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It was a cool mid-October night, the moon was hanging high in the sky and reflecting over the lake. Walking into the classroom it looked a little different than last term, Keiyona kept some posters of the solar system on the walls but she also added some posters with quotes from some of the best Astronomers throughout history. Professor Berkovich charmed the ceiling so her and the students could see the constellations, the desk in the classroom were formed into a circle to attempt at getting everyone involved in the conversation for the night's class.
The Astronomy professor leaned against the front of her desk waiting for the students to start piling into the classroom. Each desk had a piece of paper and a nameplate that was charmed so when the students sat down their names would appear on the nameplates. As for the paper there were instructions on the blackboard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BLACKBOARD
Please write the following on your paper.
Name: Year: House: What is your favorite thing about the subject of Astronomy? (such as planets or a planet, the sun, moon, stars, galaxies etc...)
Once you're done please fold up your paper and place it in the pink basket on my desk.
OOC: Please remember to follow all of Professor Berkovich's rules and remember all SS rules apply! You're more than welcome to have your characters mingle before class starts.
curly haired prefect - "sometimes I get angry!" - 30/90 - *chicken emoji* - probably @ Disney - I speak dog
Constellations. ZZzzzzz. Kane was trying his very best to NOT fall asleep in class because he knew that would be terrible and he'd probably lose points. But it was really this new professor's fault, changing the place in to a planetarium AND also starting class at night. She was practically TRYING to get him to fall asleep.
He shook his head and stretched a bit before raising his hand, trying to wake himself up a bit. "Um, I think Cassiopeia is only in the Northern Hemisphere," he noted.
He hoped so, at least.
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I'm still standin'________________________________________ better than I ever did
Lookin' like a true survivor_________________________________feelin' like a little kid
Okay, so, it DID depend on where you were in the world. Something to do with the northern and southern hemisphere, and Abey didn't know a WHOLE LOT about how people knew where the northern hemisphere stopped and where the southern hemisphere started, but he knew for a FACT (um... maybe) that in Scotland they were SOOOOOO FAR NORTH that they had to be in the northern one. As for Egypt, that was further south from here, but it was in NORTHERN Africa, so he assumed that was in the northern hemisphere too.
That made him feel happy, actually, and not quite as mega far away from home as he usually felt.
There was a lot of information coming at them, and Abey really was trying to remember it, but his brain was quickly getting more and more overloaded, until it felt almost like it was so overworked that there was steam coming out of his ears.
It was... a lot of words. Words that tumbled around his brain meaninglessly. And then a question that he knew for a FACT... he didn't know the answer to.
Okay, well, he'd just keep quiet, because Abey didn't have a clue actually about what could only be seen in the northern hemisphere. He wanted to mention the north star because that was the only north thing to do with space that he knew about, but that wasn't a constellation and he probably would have been wrong anyway. Abey didn't like being wrong. Being quiet was easier to handle.
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Puff by day, snake by night | Mj's bestie | Always UP to Something...
Yep, he was invisible. The invisible boy. First, the girls didn't even notice HE was sitting next to the older girl first and now the professor didn't even care to recognize his answers. So that gave Eddie all the realization he needed to sit back and work on his snake research. No one cared what he did in this school they had made that obvious. As long as he came to class that's all they cared about, maybe not even that.
He looked around the room and just made mental notes about a few people before putting his nose back in his book. Once he could find the loophole to parseltongue he'd show them all who they should have been ignoring and who they should have been watching and talking to.
Etta noted down what the professor explained in detail, careful not to miss out on anything. Asterism...it was something entirely new that she hadn't read about before. Interesting. She listened as the professor when on to ask her next question. Ooooh, she knew this. The girl quickly raised her hand.
"Camelopardalis.. also the giraffe." Hopefully, that pronunciation was correct. "It's one of the ten constellations in the Ursa Major Family." Since the professor had asked for only one constellation.. she set her quill down and waited for class to move on.
A smile graced the first year lion's face, because the professor had said she was sort of right! At least, that's what Emmeline thought the professor meant that. She didn't really know, because what did all these new words mean? Sighing softly, she tried to scribble down as much of what the professor said as she could. Maybe Stasya would let her check her notes against her friend's notes later, because this lesson was confusing to the max!
Her expression brightened again when the professor asked her second question, because Emmeline definitely knew the answer to this one! Raising her hand, she said triumphantly: "The Dippers!" She knew she was right because the professor had just told her that after she'd given that answer the first time. So if it wasn't quite the right answer to the first question, it was definitely the right answer now. The professor had said so!
She thought this was probably the first time she'd given a right answer to a question outside of CoMC class all term. Even if it was kind of cheating because she hadn't known the answer until the teacher had told her earlier, she was happy because this was progress!
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As the lesson had started, Stasya had made the decision to just take notes. It wasn’t that she didn’t know constellations. She liked constellations. That was what she’d written down, and she remembered lots of times when she and mama had laid in their backyard looking at the stars. It was more that she’d never really paid attention to exactly when she’d seen them, so the idea that some were only visible in October was new to her. Plus, she didn’t want to be wrong either since she’d said she liked constellations, so it was easier to just stay quiet.
Until she felt like maybe she had an answer, and she raised her hand not long after Emmeline had mentioned the dippers again. Except she sort of thought that they were asterisms like Professor Berkovich had mentioned earlier since they were part of bigger constellations. “Leo is visible in the Northern Hemisphere,” she offered. Besides, she was a Lion after all. It just seemed right that she say that one.
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♥♥♥♥ It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me, at tea time, everybody agrees
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A path is not simply for walking, its purpose lies in moving forward and improving oneself.
Pleased that his answer had been right eventhough he had said the wrong answer at first before he corrected himself, he opened up his notebook and grabbed his quill and dipped it in the ink.
Despite that he already knew most of the things that the Professor was saying. It did not hurt to make some extra notes and refresh his memory in case these things came up during his N.E.W.T exams.
After he wrote down in his notebook and listened to the Professor, Mason flipped the pages of the textbook to write down the correct spelling of the constellations. When he was done, he looked to the front again and although he knew multiple answers to this question, he decided to remain silent and started to doodle the Cassiopeia W on the corner of the page.
dream until your • dreams come true ~ Human pygmy puff
Shay was busy taking notes and trying to keep up with all that the professor was saying. She needed to be extra diligent with her notes because Astronomy needed a little extra attention in the studying department. Shay had heard of some of the constellations........others, not so much. She would need to file the information in her memory bank. Shay had a feeling that this wasn't the last time she'd be hearing about these constellations.
It was time for the second question and Shay took a moment to think. And then, just like that, her go to answer was taken. She listened to the other answers given by her classmates. The Gryffindor wasn't quite sure of an answer, but another student had given her an idea. The key was to say your answer with confidence. Be strong and wrong or maybe be right. "Ursa Minor is one of the constellations that can only be seen in the Northern Hemisphere." Fingers crossed, Shay hoped that her answer was correct.
__________________
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Playfully rolling her eyes at Althea, because she could, the blonde proceeded to doodle small stars across the top of her notes. It was appropriate since this lesson was apparently about stars. So.. no need to suggest that she wasn't paying attention. And a bit of decoration hurt nothing, especially this parchment page. By the way, what was up with all these lessons requiring so much note-taking? Her hand was seriously beginning to ache.....One of these days, Liv would remember to bring the Quick Quotes to class (that Blaise had purchased for her).
OWL-year = killing her nerves.
....and a question.
"Aries....which is my star sign." That obviously meant it was the BEST star sign. Jokes, that was a joke. To be quite honest, it wasn't even her favorite one. That honor went to Gemini. Olivia didn't rightfully know why she loved it so much....but...you know, it probably had something to do with the majesty of twins; on top of the name being so cool. After she married and finished with school, it was her dream to birth a set..... But her mum was a twin, and it was hard to know if it'd skip a generation or two. Recessive genes were weird like that sometimes. Especially in magical families.
Actually, Gemini was visible in the Northern Hemisphere, as well...wasn't it? "Gemini, too." Just because it was the one she adored most.
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We live in cities you'll never see onscreen..._______________________________________________
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We're on each other's team._____
Okay. Listing of the constellations visible in October. Felicity wrote them down as her classmates spoke, adding notes as the Professor answered questions and corrections. As for the next question, she settled on writing the ones she knew down in a list, and realised that even if she did have the courage to answer in front of the class, the ones she knew had all been spoken already. The realisation washed over her with a sense of relief, wondering when she would be able to answer questions without feeling out of place.
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⇀ Standing now, calling all the people here to see the show_____________________________
Calling for my demons now to let me go ↽
Shay was busy taking notes and trying to keep up with all that the professor was saying. She needed to be extra diligent with her notes because Astronomy needed a little extra attention in the studying department. Shay had heard of some of the constellations........others, not so much. She would need to file the information in her memory bank. Shay had a feeling that this wasn't the last time she'd be hearing about these constellations.
It was time for the second question and Shay took a moment to think. And then, just like that, her go to answer was taken. She listened to the other answers given by her classmates. The Gryffindor wasn't quite sure of an answer, but another student had given her an idea. The key was to say your answer with confidence. Be strong and wrong or maybe be right. "Ursa Minor is one of the constellations that can only be seen in the Northern Hemisphere." Fingers crossed, Shay hoped that her answer was correct.
"Excellent job, Shay!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverTiger
As the lesson had started, Stasya had made the decision to just take notes. It wasn’t that she didn’t know constellations. She liked constellations. That was what she’d written down, and she remembered lots of times when she and mama had laid in their backyard looking at the stars. It was more that she’d never really paid attention to exactly when she’d seen them, so the idea that some were only visible in October was new to her. Plus, she didn’t want to be wrong either since she’d said she liked constellations, so it was easier to just stay quiet.
Until she felt like maybe she had an answer, and she raised her hand not long after Emmeline had mentioned the dippers again. Except she sort of thought that they were asterisms like Professor Berkovich had mentioned earlier since they were part of bigger constellations. “Leo is visible in the Northern Hemisphere,” she offered. Besides, she was a Lion after all. It just seemed right that she say that one.
"Correct! Leo is visible in March!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by NifflerFan
A smile graced the first year lion's face, because the professor had said she was sort of right! At least, that's what Emmeline thought the professor meant that. She didn't really know, because what did all these new words mean? Sighing softly, she tried to scribble down as much of what the professor said as she could. Maybe Stasya would let her check her notes against her friend's notes later, because this lesson was confusing to the max!
Her expression brightened again when the professor asked her second question, because Emmeline definitely knew the answer to this one! Raising her hand, she said triumphantly: "The Dippers!" She knew she was right because the professor had just told her that after she'd given that answer the first time. So if it wasn't quite the right answer to the first question, it was definitely the right answer now. The professor had said so!
She thought this was probably the first time she'd given a right answer to a question outside of CoMC class all term. Even if it was kind of cheating because she hadn't known the answer until the teacher had told her earlier, she was happy because this was progress!
"Yes!" she beamed at Emmaline.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady of Light
Etta noted down what the professor explained in detail, careful not to miss out on anything. Asterism...it was something entirely new that she hadn't read about before. Interesting. She listened as the professor when on to ask her next question. Ooooh, she knew this. The girl quickly raised her hand.
"Camelopardalis.. also the giraffe." Hopefully, that pronunciation was correct. "It's one of the ten constellations in the Ursa Major Family." Since the professor had asked for only one constellation.. she set her quill down and waited for class to move on.
"Great job!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom
Constellations. ZZzzzzz. Kane was trying his very best to NOT fall asleep in class because he knew that would be terrible and he'd probably lose points. But it was really this new professor's fault, changing the place in to a planetarium AND also starting class at night. She was practically TRYING to get him to fall asleep.
He shook his head and stretched a bit before raising his hand, trying to wake himself up a bit. "Um, I think Cassiopeia is only in the Northern Hemisphere," he noted.
He hoped so, at least.
"Perfect job!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by RachieRu
Harriet smiled, knowing that had got a good answer, that was correct. Whilst she wasn't a big head, she liked getting the right answer. It made her happy, and more confident in the subject. So that meant it was a good thing. The fourth year just had to hope that she could keep getting the right answers. Of course she would learn some things, but being and knowing right answers felt good too. She thought about the next question, whilst she made a neat list of the constellations that were seen in October. This might be important for her OWLs next year, so she needed to write them down.
A few minutes later, she thought about an answer for the second question, and then raised her hand into the air. "I think that the constellation Draco can only be seen in the Northern Hemisphere" Or at least she was hoping so now.
"You're right!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising
Three constellations seen in October? What kind of trick question was that? Skylar, despite her lack of consistency with Astronomy professors, was fairly certain that there were more than three constellations that could be seen at any given month, depending on how clear the skies were. Dutifully, she began writing them down, trying to focus, so she could get the pronunciation correctly without making a fool of herself. Aquarius, Pegasus, ... Alnair, Formalhaut, .. ah, what were the other two???
But while she was trying to focus, and her classmates were spouting out answers, and Skylar was kicking herself for failing at the recall, mentally making note to go back over her constellations again because ... OWLs, the Professor spoke again, listing them all. And she was now jumping to talking about constellations seen only in the Northern Hemisphere. Right, right. Just answer the question first, then write, Skylar reminded herself, as she raised her hand. "Ursa Major is a constellation seen in the Northern Hemisphere only. It's also a constellation that can be seen year around, not limited to only the Fall months."
"Correct!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by thekraken
Althea gave Olivia a knowing smile, but didn't want to be too obvious about it, so she went about jotting down some notes - to refresh her memory - as the professor continued. She didn't understand how anyone could dislike Astronomy; the stars, the planets, everything about the entire universe was was relevant. She thought back to how her own brother didn't bother to try in Astronomy last term and got annoyed with him all over again. But,...she needed to focus.
The question gave her pause, and she mentally shuffled through the different constellations to make sure she wouldn't name one that is exclusive to the southern hemisphere. Before raising her hand, she thought briefly, and then said: "If I'm not mistaken, Perseus is a constellation exclusive to the Northern Hemisphere, too."
"Excellent job, Althea!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
"That's alright." She assured the woman, not tremendously fussed by the mix up of names. She'd only been trying to ensure the Professor didn't think it really was her name. October was still pretty new for new Professors and the Ravenclaw was aware that the current conditions were ripe for simple, harmless mistakes.
Also, wasn't it funny how no matter how much you read, once the Professor began speaking technical Astronomy related things, it always sounded a bit more complicated?
The problem for her was that she was a kinesthetic learner. HEARING such concepts without being able to see and manipulate them in real time always made sitting through this part of the lesson difficult for her. Sometimes the concepts flew right over her head entirely until she went over them later or tried finding them with her own telescope. It was fair to say she would sometimes become a little confused while listening to it all in such long rambles but Jessa did her best to look attention while the Professor spoke.
As for the constellations only seen in the Northern Hemisphere...
"I think Cepheus may be one of those, Professor."
"You're very correct!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Govoni
Playfully rolling her eyes at Althea, because she could, the blonde proceeded to doodle small stars across the top of her notes. It was appropriate since this lesson was apparently about stars. So.. no need to suggest that she wasn't paying attention. And a bit of decoration hurt nothing, especially this parchment page. By the way, what was up with all these lessons requiring so much note-taking? Her hand was seriously beginning to ache.....One of these days, Liv would remember to bring the Quick Quotes to class (that Blaise had purchased for her).
OWL-year = killing her nerves.
....and a question.
"Aries....which is my star sign." That obviously meant it was the BEST star sign. Jokes, that was a joke. To be quite honest, it wasn't even her favorite one. That honor went to Gemini. Olivia didn't rightfully know why she loved it so much....but...you know, it probably had something to do with the majesty of twins; on top of the name being so cool. After she married and finished with school, it was her dream to birth a set..... But her mum was a twin, and it was hard to know if it'd skip a generation or two. Recessive genes were weird like that sometimes. Especially in magical families.
Actually, Gemini was visible in the Northern Hemisphere, as well...wasn't it? "Gemini, too." Just because it was the one she adored most.
"Very good, Olivia! December is a great month to view Aries." Keiyona nodded and gave Olivia a warm smile. "Correct! Gemini is visible from November until April."
Now to move on, Keiyona gestured her hand gracefully towards the ceiling to let the night sky appear. In the night sky above their heads the major constellations were shown brightly. Professor Berkovich stepped towards the side of her desk and looked her students. "I would like all of you to take about ten minutes to choose one constellation that we have talked about today and look through your textbooks to help further your research." that was easy enough. "With that said research I would like you read through the myths that lay behind the constellation. It would be helpful if you all jot some notes from the myths that you view as important." she said as she walked over towards the blackboard and began writing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BLACKBOARD
Andromeda
Aquarius
Capricornus
Pegasus
Pisces
Grus
Lacerta
Piscis Austrinus
Octans
Cassiopeia
Cepheus
Draco
Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
Keiyona moved away from the board so the student can see what she had written. "You're not limited to these constellations but these are just merely suggestions to help your research. Once you're done, please sit and wait quietly until I give you further instructions." she smiled and said with a warm, soothing tone as she took a seat at her desk.
OOC: Class will continue in about 36 hours!
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maybe that plane wouldn't ever take off maybe that dust wouldn't fly off the drive maybe that tumbleweed and me wouldn't leave every other sunrise
There was that noise again, coming from Abey. The noise that said 'whyyyyy meeeeeee' but mostly sounded like strangled gargling. He shouldn't have been surprised at all. Astronomy seemed to be all about reading and knowing things from the textbooks and even though sometimes they did artwork or practical things, the majority of it was stuff to do with information from the textbooks.
Abey had never exactly been very good at Astronomy for that reason, and he wasn't exactly planning ahead for sixth year already, but he knew he wouldn't take the subject after OWLs. He probably wouldn't be able to even if he wanted, because he was bound to get a T grade.
Taking his textbook out of his schoolbag, Abey squinted at the words up on the board. He struggled enough with words in both English and Arabic, but sometimes he when he looked at words they may as well have just been a random assortment of letters, for all the sense they made. Or runes, actually.
Looking down through the list, Abey got all the way the bottom and still hadn't seen anything he recognised. Since he was already at the very bottom of the list, he went ahead and chose Ursa Major just because it kept catching his eye, and decided to focus on that. Or try to, anyway. After taking out his quill and ink, he went ahead and wrote 'URSA MAJOR' in big letters on the top of his parchment, referencing the board for the proper spelling after each letter.
Now for the part he was dreading. The textbook. For a moment, Abey just sat there staring at it, not even opening it, wishing he could find a way to avoid the task before him, as impossible as it seemed. He rubbed at his head, where a painful stabbing ache had started to form, and frowned.
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Even though Henry did well enough on his Astronomy OWL to pass it and therefore continue taking the class at NEWT level, he didn't retain so much of the information to feel comfortable enough to offer it in class without verifying his accuracy with the textbook. He was almost always better at the practical applications than the theoretical, and this class was no exception.
And even though he didn't offer answers, he had no problem writing the information down once the professor confirmed the correct answers. But the next part of class didn't really sound much better. Henry would much prefer a more engaging activity than doing research from his textbook, but he lifted his eyes to the board to take a look at the choices there.
His eyes rested briefly on Capricornus, thinking that might be an interesting constellation since Capricorn was his star sign. But then he saw Pegasus and decided to go with that one, flying horse and all. He opened his book to look for any interesting information on Pegasus, including any myths associated with it.
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started like a knight in a fairytale_______________________________________________
ended like a moth in flames______________________ ______________________don't you worry I'll be fine _________________________________________________you were good for the plot line
Emmeline heaved a long, soundless siiiiiiigh. Why couldn't they look at the stars -- they were so pretty -- instead of reading about them? She dove for her bag and dragged her textbook out very reluctantly.
It was obvious which constellation to research: Pegasus. He was a creature and therefore automatically more interesting to the first year than the non-creature ones were. Of course, there were other constellations that were creatures too, but Pegasus was just calling to her today. Or something like that. She'd been drawing him in her notes anyway.
As she flipped through the textbook, she became kind of confused. Were there supposed to myths about the constellations themselves in here? Or did the professor mean she wanted notes on the myth of Pegasus himself? The latter was easier, so she decided to do that and if it was wrong, well, she wasn't in Ravenclaw for a reason, right?
She wrote her notes on a fresh piece of parchment because all of the professors liked things to be turned in these days.
SPOILER!!: Pegasus notes
Emmeline Sparkes
Gryffindor
First Year
His daddy is Poseidon
He sprang out of Medusa's neck when she died 'cause she was evil and a hero killed her.
His name means "springs" or "waters" in Greek.
He flew away to be friends with the pretty Muses on a mountain.
He stamped his foot and created a spring because he was strong.
A hero got a golden bridle from Athena to tame Pegasus. He did, and he flew down on a chimaera from the sky on Pegasus and killed the chimaera (it was a mean one).
The dumb hero eventually tried to fly to Mt Olympus but he fell back to Earth because humans can't go there.
Pegasus was the REAL hero and he got to go to Olympus all by himself to be Zeus' special horse friend. He got to carry all the thunder and lightning for Zeus. Zeus decided to put him in the sky and make him a constellation.
The End.
Finished! They didn't have to do any more work now, right? Emmeline went back to drawing her pegasus in her notebook.
So they were going to look up the mythology of constellations? Melbourne opened her textbook and glanced around at her classmates wondering for a moment what they were going to choose to research…her fingers traced over the words on her textbook as she debated which constellation to choose from when her fingers paused and she had it. Aquila…the eagle, sure it wasn’t on the board but even she had brought it up earlier in that very class.
Opening her notepad she began to jot down what she knew of the myths her fingers were staring to ache from notes…merlin, she needed to pester the girls in this school to see if any of them wanted to do a spa day. It was a necessary evil, especially during OWLs year.
SPOILER!!: notes
Aquila Constellation Notes
Zeus is why we can’t have nice things
Zeus…really? What is your problem.
Aquila was an eagle / thunderbird - she carried Zeus' lightning bolts
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IF YOU MAKE HER ____________
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She felt as if she’d made up for her earlier silence when Professor Berkovich had said she was correct with her guess of Leo as one of the constellations in the Northern Hemisphere. Of course, she’d been told it wasn’t visible in October, but that hadn’t been the question. Therefore, Stasya was just taking the correct comment out of it all, and she’d carefully copied down the list of others that had been mentioned too. In case it was important, although by the time the professor had summarized everything the list had gotten a lot shorter. And also didn’t include her suggestion, which made her earlier feeling of accomplishment fade a little.
The textbook part didn’t disappoint her as much as it had Emmeline and, as she’d glanced around her dormmate, Abey. Reading didn’t bother her, but she liked activities more than busywork. But, as she looked over the list of constellations to choose from, she saw one that caught her eye from the start. Because of the one thing she knew about it from the start, and reminded herself of her mission with Derf. Not any real personal connection like star signs or anything like that. Therefore, she’d flipped through her textbook and started scribbling down notes fairly quickly.
SPOILER!!: notes
Stasya Dalgaard-Volkova
Gryffindor
First year
Capricornus
-Latin for “horned goat”
- SEA-GOAT!!!!
- smallest zodiac constellation
-half goat, half fish
- Babylonians thought it represented the god Ea and marked the winter solstice
- Greeks said it symbolized Amalthea, a goat who cared for baby Zeus and saved him from his daddy, or it might be Pan, the half-goat god
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♥♥♥♥ It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me, at tea time, everybody agrees
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Yeah I broke that mirror, so what? ll NOT backward ll Official Gryfferin ll Lemon's favourite
Research on the stars? To be perfectly honest, the Professor would have had Jessa at 'research' were it not for the fact it'd have to be textbooks. Left to her, she'd pull out her telescope but even she knew you could only get so much info from that.
This was the drawback with Astronomy. Most of it was already written down by someone else. It left you no option BUT to go through the textbook in order to find the answers you needed...which....on any average day....sucked..
With a small huff, Jessa pried open her text, turning to the chapter on constellations.
Slowly she began making her notes.
SPOILER!!: Lacerta
Jessa Cambridge
Ravenclaw
Third Year
Lacerta
Lacerta lies between Andromeda and Cygnus.
Its name means “the lizard” in Latin.
Lacerta was created by the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in 1687.
Sometimes referred to as Little Cassiopeia because its brightest stars form a “W” shape, just like the stars in the considerably larger Cassiopeia constellation.
Lacerta belongs to the Perseus family of constellations.
Lacerta has one star with known planets and contains no Messier objects.
She would be lying if she said she didn't just copy it all out from her text. Merlin she hated this part.
__________________
Imma say all the words inside my head____________________________________
______________________________I'm fired up and tired of the way that things are said.
OOOH. Following the Professors wave of her hand, Felicity's eyes lit up at the same time the... ceiling? The sky? did. That was an incredible feat of magic, she couldn't help but muse, completely enraptured by the beauty of the view.
What was being said?
Right. Research. From the textbook. Felicity tore her gaze back downward, rummaging through her bag and extracting her Astronomy book. It's edges were tattered, partly because she'd riffled through the pages many times, partly because of its second hand nature, but the fourth year didn't mind. She didn't understand why they were just copying notes - it was different when you were collating them from loads of different sources, though, so maybe she'd just add to them in the library later. After deliberating the board and chosing Octans, Felicity drew a quick diagram, then pulled the textbook closer to her and began to make notes.
SPOILER!!: Octans.
Octans
Named after the octant (a navigational instrument), Octans originates from Latin, meaning the "eighth part of a circle." Although faint, it is classed within the 88 "modern constellations", located in the deep Southern Sky and covers 291 square degrees (50th/80). Due to being circumpolar to the South Celestial Pole, it is always visible throughout the Southern Hemisphere, but its best visibility is during October and November.
Brightest stars: Nu Octantis, Sigma Octantis (the Southern Pole Star) and Delta Octantis (Saturn's Southern Pole Star).
After putting her quill down, she reread the notes she had made, underlining parts she didn't really understand, things she'd look up in more detail after the lesson.
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Melbourne scraped down the list of notes that she was scratched down the notes found in her textbook…okaaaaaaaay, so there were always SO many different stories about Aquila that it really was hard to think about what was really happening with Aquila. What was Aquila’s true story? She wondered as she looked at the myths. There were so many that it was honestly hard to consider. The notes…there were soooooooooo many notes.
Stretching out her hands and her fingers Melbourne spread her fingers out and wiggling them...well no Aquila was a loyally vengeful subject now wasn't she? A dear dear pet indeed.
SPOILER!!: notes
Aquila Constellation Notes
Zeus is why we can’t have nice things
Zeus…really? What is your problem.
Aquila was an eagle / thunderbird - she carried Zeus' lightning bolts
Latin for Eagle
Constellation located on the celestial equator
representation of the eagle that carried Zeus/Jupiter’s thunderbolts in Greco-Roman Mythology
Babylonian Eagle carried the constellation called the Dead man in its talons. The author (Gavin White)
In Greek Mythology Aquila is the eagle that carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was sent by Zeus to carry the shepherd Ganymede to Olympus
In Hinduism the constellation is identified with the half-eagle hald-humand iety Garuda
Aquila pet eagle of Zeus
Zeus carried Ganymede to Mount Olympus to the cupbearer to his master.
Aquila was the eagle that attacked Prometheus
Prometheus being immortal would heal daily only to be attacked again by Aquila the next day
When Prometheus was saved by Hercules
Prometheus later killed Aquila with his bow & arrow
Zeus later placed her in the stars as a constellation
Other Myths
Aquila represents Aphrodite disguised as an eagle,
Zeus pretended to be a swan and was chased by Aphrodite so that Zeus could capture the attention of his love interest the goddess Nemesis
Zeus put his the images of a swan and eagle in the constellations to commemorate the the time he shared with nemesis
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So, after a while - a good long while - Abey realised that... having a STARE DOWN with his Astronomy textbook wasn't really going to get anything done. A good few minutes had past, but now he mustered up his courage and cracked the textbook open.
It really was... quite overwhelming, and actually, Abey didn't understand how everyone else seemed to find it so easy to just... flip through the pages, so quickly, and find what they were looking for. How could they read it so quickly? What was it like to be able to do that? It was sort of like how he wondered what colours everyone saw the world in, because HE would often point out all the different colours of something only for someone else to tell him that what he was looking at was just all black, or all white, or all any-colour-at-all. What was it LIKE to see things like that? Well... apparently it made Potions a lot easier than it was for Abey.
And then, taking it a step further, what was it like to see things the way Derf did? Derf saw colours differently to the way most people did, but in a different way than Abey did, and trying imagine it kind of made Abey's head hurt a lot.
Wait a minute... hold on... huh... what...?
Oh... he had got distracted. Again.
Right. Ahem. Research? Research.
It took a while to find the right page, because of course it did. Abey spent forever searching the contents page of his textbook to try and find the right chapter he needed, and then he misread what page he needed THREE times in a row, and THEN when he found the right chapter, his eyes wouldn't work properly and he kept skipping over Ursa Major in the main text. By the time he had FINALLY found what he needed, his head was pounding even more.
Screwing up his face and squinting his eyes (all the better to read with) Abey started trying to decode the section on Ursa Major.
Okay, so... a bear was involved. That was a good start. Except, um... why were there so many different stories? It was mega confusing actually, so Abey decided to just focus on one of them, and even then... he struggled. Especially as every time he couldn't work out a word, he just skipped over it, and those were almost always names, which made keeping track of the story almost impossible. The book said... something about a bear. And a someone, and another someone, and a third someone. And the first someone got turned into a bear because of someone called Arcas, and Arcas was a hunter, and then some things happened that Abey skipped over because he couldn't work it out, then Arcas was turned into a bear too? And then Arcas and the first bear were both thrown into the sky and became stars... somehow.
Abey set down his book and rubbed at the side of his poor pounding head once more, just from the effort he had expended just getting through that information. That... was all a little complicated to write down, so, on his parchment, he just did a very condensed version of everything. There. Done. Uhhh... okay.
SPOILER!!: Parchment
URSA MAJOR
Baer
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Pegasus was a flying horse, which was, frankly, the only reason why Katy was willing to pick a constellation at all. Stories. She loved stories. Myths, legends, fairy tales, and most especially, Shakepeare. But it wasn't fact, and lessons were meant to be fact. This was not learning.
Katy unrolled three full feet of parchment, labeling the top bit "PEGASUS". She then drew out the constellation and carefully annotated the stars in it, including the distances and relative weight and density and color of each star. And then, out of some minor and harmless rebellion, she transcribed the second scene in the third act from Cymbeline from memory. "Oh, for a horse with wings!" Indeed.
Research. Riiiight. Etta opened her textbook before looking up at the blackboard to go through the list of constellations. What did she want to study? Hmm. She slowly flipped through the pages of her book, quickly skimming through the details given for each constellation before she finally decided to pick Cassiopeia. She started to read about about this constellation with great interest, occasionally jotting down notes.
SPOILER!!: parchment
Quote:
Notes -
Alpha Cassiopeiae is pretty much the brightest star in Cassiopeia.
Cassiopeia is named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek Mythology.
Vain because she was very confident about her looks. She was also the wife of King Cepheus and mother of Princess Andromeda.
It is recognisable because of it's shape in the form of a 'W' which is formed by five stars and is visible only in the northern sky.
Recently, it has been discovered that a meteor shower radiates from this constellation.
Etta set her quill down, wondering if this was enough? Or was more expected? She decided to just wait for further instructions so meanwhile, she read about the myths attached to other constellations. The stories were rather fascinating, to say the least.
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Eddie barely looked up at the board when the professor started talking. He really wasn't all that interested and he wasn't sure why his mother made him take this class. Looking at the professor, who clearly couldn't see him even though he thought he was sitting right out in the open, was going on and on about something. He hadn't really paid enough attention to even try to figure out what she was saying.
Looking back down at his book inside his book he flipped the page and read the same sentence he had read for weeks, maybe even months again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by book
An individual who can speak parseltongue is known as a Parselmouth. It is a very uncommon skill and is typically hereditary.
Typically hereditary, which meant that it could be possible for it not to be. It had only ever said typically. Could this be the loophole? Not all parelmouth were blood-related?
Could he figure out how to speak it? He kept going over and over these thoughts without a concern or a knowledge of what was going on around him.
One of the best parts of Astronomy was the myths attached to the constellations. From their positioning to the how the stars aligned to how frequently they appear in certain areas - Althea loved it all. She appreciated how over time, people have always found a reason to explain the unexplainable. Mythology also was very interesting, as she found herself admiring the amount of detail that went into each myths. After flipping open her book, Althea decided on Ursa Minor as the constellation to research.
She flipped quickly and worked quietly, writing as neatly as she could, while also trying to be coherent in the process.
SPOILER!!: research work.
Ursa Minor (quick notes)
known as the lesser bear (in latin)
also more colloquially known as the little dipper
in greek mythology, ursa minor is known as arcas (son of zeus & callisto (ursa major)
myth 1: in order to protect them from hera (who was understandably jealous of anyone zeus gave attention to,) arcas & callisto were changed into bears by zeus & then placed in the sky.
myth 2: callisto was transformed into a bear by juno. as arcas was out hunting, he mistook his mother for a wild bear until jupiter intervened. after being changed into a bear, juptier placed them in the sky.
myth 2 cont.: apparently being in the sky is an honor of sorts
myth 2 cont.: an enraged juno convinced poseidon to not let arcas & callisto bath in the sea which lead to: ursa major & ursa minor becoming circumpolar (they don't dip beneath the horizon)
After placing her quill down, she stretched her fingers (all the writing she'd done these days were really getting to her,) and looked over her notes once again.
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Aww, really? All this writing... Olivia was excited for something a bit more practical and artistic. As it had been during the previous term. Maybe for the main activity? Perhaps they were gathering all this information to design a poster or something. Hopefully...
Right, soooo, looking at the Professor's compiled list, for the sake of keeping it simple, Liv decided upon Draco, the dragon. For no other reason than dragons were cool, and she thought she remembered a bit of the mythology behind the constellation. It was easier to work with what you know, right? Her textbook would be making the assist, of course...but there was some base knowledge already in play. A good starting point, in her opinion.
Pulling a fresh sheet of parchment, the blonde carefully drew out the header, Draco, the Dragon, in a calligrapher's hand. With a few extra doodled stars to add to the effect....and make it match with the previous note-page. She was into the cohesive and aesthetics. Opening her book shortly after, Liv began flipping pages. What she already knew, in regards to Draco, was that the dragon was killed by Cadmus. After he'd been slain, his teeth had been buried into the ground, where soliders had sprung forth. Soliders...Warriors, it was all the same. The warriors then battled for their place among the first to inhabit the gorgeous city of Thebes.
SPOILER!!: Draco!
Olivia Lynn Phillips
Gryffindor Fifth Year
17 October, 2092
Draco Constellation Notes
Technical
○ eighth-largest constellation
○ derived from the Latin draconem, meaning "huge serpent,"
○ constellation literally snakes its way through the northern sky
○ one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy
○ best seen in July at 9 p.m. local time
Mythology
○ guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides
○ slain by Cadmus
○ used for his dragon teeth that bore warriors to fight for a place in Thebes by Minerva's command.
○ eventually placed in the skies by Juno for his services to the Gods and Goddesses
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Doing an awful lot of scribbling and such, she barely paid any attention to what was going on around her. What her seatmate was doing for her star, what her classmates were doing for theirs.... If anyone was asking questions... Needless to say, she was pretty absorbed, considering how boring simple writing actually was. The sooner she got this done, the better, right?
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Astronomy Lesson #1 | Constellations 
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