Astronomy Lesson 2
 

You ascend into a completely circular room at the top of the highest tower. The walls are completely made of floor to ceiling windows, except a metre wide section for a fire, giving an almost 360 degree view of the surrounds. Accessible through an almost invisible break is the glass is a wide stone balcony that completely encircles the room. There is a charm around the doorway that stops the stinging wind from entering.

The room is vast, having been expanded by magic. In it stands a very large and magnificent telescope that can reach even the most distant stars, its lenses pointing out through the glass wall, which actually revolves so that it can be turned any direction. On the balcony stand many smaller telescopes on tripods, and inside are about 30 small wooden desks shaped like stars and moons with very comfortable high backed chairs. They are arranged around a large Mahogany desk shaped like a crescent moon, with a similar chair… Professor Dainsie’s desk.

Come on in and get ready for lesson 2!

Serena takes a seat and gazes out of the tower at the twinkling stars. She prepares her book and notes for class to begin.

Rosie walks into the room and sits down, waiting for the class to start.

Leah takes a seat and waits for class to start.

:kelli walks in, smiles at Serena, and takes a seat next to her:

Hi Serena.

:puts her bag down and waits for class to start:

Anelreas walked into the Astronomy Room with a smile on her face. She loved this class, even though she had had only one class. In the first class alone, she had learned a lot more knowledge of astronomy as a whole. It was a wonder of what she was to learn in this class.

She found an empty seat in the back, her preferred spot, and sat down, taking out her needed materials for the class. As she waited for the class to begin, she began writing little tid bits on a piece of spare parchment.

*Em stumbles into the room out of breath from climbing the stairs.* "Hello, Professor!" *She sits toward the middle of the room and pulls out her things, ready for class to begin*

Mithos walks in the Castonomy Class room "Hello Professor." Mithos says as he sits down

"Hey Milthos."

Meghan notices Mithos and waves. "Hey Mithos."

Mithos waves to Leah and Meghan and tunrs back to his piece of parchemnt and starts writing 'Astronomy Class Notes' ...

Serena says, "Hi Kelli! It's a great night for stargazing, oh, and class too!"

dum
 

*Jessica sheepishly climbed up the stairs, she had missed the first lesson, but she thought she might check this one out, she loved astronomy. she looked around at the room, totally amazed by it. she walked around, as if in a dream. she chose a desk with a moon on it, and she smiled "hm, its like being back in kindergarten again!" she thought. she turned her attention to the teacher and waited for instruction.*

Nods to herself what Serena said. "I totally agree..."

Xavier walks into the room and sits down near the back.

Bailey walked into the classroom and sat down in the first empty seat she saw. She took out her textbook and started reading while waiting for class to start.

*Bored, Em begins doodling on her parchment*

Jenn walked in, looked around at all the people already there, grabbed a strawberry lollipop and found a seat nearest the back she could.

Nadia took a seat near the back and waited for the lesson to start, curious as to what they would be discussing, though she did have a good idea. With that thought in mind, she picked up her book and started revising -- only after taking a lollie, of course.

Zekke slipped into his usual seat in the back corner of the room and opened his notebook and got out his quill and got ready to take notes.

Zekke raised his hand. "The third planet from the sun?" He ducked his head and grinned a little. "The nickname is a little long, but Earth is the third planet from the sun."

*raise her hand*

"Third rock from the Sun!" she said, "and Huston! And maybe Terra which is the lating for Earth. We call ourselves a lot of things, don't we?"

*chuckle*

"Oh yes, and the blue planet, too!" He added.

"The living planet?" Zekke guessed. "Because Earth is the only planet that supposedly can support life?"

Yep another point for that!

[OOC:Latinhottoe please do not use that color, just use black in class, its very hard to read!]

"Pluto seems blue, doesn't it?" Zekke nodded in agreement.

"I said 'blue planet' in reference to the fact that Earth is the only planet that has water and therefore is blue in color for that reason. Though Pluto might be called the blue planet as well." He looked to the professor for an answer to this quandry.

Funniest? Mmh...

"Well, I have heard my father refer to it as 'the humanity rubbish bin' or 'the galaxy bottom' (because we live on the tail), but I don't think that's quite polite... I don't know." *shippish smile* "What about the

"um the nutrious planet, the geographical planet, the home planet, the... hmm i cant think of anymore.

*giggles at the names*

"this is fun, what about mostly water planet. oh or even the environmental planet, or even poluted planet. The planet has been poluted.

Amy giggled and raised her hand.
"There's dirt too. Earth's another name for it," she added.

Nadia blushed, not really expecting to receive points over her answer. Detention seemed more suitable. She laughed at her own thought and stayed quiet, actually not remembering any othernmae

Mithos raised his hand "the Restless Planet"

Francis raised her hand, and giggling says: "The inner-planet with a side-kick?". Then with another more serious smile she adds, "How about.. The self-destructing planet?"

Zekke couldn't help himself. "The planet abandoned by aliens?" His normally stoic expression had cracked into a grin that he was trying to smother. He had a smart mouth and he couldn't help but make the wisecrack.

Bahaha! I like the side-kick!! 3 points for that one.

Also fr2nc1z gets 10 points for continually helping around the astronomy classroom! (In the previos lesson and for the member numbers)

Well these just keep getting better and better! 3 for that as well!!

Francis smiles proudly. After hearing some of the other nicknames, she tries to come up with a funnier one. Scratching her head, she looks around for a while.. Deciding to come up with a nickname that would relate to witchcraft history, she raised her hand and said: "How about... The planet that lived.."

Zekke was glad he didn't blush very readily because right now, he was rather embarrassed for making such a wisecrack like that. In fact, he was so embarrassed he could have just disappeared into the floor. The right and proper Zekke that most people knew wouldn't say something like that... or would he?

He stole a glance in Nadia's direction.

As it were, the right and proper Zekke held himself responsible for his own actions - and words - and if being embarrassed was the price, so be it. With that in mind, he wore a slightly sheepish grin and was ready to laugh at himself.

Hearing that the professor approved of his suggestion, he allowed himself to laugh quietly.

Deciding that he needed something to keep himself from making more wisecracks, he popped a lollipop in his mouth and got distracted by its refreshingly tart flavor. Sour apple was his favorite candy flavor, bar none. Well... except for maybe chocolate...

Turning serious again, Zekke sucked on his candy for a moment then raised his hand and waited to be called on.

"I know that the United States is sometimes called a 'melting pot' because of the great diversity in the ethnicities of the people there. But since Earth contains all human beings - at least, as far as we know - could the Earth also be called a 'melting pot' as well?"

He wrote down notes in his neat scrawl as he listened.

*raises her hand*

"is is a sphere or a oval? Wait, are you talking about how its rocky or not smooth because of the of the different physical features."

*leans back, slightly confused*

Francis raises her hand, "Oval? Since.. it is not a perfect circle..."

jenn laughed out loud at francis' answer. she knew she herself wasn't witty. "i once heard earth compared to a basketball" hmph... that's not very good... "e to the arth? a violent sphere of never-ending tectonic activity constantly churning and in rebellion against its inhabitants?"

Zekke pondered on that one for a moment as his mind ran through all the possible terms.

Spherical... no... elliptical... errrr maybe... oblong... errr?

He raised his hand. "The earth is... oblong, I think? And it takes an elliptical path."

*raises hand because she actually knows the answer* the earth is oblong-shaped. its circumference around the equater is larger than the circumference along a line of longitude. it is a sort of squashed sphere

Francis laughs. The idea of a rebellion against its inhabitants is quite witty. Smiling at Jenn, she then turns to the Professor and waits.

Zekke nodded in agreement. "I've definitely heard it called a squashed sphere before."

*looks in textbook* "the polar radius of the earth is 6356.9 km while the equatorial radius is 6378.4 km, a difference of 21.5 km. the bulge at the equator is caused by the earth's rotation on it's axis. the northern hemisphere and the south pole (antarctica) are slightly depressed also because of the landmasses there causing a very slight pear shape."

sorry nm hold on and ill edit again

"circle...elipse...oblong....?Hmm..how about 'circlong',or 'circlipse',or maybe 'eblong'?" Ivana said

::thinks::

"Suppose it's oval, sphere, a bit roundish, it's not really round is it? Oblong? Never heard of that kind of shape....is that really a shape?"

Serena raised her hand,

The Earth's shape is described as a sphere, but it is not perfect. It is about 25 miles (40 km) thicker across the middle than it is from North pole to South pole and is caused by the rotation of the Earth. The Earth is elastic enough to 'deform' under the influence of the spin.

It is also described as the Earth's oblateness, which is how much its rounded shape flattens at the poles and widens at the equator.

I also found earth has been described as a somewhat pear shaped ellipsoid, with a slightly larger southern hemisphere than northern hemisphere.

Even others describe it as ovoid, meaning shaped like an egg. Hmmmm....

Some other earth terms I found:
(Not funny)
Greenhouse Planet
Satellite (because it orbits the Sun)

(Funny)
Hollow Earth... for those who want to journey to the center of the earth!
(Trip advertised... 'Voyage to Our Hollow Earth')

(Most Funny or Strange)
Hummocky.... which means uneven, lumpy terrain.

*Selena raises her hand* Earth is pear shaped. Because the Earth rotates it causes it to have a bulge in the middle.

These really arent funny, but they are true. Earth is the contridictory planet. its sunny, rainy, cold, warm, etc. all at the same time and in different places. Its also the outcast according to other planets because its the only planet that hasnt killed its inhabitants but will be killed by them.

(laugh)."Hey..!That's funny,'circlong-circlong where do you belong........'hahaha.."she said to Ivana beside her.

*Julia quickly copies down some of the things others have said. She looks back up at the professor. She thinks about what shape the earth is. Julia raises her hand politely.* "Through a long history, the 'figure of the earth' was thought to be from flat to like a spheric figure. I think it is more like a sphere shape though, because the earth is round. The earth isn't flat, and since it is round also, the earth is most likely a spheric figure." *She puts her hand down and smiles up at the professor.*

*going back to the question of nicknames for earth, Em raises her hand* "The Mental Institution of the Universe." *Em giggles to herself, hoping others might find it slightly funny too* "Another name could be Gaia, after the mythological name for Mother Earth."

Well that part is right, but it is definately not oblong. Oblong is rectangular. 1 point though!


Thats what I was looking for! The term is oblate. Well done, 5 points!!

[color=#CC0000]Another 5 for that]

Bahaha! 3 points for that one...

Very good, 2 points!


Thats right, the two diametres of earth differ by about 42km, giving it a slight squashed appearance.

Can anyone answer this...

Earth is the _____ planet in distance from the sun, and the ____ largest in diametre.

Mithos raises his hand "The Earth is the 3rd planet in distance from the sun, and the 5th largest in diametre."

Serena raised her hand.
Earth is the third planet in distance from the sun, and the fifth largest in diametre.

Evy raised her hand, but was too slow to answer.

Very good! 2 points.

Now, the Earth and the moon move around the sun on a slightly elliptical orbit, meaning it is not a perfect circle, but a slight oval.

How long is the earth's orbit? How far does it travel around the sun?

Amy raised her hand.
"The Earth takes 365 and a fourth days to revolve around the Sun, which is our year, also explaining leaps years with 366 days every four years," Amy answered.

Amy raised her hand again.
"Just a fun fact - the distance of Earth's revolution is 942,000,000 kilometers," she added.

Mithos raises his hand "The Earth's orbit is 365 days and it travels 595 million miles from the sun."

Earth's average distance from the sun is 149,597,870 km.

Mithos raised his hand yet again "Oh sorry Professor then than would be 93 million miles or 149,600,000 km"

*raise her hand*

I have that the Semi-major axis is 149,597,887 km(1.000 000 11 AU). The Peripelion is 147,098,074 km (0.983 289 9 AU). The Aphlion is 152,097,701 km (1.016 710 3 AU)

Thats right, 2 points.

That was my next questoin! 2 points!

Very nice! 3 points!

Does anyone know ho fast we travel through space?

Earth's speed is 18.55 miles per second.

Or 30 km/sec.

Mithos raised his hand "That would be 107,300 km/h or 67,062 miles per hour"

The Average Orbital Speed is 29.783 km per second. The Max. Orbital speed is 30.287 km/s and the Min. Orbital Speed is 29.291 km/s

Do you have in in km/h?

Yep thats it. 2 points. Gah! Miles...

Anyways, The earth rotates on its axis once every 23hrs 56mins and 4.1sec, not an exact 24hrs. A point on the equator therefore rotates at a rate of a little more than 1600 km/h (about 1000 mph), and a point on the earth at the latitude of Portland, Oregon (45° north), rotates at about 1073 km/h (about 667 mph).

Now composition. The earth is made up of 5 parts or layers, starting with the atmosphere. What are the other 4?

Evy raised her hand.

"30 km/sec or 1800km/m or 108 000 km/h. Is that right?"

1669 km per hour or 67,000 miles per hour.

The Crust
The Mantle
The Outer Core
The Inner Core

raises hand. "The crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, the inner core and the outer core...?"