping it again caused small legs to grow out of the telescope until it was properly set up. He was so glad he'd paid extra for the self-setting charm when he saw others trying to wrestle their tripod into place.

Leaning down to look through the eye glass, Cael was struck with the realization that the Professor hadn't actually told them how to find Mercury. Erm... that made things much more difficult.

Deciding to look at the brightest star in the sky he called, Like this, Professor?" Meh, the man looked really busy. Maybe he'd just look at the moon for the time being...

Mercury...

Victoria took out her telescope and set it up right. Searching mercury is exactly the hardest planet to find, Victoria had managed to find it many times before at home. She looked carefully into the telescope and tried to look for a yellowish-gold colored planet. Maybe today is not the best time to look for Mercury, because all she can see is the moon and some stars. Boo...

Frowning slightly, she turned her telescope a little so she can get the other parts of the solar system. Ooooh!

Victoria looked into the telescope closely. VENUS! She has spotted VENUS! Suddenly, she forgot all about finding Mercury and started examining Venus and tried to find other planets.

Jordan took his telescope out of his bag. Hmm... How do you do this? He tried many different ways of assembling the wretched thing. Dammit! He should've practiced this! After 5 minutes of fumbling around with it, he managed to get nowhere. "Come on Jordan! You can do it!" he muttered through gritted teeth and reddening hair. Woop, he'd done it! Now, to the stars!

He at the sky though his telescope, now where was Mercury? Stars... Stars... More stars... Oh yes, no that was the moon... Stars again...

He'd keep trying.

Sierra stayed quiet as she listened to the professor go on and on as he replied to the class. When he clapped, she blinked, and her eyes flashed upward. Oh, ...it was time to take out their telescopes. She leaned over and rummaged through the bag that kept her telescope safe when she wasn't using it. She gently pulled it out of its case and headed toward the window.

She set it up and then peered through the lens in search of Mercury. She hadn't used her telescope in a while, so the zoom was off-focus and not clear at all. She frowned at her telescope but kept adjusting the zoom until it looked normal again. Hmm... So where was the planet anyway? She moved her telescope in the right direction and then in the left. She couldn't focus on anything at all, though. Kurumi Hollingberry and her know-it-all self was chatting away right next to her.

Blahhh.

O_________o

Aiden practically gagged throughout Kurumi's explanation. She feels like her brain has stopped functioning and is going to melt soon. She stares outside the window for a while, interpreting the information given to her before turning back to the Gryffindor prefect. "You mean that I've to form a virtual line from Merak to Dubhe first, then I'll find the Polaris?" That part isn't so difficult for her.

"After I find the Polaris, is there any other planet I've to discover?" asked the young Slytherin with one hand holding the smaller end of her telescope.

Luna took her telescope and began looking for Mercury it wasn't going to be hard she knew where it was the closeest to the sun

''There'' she muttered and sort of pointed to it it was exactly as her book disscirbed it but it looked much more beautifull ''I found it Proffeser,''

Nate retrieved his telescope from under his seat and moved over towards the window. He set it up, made sure it was facing the right way, and peered through the eyepiece. "Mercury... Mercury..." he repeated to himself quietly, scanning the sky for something larger than a star. Then he saw a green light. *gasp* A Killing Curse! he thought. Then he focused up, to see who had castes the spell and how they were so high up. Oh, wait, just a muggle airplane. Nate thought, disappointed. He had sort of wanted to witness an attempted murder, it seemed cool. He continued to look for Mercury to no avail.

Jesifur lifted her telescope out of it's case and set it up. She tilted it in the approximate direction of Mercury and looked through it. moving it very slowly from left to right and up and down she finally found the shining dot in the sky. At least she thought it was Mercury. It seemed a bit fuzzy, but it was in the spot that Mercury was supposed to be in, so it must be it.

Willow raised an eyebrow at the professor but did as he wished anyway.
How can he possibly expect us to pinpoint Mercury? I mean, it looks like half of us are first years!? she thought, as she took her telescope out of her bag and assembled it. Maybe there was a trick to it, like how you look for the two 'pointer' stars which act as an arrow to help you find the Southern Cross in Australia?
When she had set her telescope up at the nearest window, Willow opened her textbook to try and find a page on planet navigation...

Daichi KNEW he had forgotten to buy something at Diagon Alley! He had been wondering about it before this lesson and now he knew it. He had forgotten a telescope. Daichi looked around and saw a cupboard stood open with a crack and thought that he could use one of those telescopes.

Standing up, Daichi walked towards the cupboard and grabbed one before going back to where Thea had placed her telescope to look out of the window.


He jumped as he placed his equipment down next to her when she started to growl and he eyed her with curious eyes as he wondered if she had turned in to a lion or something. But then she smiled and he didn't see any sharp teeth so he was safe. Phew. WAIT...how on Earth could she become a Lion anyway?! He chuckled as he set up his telescope and pointed it at the sky.

He peered through the lens but it was out of focus. Daichi turned on the knobs but the more he turned the more out of focus his vision became. "You see stars? I only see a blur!" he grumbled at Thea as he tried to adjust the lens.

Thea shook her head. 'This is silly..' She mumbled. 'Sorry, what does it even LOOK like?' Shaking her head, she ran a hand through her hair. Sleepy sleepy sleepy.. Frowning slightly, Thea looked at Daichi's telescope. Smiling, she leant forward and rubbed on his lense with the sleeve of her robe. 'That might help a little bit..'

Rolling her eyes, still smiling she peered into the telescope again. Grr. 'Why won't they just move out of the way?!' She meant the stars.. but whatever. She probably sounded mental anyway.