Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Oh, Astronomy was faaaaaascinating, even if Katy wasn't sure about this professor yet. The universe was vast, which meant there was plenty yet to discover. Plenty to learn.

She took her seat with an eager smile on her face. "Good day, Professor. Did you paint these yourself?" The professor sort of looked like her Auntie Tune, if you squinted a little bit. "Neptune!" Ironic, no? That was her auntie's name!

Caroleena smiled as another one of her students had walked in. "Good day to you as well, Miss Toussaint." That was amazing, a student that was asking about art. "Sadly no, a few of my friends in Paris painted them." Children that loved art would become very smart adults one day.

Caroleena nodded at her. "Neptune is correct."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft

Leon smiled at Colt as he joined his empty table and he was about to say hello when a younger girl asked to join them.

Leon barely had time for a head nod, before class started.

Ohhhh.. well this was an interesting question, though of course easily answered. It seemed someone had already given an answer, though Leon had his own spin on the question..

Sorry Professor, Ravenclaw here.

He raised his hand and said

"Pluto, unless you don't consider that a planet. I think it's classified as a dwarf planet now?" He asked her politely and respectfully, after all this was her subject.. "If not then Neptune as she said. " He motioned to the Slytherin girl whose name he wasn't fully sure of. Katy? Maybe?

"You're correct, Mr Kennedy and we'll be getting to Pluto shortly."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Eighth planet from the sun? Seriously? Even she knew that; that was like nine year old level. Katy answered already, but not wanting to be outshined, Sky's hand shot up with some useless space knowledge, "The eighth planet from the sun is Neptune, as Katy said, which also happens to be fourth largest planet and shines blue due to the way red color gets absorbed by methane." she may have watched some science shows on the muggle television box a few times..

"Correct." This girl was going to be a very promising student. "Very good, Miss Diggory! All of that is correct."

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

As for the first question, Zoryn had NO idea. There was some sort of rhyme to remember them.... But Zoryn didn't remember the rhyme. So she went with the best possible answer she could think of ('cause everyone else was repeating the same thing and Zoryn wanted to be ORIGINAL!!!).

"The MOON!" DOUBLE FIST PUMP! Yes. Victory!!!!!!!!!! 'Cause the moon was ALWAYS there in the sky, Zoryn could see it with her own eyes. Aaannnnnnd it always looked really far away. Plus the moon and the sun were never together at the same time, so that must mean they're REALLY far from each other.

Logic.

Also, she couldn't remember if it counted as a planet or not. So YOLO.

Caroleena couldn't help but laugh. "That's incorrect Miss Spinnet but I really love your enthusiasm."

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

And then class began...and Derf was SO not prepared. No parchment nor quill out on his desk...so there was a bit of scrambling to get all THAT set up. But it did give him time to listen, sort of, to other's answers and he was pleased that his answer was DIFFERENT.

"PLANET NINE!" he chirped eagerly in response when it was his turn. It was way way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay far away.

But then he HAD to nudge Zoryn with his elbow. "Psssssssst...the Moon isn't a planet...it's a moon." There was a better word for it...but it was escaping the first year at the moment.

Caroleena couldn't help but laugh. "That's incorrect Miss Spinnet but I really love your enthusiasm." The blonde woman looked over at the boy that was sitting next to her. "Well that depends on if you consider Pluto a planet, Mr Ashburry-Hawthorne." It's the debate that will forever keep going until the end of time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonea

Listening to what the professor was saying she immediately thought back at what she had learned at her Dutch muggle school about the planets and she started muttering a mnemonic she’d learned there; Melige verschikkelijke aardappelen maken je snel uitermaten naar… counting on her fingers she eventually knew the answer and she raised her hand with a smile. “It’s Neptune, professor” she said.

"Very good!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by potterobsessionist

Carlton nodded, vigorously. "Very excited. I like space." That's where Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi hung out.

He didn't have time to answer the professor's first question though as loads of hands shot up in the air. He bounced a little in his seat, repeating the rhyme they'd taught him at school to remember all the planets in order from the sun and outward.

Eager to be part of the discussion, even though the right answer had already been said he waved his hand in the air. "Neptune is far away from the sun, another planet that is far away from the sun is Saturn, Professor." See how smooth the conversation went from a boring planet to his favorite one? "And Saturn is neat because of its rings that look like hula-hoops." Come to think of it, he hadn't seen any hula-hoops laying around the castle. Maybe it was a muggle thing? So Carlton wiggled his hips as though he was using a hula hoop. Just so that they get the idea of how cool the planet was.

So... Wanna talk about Saturn? Yeah?

"You would be correct about both, Mr Lewis." She smiled warmly at him. "By the way Saturn is a very interesting planet, my favorite planet actually."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Colt knew Leon would answer the question. I mean he was a ravenclaw after all. They were rumored the smart ones of the castle. He even saw a gryffindor join their table (Olivia). He forgot her name but she seemed familiar. He nodded and pointed towards the empty seat. "Help yourself.." Kudos to her dealing with the older students. He saw the Professor give me an ugly look because he didn't greet her. Ah well, it was his choice. If she reported him then so be it. Stupid thing to report really. He heard the Professor shutting the door when the one student literally just made it. He chuckled because he used to be that way.

He paid attention a little bit and he heard the question. Which planet was farthest from the sun. Typical ravenclaw raised his hand in the air. The first one of the group. This head boy was impressed, he motioned his head towards him and said, "Yeah what Leon said.." He wouldn't bother repeating it.

"What did Mr Kennedy say, Mr Winchester?" She had to make sure that her students were paying attention.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChanceCoeur

Noelle sat beside Janelle and gave her a big grin. The girl was a seventh year now. How in the world?? "Im good! How've you been??" The Gryffindor Prefect could remember that snowball fight. It had been fun.

She turned to tell the professor hello but she began talking. She was happy though that the professor gave her a big hello "Good day professor!" she said giving the professor a big smile. Her attention though went to what the professor was saying.

Aright then. No nonsense. Got it.

"Neptunes the eight planet right?" She'd learned that in primary school. It's been a while though so she wasn't completely sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

OOOOOH! An answer that Kane actually knew! He sat up with a grin and his hand shot in the air. "That would be Neptune, Professor," he answered confidently. There was no way this could be a trick question...people had definitely gotten over that whole Pluto thing, right?

The kids at Ilvermorny hadn't...but hopefully Hogwarts had because seriously it had been like, almost a century!

"The both of you are correct!"

She was hoping that at the very least one of her students would mention Pluto. That was where she was getting at. Everyone that had said Neptune and Pluto were correct, very correct but that was also because of her very own personal beliefs but she wasn’t the only person that was in the Astronomy world that believed what she was about to say.

“Miss Phillips makes a great point. It is difficult to know if Neptune is the farthest planet from our sun. There are Astronomers and Scientists that are currently still working on if there are any more planets in our solar system that are way past Neptune and Pluto but for now we have to go on with what they tell us. I’m sure in the near future that there will be a discovery of a new planet.” Hopefully before she died, that would be great.

“Correct Miss Paton and I agree with the people that still think it’s a planet but I have to teach what is most important to what the Scientists and Astronomers are currently telling us.” Which to her was very sad. “The closest planet to the sun is Mercury and currently the smallest planet in our solar system. Pluto was known as the smallest planet in our solar system up until August 2006 when the members of the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to being a dwarf planet meaning that only the inner and outer planets are the designated planets in our solar system.” Caroleena took a momentary pause to make sure that everyone was paying attention and for the students that were writing their notes. She had a point to all of this information. “Those of you that answered Neptune are correct but so are those of you that answered Pluto.” She paused again but possibly for dramatic effect.

“What is the definition of planet? Mercury is considered a planet even though there are moons in our solar system that are larger than Mercury. It seems as if we don’t have an exact reason as to why we consider a planet, a planet. Does a planet have to be big? Does a planet have to be small?” She wanted them to think about it. She wanted her students to realize that after all Pluto could possible be an actual planet. “Over the centuries many Astronomers have tried to define the word planet but in the end everyone comes up short and isn’t able to define the word.” Hopefully she was getting somewhere with them. “When some asks me if Pluto is a planet, I can’t answer them because no one can define the word planet and now you all can do the same as well.” That was pretty simple.

“I know I’m throwing easy questions at you but considering you all were taught by a ghost last term I just want to see what you all know.” Was this a cursed position or did teachers not want to teach this lesson after a ghost had taught it? Caroleena wasn't implying at all that the ghost didn't have creditability but still Hogwarts had to sin pretty low to hire a ghost.

“How many rings does Saturn have?”

OOC: I know I didn't quote everyone but everyone that answered Neptune and Pluto are correct. Class will continue in about 24 hours!

How many rings did Saturn have?

Hmm.. well that was sort of a trick question..ish.. Leon raised his hand and gave the answer he had.

"Well, it has seven rings, four main ones and three fainter ones.." The older boy paused for a second though as if trying to figure out how to word the next part of his answer, "However. Scientists have been able to see that these rings are actually made of hundreds or thousands of tiny little rings.."

So ring groups? Maybe? Ehh.. he hoped that answer went over well enough.

Charlotte, usually, would also have gotten excited about the opportunity to give Neptune as an answer (AUNT NEPTUNE YEAH!) except right NOW she happened to be VERY NOT HAPPY with her cousin so she just sat and glared very uncharacteristic daggers at the other blonde.

GOT WORDS FOR YOU, KATHERINE TOUSSAINT. BETRAYER. TRAAITOR. WORST COUSIN IN THE WORLD.

Still, she was at least slightly, temporarily distracted from glaring because she DID like Astronomy, and thanks to her father (and her mother to a lesser extent) she knew some stuff. Selective knowledge, but still. She zoned back in somewhere mid lecture and then a question came, and she thrust her hand up, wanting to answer before TERRIBLE BETRAYER COUSIN KATY.

"Professor, technically there aren't any rings, because its all separate bits... umm.. particles, right? Like they LOOK like rings to us -if we use super good telescopes- but its not like they're solid pieces, and besides, sometimes people count the gaps between the rings that we see too, which aren't rings at all, they're spaces."

Gaps. Gaps in the rings. An absence of particles. JUST LIKE THE ABSENCE OF TRUST BETWEEN HER AND HER COUSIN NOW.

Or something.

Did we have another passenger on the "make Pluto a planet again" train? Janelle had a feeling that the professor just might be pro Pluto. As usual, she took copious notes while her classmates and the professor spoke. You never knew when a piece of information might be needed later. Better safe than sorry.

Then, another question was thrown out to the class. Professor Salvatore sure knew how to pick the questions with more than one possible answer. Janelle raised her hand and when called on, began to answer. "Saturn actually has thousand of rings made up of ice and rock. They are grouped into seven bigger rings. Those are what we think of when we picture Saturn's rings."

Oh, good! Professor Salvatore believes Pluto should be a planet too. Why shouldn't it? Pluto deserves to be a planet!

Astronomy seemed fun and easy so far. There wasn't anything complicated really. Many of these things were known to muggles as well, so he should be able to have a grasp on it. Now, how many rings does Saturn have? He has no clue, to be honest. Never really counted them in the picture books. "Seven," he put up his hand and took a wild guess. Seven, the magical number.

Skylar had to admit she wasn't very sure of Professor Salvatore right now, considering how the woman seemed quite set on the fact that Pluto was maybe a planet - a debate that would happen until the end of time? Odd; scientists deemed pluto to be a 'dwarf planet' almost a century ago and yet she was maybe questioning that? What did this woman know that researchers did not? Needless to say, she was skeptical.

As far as how many rings Saturn had, her peers definitely were adding complicated answers to the simple question, but Sky didn't mind because it WAS a complicated question and depended on what maybe was considered a ring. "Seven main rings. Technically. But there's at least seven other rings outside of the main rings and well Merlin only knows how many others." It was definitely a confusing question

Now was the time to try to save face. She may not know what order the planets were in- or, okay, how many rings Saturn had- but she knew some nice space trivia which she could probably bring up now, in-amongst listening to her classmates and trying to note down any extra information they gave out. She may be clueless about Astronomy now, but she didn't need to stay that way, she resolved as she put her hand into the air.
"There are two in the picture," she pointed out with a slight frown. "But I thought they were just made of rocks floating around, so how can you really count that? Also, for Pluto and Neptune, doesn't it sometimes change? So that they get closer and further away? Because it's not a circle?" Her father had been complaining about that when making an order for some client, that it had been affecting his modelling of the planets and therefore his charmwork. She wasn't really sure how, but it sounded important, anyway.

Wait...what? Noooooooooooooooooooooo he hadn't been talking about that!

"I was-sn't talking about Pluto, professor," the first year chirped - and he had no opinion on the matter regarding Pluto and its planetary status because, well, he did not know definitions of anything yet and hadn't reeeeeeeeeally given his Astronomy textbook much of a proper read. He did know about the moon and moon phases though! Not that that helped him much right now or anything. "I s-saw s-somefing in the paper...or Quibbler...muggle paper maybe...about a planet really REALLY far away from the S-Sun...and it has a really REALLY long orbit...like REEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLY long...."

As the lecture went on, the first year found himself MORE confused and thus his hand went right back up to ask a question - he had no idea how many rings Saturn had, so he couldn't answer that anyway. "Professor! If fis Union fingy demoted Pluto...fen it knows what does-s-sn't make a planet...s-sso fat means-s-s fey know what DOES make a planet a planet...right?" Because you couldn't say something wasn't something without knowing what made it something...right? His brain was starting to hurt thinking about this...but it seemed WEIRD that a science wouldn't have a definition for something so important as this!

He was veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery skeptical.

And answers were aaaaaaaaaaaall over the place with this Saturn question...so that was confusing too.

Clearly...this was just not going to be his subject. UNLESS THEY TALKED ABOUT MOON PHASES!

What the professor was talking about was really interesting actually, and Hattie actually made some notes, and circled it. She wanted to do a little more research around that. Why if they didn't really have a solid definition, or if people couldn't agree what a plant was, why were some things planets and some moons. It was kind of interesting to Hattie. She wanted to understand it more. But now onto Saturn. She liked Saturn. It was a cool planet, and it had a really cool name after all.

She raised her hand to offer an answer. "I believe that Saturn has four main rings, and then 3 that are a little fainter than the others"

Okay, so Brian was trying - and trying very hard, mind you - to let this lesson slide and be a little more passive as opposed to passive-aggressive in Astronomy. After all, not everyone was as experienced or influential as Professor Flamsteed, or as widely celebrated as Professor Burbage. The Hufflepuff had been doing some extracurricular reading when he came across one of the papers she'd published and he'd been absolutely blown away. Not that he understood half the math going on in that thing, but even so, the conclusions she drew from extensive data? Even Professor Flamsteed had trouble coming close in his regard, and Brian held the man in extremely high esteem. EXTREMELY. Possibly more so after his internship at the UK Space Agency over the summer.

Now, he knew the questions were hypothetical, but sometimes it was just too difficult to resist and this boy had done quite a bit of resisting, what with people actually naming Pluto as the furthest planet and it was just plain killing him inside. Not to mention the fact that if she was unable to define a planet, that would make her severely underqualified to teach this subject. Honestly, was the headmistress so very desperate?

Thing was, when the first year Hufflepuff - Raphael? Derfale? Ah, Derfael - made his comment, that was the point of absolutely no return. "Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet assumed to be really far out, yes, but it's largely theoretical and hasn't been proven yet since it was theorised in 2016. BUT with the algorithms and telescopes currently programmed, we're a lot closer to finding it." But Derf raised an important question, and since he just so happened to be nearby, swiveled to face the boy when he made his response, even if it happened to be to her question. "With all due respect, Miss -" Now brace yourself.

"A planet is a body that has mass, which obeys three definitive criteria. Firstly, it must orbit a star. Secondly, it must have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium. This is achieved when flow velocity is constant at any point in time, effects of which would result in the mass being roughly spherical since effects like gravity are balanced by a gradient force. Thirdly, the mass has "cleared the neighbourhood" of its orbit, so to speak. So basically, the orbit of the mass has no obstacles that can exert a gravitational force of significance on it, and all those obstacles would be pulled into an orbit around the mass itself. Other debris would be slung away or consumed." WOW OKAY WOODS, DEEP BREATHS PLEASE. "So considering the fact that Pluto is only 0.7 percent the mass of things in its orbit and has its movement affected by them, it has failed to meet the third criteria, and never deserved the status of planet in the first place. It's a literal lump of ice. The demotion to dwarf planet is extremely unlikely to hurt its feelings."

But just in case they had missed it, a TL;DR version for them. "Astrophysicists and cosmologists certainly haven't come up short for a definition if it's existed since 2004. Not to mention the fact that the basis for the IUA naming it a planet in the first place was based on erroneous data, and was proved for decades after that Pluto does actually have more in common with comets than other planets, what with its eliptical orbit and chemical composition."

And on that note, he'd just lean back into his chair and resume solving the kinematics question he'd copied into his notebook shortly before class began. Until someone said something worth writing down, which as time progressed, he was starting to doubt. It's like nobody read anything after this was discussed in previous years. Nothing but dull, repetitive answers. Seven rings. But - OH THERE IT WAS. THANK YOU, CHARLOTTE KETTLEBURN. Pointing at her and nodding approvingly, Brian had to acknowledge the truth in what she said. "That, exactly. Charlotte's right. You could even argue it has one ring consisting of millions of particles." Definitions like this one were arbirtary. Defining planets? Less so. "But Professor Burbage was hired while she was still very much alive, and was definitely qualified to teach us. Maybe too much so. We could do a great deal worse than be taught by a ghost. Take from that what you will, but Hufflepuff loyalty was not something to be crossed.

He'd never been more glad he was leaving this school.

Kitty raised her hand. "I've read that Saturn has many rings - thousands and thousands, and that we can't be sure of the exact number. There are seven big ones, which I think consists of these thousands of smaller ones." The whole part about seven rings she just added in right there to fit in with the answer of most of her classmates.

Her hand stayed in the air. "Professor, I have a question about the International Astronomical Union's decision to remove Pluto from the planet list. It's just that, I know the Muggles did the exact same thing at the same time." She swallowed. "Was that just a coincidence, or were they coordinating in secret?"

She often wondered why Muggle politics seemed to reflect wizarding politics, and this was a perfect example of that happening.

The class had barely started but Matt was dozing off big time.

Biiiig time.

Planets were cool and all, but LOOKING at them was so much better than just talking about them. He was tired. Matt had done a lot of reading lies and moving around that day and he was too tired to talk. Unless it wasn't in lessons. He'd be up for talking outside of lessons.

But yeah, he was not up for this and so he rested his head on top of his hands on the table and... nap time it was.

Rooney sat tight as Professor Salvatore talked more and more things that he didn't agree with. Infact, he shot his hand up to make a comment that had little to do with the question. "Professor Salvatore.. Not everyone here was taught by a ghost last term -- in fact, some students in here are first years. And some of us have actually been taught by Airey Flamsteed and not just a ghost." And that ghost had been a wonderful teacher, whatever it was that this new Professor was hinting at and being all wrong about things. "I also think that there is a definition to the word 'planet', seeing as there have been discoveries and undiscoveries of planets. That sounds like there is a definition, to me." He was doing the word thing now and was probably going to end up upset if he carried on. But oh boy was he going to carry on.

"AND...actually these aren't just easy questions. They're textbook. And you can't just say that both Neptune and Pluto are the correct answer. This isn't an either or. It's a question that requires a proper answer. What if that was on an exam? Which is the further planet away? And both are separate answer options? You just told a whole class of impressionable children and young adults that two answers could be right. When in actuality, one would be wrong and therefore 50% of your class could answer something wrong and essentially fail an exam. All your fault." It was real. The Bronwyn word vomit was real and he was questioning why he continued to take this class past Professor Flamsteed's tenure.

Was it wrong to miss the crazy man even though he thought was was a twerp half of the time?

Now she felt bad because as uncomfortable as sharing a seat was, her little cousin was on the floor. Abeys didn't belong on the floor, not even a little, and the brunette smoothed his hair before turning her attention to Brent. "We can push our chairs closer together and I'll sit in the middle. That'll save room," She whispered, careful not to call attention to them as she started doing just that. Also, about Pluto- "I'm sure lots of people just starting don't know much about Pluto, Abey. No biggy." He could sit now, too, did he see?

...What were they talking about now? Rings. Junia liked rings-the shiny kind that you wore on your fingers. The planet kind wasn't as interesting of a topic to her, but she figured she needed to know these things if she was going to pass any of the important tests in her future. Thing was-Prefect Rooney was right when he said the questions weren't easy ones. Well, at least she didn't find them easy, and not for the reasons he was giving, either. It was just that she wasn't interested in these types of facts and that made it hard for her to remember them. Was anyone else having this problem?

..."Professor? About the rings, well, why do some planets have them and others not?" Seemed wildly unfair to her.

Carlton sat silent listening to all the answers. How many hula-hoops could a planet HAVE?! Did the students know? Did Professor Salvatore know? Did the weird Union she mentioned know? Did anyone know the answer?!

This bothered him.

He listened to an older student (Junia) he recognized from his common room who asked something rrrrrrrrrreally interesting. Why did only Saturn have the rings? Granted, it was one of his favorite planets but why did it get to have all the fun after all? He quickly jumped on his house mate's thought train. CHOO-CHOO!

"Maybe it could share? If the rings really are like hula-hoops then, with some skill, the planets could switch the rings between each other? Without dropping it to the floor." Wait... Did space have a floor? Nuh. "... Dropping it to the... Space-area."

Yuppppppppppp.

Euhm… Wow, that was a lot information! Taking notes as quick as she could while listening at the same time she needed to confess that she was impressed. She had learned a few things about Astronomy during her time at the Muggle school she had attended to but… The way this lesson was being thought at Hogwarts was really different, but not in a bad way, of course. But the question… Well… She had been able to answer the first one because she still knew the mnemonic she had learned, but information about how many rings Saturn had? Well… She had really NO IDEA! Never thought about it either before… So this time she kept her mouth shut and just listened.

The planets.

That made sense given the picture available to each of them at their desks. And it would be cool to do some artwork with the images, the planets showing up as a number of colors against the deep black background of space. At the first question, Cassie knew the answer, though had been soundly beaten to it by a few of her classmates so she kept to herself. No need to keep repeating it over and over. Soon enough, Professor Salvatore was speaking again anyway moving them on.

Poor Pluto…a planet demoted.

Now a bunch of question were laid out and Cass tried to think on just what to answer and what she actually knew of everything. “To me a planet is a mass in space above a certain size that has an atmosphere and gravity and orbits around a star.” That certainly seemed like something that fit all the planets in their solar system. As for rings of Saturn, there was a few answers already given. The Ravenclaw had to admit that she wondered if ‘rings’ really were a figurative or literal thing like someone had said.

”Oh,” she gave Derf a dumbfounded sort of look. ‘Cause of course the moon was a moon, but how come it wasn’t a planet? Zoryn didn’t get it. But she trusted Derf loads and he was real smart about things so she nodded and took his word for it. Which…… Was only confirmed with Professor S said she was wrong too. Double oh. But if there wasn’t a definition for a planet, then how come the moon COULDN’T be a planet?

All of this thinking was making her head hurt.

Which….. Only got worse after all the older kids started talking all smart.

Zoryn was gonna sit this one out. Instead of answering, she just whipped her head back and forth between the people who WERE. That one had a good point. And that one also. And that one! And ALL OF THEM SOUNDED RIGHT!??!

Wow. Zoryn really needed to read the textbook or something.

Colt raised his eyebrows and give her an "are you serious look?" I mean the dude just said it. Why bother wasting his energy. He shrugged and said, "Well like he said.." he nodded towards his mate Leon. "Neptune is our eighth planet...?" Like duh. "I would have considered pluto but obviously that isn't considered a planet anymore by NASA." There. All done. He learned this back in the muggle world plus he was interested in this stuff. He knew this already. Kace was big into looking at the stars and learning about them. He picked up a thing or two. Now onto the next question.

He was not impressed Leon's hand was first in the air yet again. He chuckled and heard his answer. He nodded towards him again and couldn't have said it perfectly himself, "What he said.." he smirked now as if this was a game. He was going to put a disclaimer. "Even better yet, I'll give you a fun fact too. The first astronomers thought the rings were moons." How about them apples professor.

.... And her answer had been mentioned! Despite her shortcomings with this subject, it gave Olivia a little hopeful brush against her soul. See? Befriend and/or date a Ravenclaw. It will surely be the best decision you ever make. As if to affirm this to herself, the blonde cast a loving glance towards her Ravenclaw, a little surprised to see him giving very intense looks up at the Professor.

Rooney Bronwyn was a very intense person, though... Something she appreciated about her boyfriend. Intense in his loyalty and his love.... One moment, Liv had been smiling in his direction, genuine smiles and such.... but then in the next... He was going off. On a very long, ranty-style monologue. Oh, my.

Well... Technically, Roo wasn't wrong. Two answers couldn't be right, if it came to a quiz or exam. But maybe both could be jolted down and then explained? Maybe this would work best as a short-answer question. Or in the form of an essay.

Er... "There are a lot of rings around Saturn... but more are formed all the time, I think. Because they're made up of debris that gets pulled into Saturn's orbit... or something." Her memory was sketchy. Don't quote her on this.

Oh. Uh oh. Now that other boy was offering his seat up, and Abey was worried that he might have accidentally made him think he wanted him to go away. Which of COURSE wasn't the case because even though Abey was actually a little unsure around people he didn't know, he was ACTUALLY really nice actually and would never try to make someone go away (unless they were really horrible or something and this boy obviously WASN'T).

Abey had just opened his mouth to say that he could go and find some other place to sit and that it was all okay and NO TROUBLE and that actually he had only come here to say hello, when Junia swooped in with a perfect solution (and also some comforting sorts of words about Pluto, which Abey chose to believe even though everyone around him seemed to be a lot more familiar with the whole thing).

"Thanks!" he whispered back, mentally promising he would create NO MORE DISTRACTIONS.

... Well, one more. Taking up Junia's offer, Abey quickly ducked down and shuffled around under the table, before popping back into view, sliding his way up onto the space on the chairs between the two Slytherins, and giving them GREAT BIG GRINS.

And then... Astronomy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor!

“How many rings does Saturn have?”

...

......

.........

Yeah, Abey didn't have a clue. And that made him feel a little bit stupid actually, because apparently these were supposed to be easy questions. It was probably smartest to not call any attention to how not-smart he was actually. So instead, he just listened.

"They had a GHOST as a professor last term?!" Kane asked, unable to help himself from shouting out his thoughts. That was SO COOL! No offense to the pretty professor lady, but that was AWESOME and he was disappointed he'd missed it!

Right, erm, back to the question. He raised his hand - a little late now, whoops - and chuckled.

"Sorry, I mean, um...Saturn has got seven rings, I believe, and they're all made out of dust and ice and other stuff that is basically space junk that got caught in an orbit around the planet," he explained.

Ghost?

They had a ghost as a professor?? That was so COOL. Why didn't she join Hogwarts last term itself? Not that this professor Salvatore wasn't good but OMG. A ghost! She decided to ask her friends about that. Who was the ghost? What did he look like? EEEEP.

Anyway, back to the lesson. How many rings did Saturn have? Hmm. Etta mentally shrugged, deciding to answer the question since she couldn't add anything more to what people had already said so she remained quiet and wondered about the ghost!professor.

Well, now this was getting interesting. Class started with some kid sitting on the floor, then Brent offered up his seat, and now the girl across the table from him had a completely different suggestion. Soon enough, Brent found himself sharing two seats with the Botros', which was amusing in some ways and...kind of awesome in others. He and this girl were now sitting pretty close to each other. Heh. He grinned at both of them then turned back to the professor.

...wait. They were taught by a ghost last year? COOL. Brent heard his lil bro echo those same sentiments, except a little bit louder, of course. This school just had all kinds of surprises. Okay, so...question and answer time. Brent raised his hand. "Seven," he simply said. There was no need for anything longer. Simple question and simple answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

.... And her answer had been mentioned! Despite her shortcomings with this subject, it gave Olivia a little hopeful brush against her soul. See? Befriend and/or date a Ravenclaw. It will surely be the best decision you ever make. As if to affirm this to herself, the blonde cast a loving glance towards her Ravenclaw, a little surprised to see him giving very intense looks up at the Professor.

Rooney Bronwyn was a very intense person, though... Something she appreciated about her boyfriend. Intense in his loyalty and his love.... One moment, Liv had been smiling in his direction, genuine smiles and such.... but then in the next... He was going off. On a very long, ranty-style monologue. Oh, my.

Well... Technically, Roo wasn't wrong. Two answers couldn't be right, if it came to a quiz or exam. But maybe both could be jolted down and then explained? Maybe this would work best as a short-answer question. Or in the form of an essay.

Er... "There are a lot of rings around Saturn... but more are formed all the time, I think. Because they're made up of debris that gets pulled into Saturn's orbit... or something." Her memory was sketchy. Don't quote her on this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

"They had a GHOST as a professor last term?!" Kane asked, unable to help himself from shouting out his thoughts. That was SO COOL! No offense to the pretty professor lady, but that was AWESOME and he was disappointed he'd missed it!

Right, erm, back to the question. He raised his hand - a little late now, whoops - and chuckled.

"Sorry, I mean, um...Saturn has got seven rings, I believe, and they're all made out of dust and ice and other stuff that is basically space junk that got caught in an orbit around the planet," he explained.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Well, now this was getting interesting. Class started with some kid sitting on the floor, then Brent offered up his seat, and now the girl across the table from him had a completely different suggestion. Soon enough, Brent found himself sharing two seats with the Botros', which was amusing in some ways and...kind of awesome in others. He and this girl were now sitting pretty close to each other. Heh. He grinned at both of them then turned back to the professor.

...wait. They were taught by a ghost last year? COOL. Brent heard his lil bro echo those same sentiments, except a little bit louder, of course. This school just had all kinds of surprises. Okay, so...question and answer time. Brent raised his hand. "Seven," he simply said. There was no need for anything longer. Simple question and simple answer.

"All of you are correct!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by laurange

Thing was, when the first year Hufflepuff - Raphael? Derfale? Ah, Derfael - made his comment, that was the point of absolutely no return. "Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet assumed to be really far out, yes, but it's largely theoretical and hasn't been proven yet since it was theorised in 2016. BUT with the algorithms and telescopes currently programmed, we're a lot closer to finding it." But Derf raised an important question, and since he just so happened to be nearby, swiveled to face the boy when he made his response, even if it happened to be to her question. "With all due respect, Miss -" Now brace yourself.

"A planet is a body that has mass, which obeys three definitive criteria. Firstly, it must orbit a star. Secondly, it must have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium. This is achieved when flow velocity is constant at any point in time, effects of which would result in the mass being roughly spherical since effects like gravity are balanced by a gradient force. Thirdly, the mass has "cleared the neighbourhood" of its orbit, so to speak. So basically, the orbit of the mass has no obstacles that can exert a gravitational force of significance on it, and all those obstacles would be pulled into an orbit around the mass itself. Other debris would be slung away or consumed." WOW OKAY WOODS, DEEP BREATHS PLEASE. "So considering the fact that Pluto is only 0.7 percent the mass of things in its orbit and has its movement affected by them, it has failed to meet the third criteria, and never deserved the status of planet in the first place. It's a literal lump of ice. The demotion to dwarf planet is extremely unlikely to hurt its feelings."

But just in case they had missed it, a TL;DR version for them. "Astrophysicists and cosmologists certainly haven't come up short for a definition if it's existed since 2004. Not to mention the fact that the basis for the IUA naming it a planet in the first place was based on erroneous data, and was proved for decades after that Pluto does actually have more in common with comets than other planets, what with its eliptical orbit and chemical composition."

And on that note, he'd just lean back into his chair and resume solving the kinematics question he'd copied into his notebook shortly before class began. Until someone said something worth writing down, which as time progressed, he was starting to doubt. It's like nobody read anything after this was discussed in previous years. Nothing but dull, repetitive answers. Seven rings. But - OH THERE IT WAS. THANK YOU, CHARLOTTE KETTLEBURN. Pointing at her and nodding approvingly, Brian had to acknowledge the truth in what she said. "That, exactly. Charlotte's right. You could even argue it has one ring consisting of millions of particles." Definitions like this one were arbirtary. Defining planets? Less so. "But Professor Burbage was hired while she was still very much alive, and was definitely qualified to teach us. Maybe too much so. We could do a great deal worse than be taught by a ghost. Take from that what you will, but Hufflepuff loyalty was not something to be crossed.

He'd never been more glad he was leaving this school.

There was another student that was currently speaking way too many words at the moment. The ghost again. "Mr Woods would you care to teach this class? I must not be as qualified to teach this class as you are. I mean you have to be very qualified seeing as you're what? A seventh year. I'm well aware that she was hired while she was alive. I'm not shooting down her credibility. I just don't agree with how that was handled." If the post had opened up last term for this position she wouldn't be here right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RachieRu

What the professor was talking about was really interesting actually, and Hattie actually made some notes, and circled it. She wanted to do a little more research around that. Why if they didn't really have a solid definition, or if people couldn't agree what a plant was, why were some things planets and some moons. It was kind of interesting to Hattie. She wanted to understand it more. But now onto Saturn. She liked Saturn. It was a cool planet, and it had a really cool name after all.

She raised her hand to offer an answer. "I believe that Saturn has four main rings, and then 3 that are a little fainter than the others"

"Correct."

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Wait...what? Noooooooooooooooooooooo he hadn't been talking about that!

"I was-sn't talking about Pluto, professor," the first year chirped - and he had no opinion on the matter regarding Pluto and its planetary status because, well, he did not know definitions of anything yet and hadn't reeeeeeeeeally given his Astronomy textbook much of a proper read. He did know about the moon and moon phases though! Not that that helped him much right now or anything. "I s-saw s-somefing in the paper...or Quibbler...muggle paper maybe...about a planet really REALLY far away from the S-Sun...and it has a really REALLY long orbit...like REEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLY long...."

As the lecture went on, the first year found himself MORE confused and thus his hand went right back up to ask a question - he had no idea how many rings Saturn had, so he couldn't answer that anyway. "Professor! If fis Union fingy demoted Pluto...fen it knows what does-s-sn't make a planet...s-sso fat means-s-s fey know what DOES make a planet a planet...right?" Because you couldn't say something wasn't something without knowing what made it something...right? His brain was starting to hurt thinking about this...but it seemed WEIRD that a science wouldn't have a definition for something so important as this!

He was veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery skeptical.

And answers were aaaaaaaaaaaall over the place with this Saturn question...so that was confusing too.

Clearly...this was just not going to be his subject. UNLESS THEY TALKED ABOUT MOON PHASES!

"Could you tell me what you mean by planet nine?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artel

Now was the time to try to save face. She may not know what order the planets were in- or, okay, how many rings Saturn had- but she knew some nice space trivia which she could probably bring up now, in-amongst listening to her classmates and trying to note down any extra information they gave out. She may be clueless about Astronomy now, but she didn't need to stay that way, she resolved as she put her hand into the air.
"There are two in the picture," she pointed out with a slight frown. "But I thought they were just made of rocks floating around, so how can you really count that? Also, for Pluto and Neptune, doesn't it sometimes change? So that they get closer and further away? Because it's not a circle?" Her father had been complaining about that when making an order for some client, that it had been affecting his modelling of the planets and therefore his charmwork. She wasn't really sure how, but it sounded important, anyway.

"There are two that we can see with the human eye but there are thousands and possibly many more than what we know of right now. That's correct the orbits are not a circle but more of an oval if you will."

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Skylar had to admit she wasn't very sure of Professor Salvatore right now, considering how the woman seemed quite set on the fact that Pluto was maybe a planet - a debate that would happen until the end of time? Odd; scientists deemed pluto to be a 'dwarf planet' almost a century ago and yet she was maybe questioning that? What did this woman know that researchers did not? Needless to say, she was skeptical.

As far as how many rings Saturn had, her peers definitely were adding complicated answers to the simple question, but Sky didn't mind because it WAS a complicated question and depended on what maybe was considered a ring. "Seven main rings. Technically. But there's at least seven other rings outside of the main rings and well Merlin only knows how many others." It was definitely a confusing question

"Excellent job!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by slytherus

Oh, good! Professor Salvatore believes Pluto should be a planet too. Why shouldn't it? Pluto deserves to be a planet!

Astronomy seemed fun and easy so far. There wasn't anything complicated really. Many of these things were known to muggles as well, so he should be able to have a grasp on it. Now, how many rings does Saturn have? He has no clue, to be honest. Never really counted them in the picture books. "Seven," he put up his hand and took a wild guess. Seven, the magical number.

"Correct."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Did we have another passenger on the "make Pluto a planet again" train? Janelle had a feeling that the professor just might be pro Pluto. As usual, she took copious notes while her classmates and the professor spoke. You never knew when a piece of information might be needed later. Better safe than sorry.

Then, another question was thrown out to the class. Professor Salvatore sure knew how to pick the questions with more than one possible answer. Janelle raised her hand and when called on, began to answer. "Saturn actually has thousand of rings made up of ice and rock. They are grouped into seven bigger rings. Those are what we think of when we picture Saturn's rings."

"That's true."

Quote:

Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft

How many rings did Saturn have?

Hmm.. well that was sort of a trick question..ish.. Leon raised his hand and gave the answer he had.

"Well, it has seven rings, four main ones and three fainter ones.." The older boy paused for a second though as if trying to figure out how to word the next part of his answer, "However. Scientists have been able to see that these rings are actually made of hundreds or thousands of tiny little rings.."

So ring groups? Maybe? Ehh.. he hoped that answer went over well enough.

"Correct but from what Astronomers and Scientists have learned there are around 500 to 1000 if not more 'rings'." She really didn't like the choice of words she had to use to explain the rings, she never really cared for calling them rings.

"You're very correct."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

Kitty raised her hand. "I've read that Saturn has many rings - thousands and thousands, and that we can't be sure of the exact number. There are seven big ones, which I think consists of these thousands of smaller ones." The whole part about seven rings she just added in right there to fit in with the answer of most of her classmates.

Her hand stayed in the air. "Professor, I have a question about the International Astronomical Union's decision to remove Pluto from the planet list. It's just that, I know the Muggles did the exact same thing at the same time." She swallowed. "Was that just a coincidence, or were they coordinating in secret?"

She often wondered why Muggle politics seemed to reflect wizarding politics, and this was a perfect example of that happening.

"There are witches and wizards that have worked with muggles at NASA and other parts of the world. I guess you could say that they were working together on this one."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

The class had barely started but Matt was dozing off big time.

Biiiig time.

Planets were cool and all, but LOOKING at them was so much better than just talking about them. He was tired. Matt had done a lot of reading lies and moving around that day and he was too tired to talk. Unless it wasn't in lessons. He'd be up for talking outside of lessons.

But yeah, he was not up for this and so he rested his head on top of his hands on the table and... nap time it was.

Now she had a student sleeping. If he wanted to sleep then it was his choice. His house points to lose but she would be talking to him after class was over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Colt raised his eyebrows and give her an "are you serious look?" I mean the dude just said it. Why bother wasting his energy. He shrugged and said, "Well like he said.." he nodded towards his mate Leon. "Neptune is our eighth planet...?" Like duh. "I would have considered pluto but obviously that isn't considered a planet anymore by NASA." There. All done. He learned this back in the muggle world plus he was interested in this stuff. He knew this already. Kace was big into looking at the stars and learning about them. He picked up a thing or two. Now onto the next question.

He was not impressed Leon's hand was first in the air yet again. He chuckled and heard his answer. He nodded towards him again and couldn't have said it perfectly himself, "What he said.." he smirked now as if this was a game. He was going to put a disclaimer. "Even better yet, I'll give you a fun fact too. The first astronomers thought the rings were moons." How about them apples professor.

"Glad to see that you're paying attention, Mr Winchester."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

The planets.

That made sense given the picture available to each of them at their desks. And it would be cool to do some artwork with the images, the planets showing up as a number of colors against the deep black background of space. At the first question, Cassie knew the answer, though had been soundly beaten to it by a few of her classmates so she kept to herself. No need to keep repeating it over and over. Soon enough, Professor Salvatore was speaking again anyway moving them on.

Poor Pluto…a planet demoted.

Now a bunch of question were laid out and Cass tried to think on just what to answer and what she actually knew of everything. “To me a planet is a mass in space above a certain size that has an atmosphere and gravity and orbits around a star.” That certainly seemed like something that fit all the planets in their solar system. As for rings of Saturn, there was a few answers already given. The Ravenclaw had to admit that she wondered if ‘rings' really were a figurative or literal thing like someone had said.

"See what I mean, the actual definition of the word itself is to each their own."

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Now she felt bad because as uncomfortable as sharing a seat was, her little cousin was on the floor. Abeys didn't belong on the floor, not even a little, and the brunette smoothed his hair before turning her attention to Brent. "We can push our chairs closer together and I'll sit in the middle. That'll save room," She whispered, careful not to call attention to them as she started doing just that. Also, about Pluto- "I'm sure lots of people just starting don't know much about Pluto, Abey. No biggy." He could sit now, too, did he see?

...What were they talking about now? Rings. Junia liked rings-the shiny kind that you wore on your fingers. The planet kind wasn't as interesting of a topic to her, but she figured she needed to know these things if she was going to pass any of the important tests in her future. Thing was-Prefect Rooney was right when he said the questions weren't easy ones. Well, at least she didn't find them easy, and not for the reasons he was giving, either. It was just that she wasn't interested in these types of facts and that made it hard for her to remember them. Was anyone else having this problem?

..."Professor? About the rings, well, why do some planets have them and others not?" Seemed wildly unfair to her.

"Objects with a lot of mass have big gravity wells, meaning that they exert a bigger pull on other objects. The outer planets are more massive, they have bigger gravity wells than the smaller inner planets. Space debris, such as small bits of rock and ice, get caught in the big gravity wells of the outer planets. When they are in the gravity well of an outer planet, like Saturn, they start to orbit the planet. The debris have enough momentum that they don’t get pulled all the way into the planet, instead they orbit around it."

The comments about the ghost well those were going to be ignored for the time being. Caroleena turned her head towards the Ravenclaw Prefect. "I have a point to my babbling, Mr Bronwyn. In the future there could be found out that Pluto is a planet but as Mr Bronwyn has stated on my lack of teaching skills, apparently twenty years in this career isn't enough experience, that I have given you a false answer. If you were to answer the question on an exam you have put down Neptune but if you for your own sake and as such mine you are more than welcome to consider Pluto as an actual planet the so be it but don't put Pluto as an answer on your exam." Now on to the next part. "A planet does mean a celestial body moving in an elliptical orbit around a star. I'm talking about the bigger picture of space. What I'm trying to say is a planet isn't defined by a size or a specific color." The blonde woman looked around at the students to see if they were listening.

She might be getting off track with this one but hopefully they understood what she had said before about the planets. "A dog is a distant relative of the wolf but not every dog looks the same and that is due to the different breeds. Each breed had to meet the requirements and the needs that in the past humans needed from them." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Now with planets there are many differences between each planet. If someone said that a dog needed to look like a wolf to be a dog then we wouldn't have the many different breeds that many muggles and witches and wizards keep as pets. No one planet has to be the same towards another to be considered a planets." There point made, she had to move on at some point or else the class would never end. "I'm not entirely certain as to way they call them rings but it could have something to do with what Mr Lewis has said. I've noticed that sometimes we as humans, whether muggle or magical tend to keep most of the old terms for sentimental reasons." she looked around at the class. "As Miss Kettleburn has stated Saturn's rings are composed of almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material." Okay enough of that. They had to move on.

"Moving on, I would like all of you to get into a group of 2 to 3 people of your choice. As a group you must choose of the eight planets that you would like to research for our activity. Please right down on a parchment or in a notebook what you think are the most important facts that people would need to know about the planet of your choice. I don't have to approve of the planet so choose whatever one you like. Lastly please take your time to research these planets." Caroleena walked to the back of her desk as sat down in her chair. "If anyone has any questions you can ask me."

OOC: If anyone needs Caroleena's help just ask! Class will continue in about 36 hours.