Astronomy 2:1

Adorah enjoyed the buzz of the first week of classes. The first years, no matter what semester, had a little air of chaos around them, trickling throughout the castle. The second years weren't much better, but at least they knew where they were going around the castle. As the students came in, she stood at the doorway greeting them, watching as they found similar seats to the previous year, and began conversing in their usual friend groups. As the bell rang, she went to her desk, took attendance, and then looked up at the second years as the bell rang. "Welcome back everyone! Most of you should remember me from last year, but I'm Professor Zumwalt. I'm excited to see you all again and move on to some new parts of astronomy this year. Let's get started!"

"This year, we are going to be focusing locally in astronomical terms - on our own solar system." She paused a moment, letting students finish taking out their notes and giving a knowing glance to those who were not quite paying attention yet. "We're going back thousands of years when Ptolemy, a notable muggle astronomer, and others came up with the idea of a Geocentric Universe. Everyone pretty much agreed on the idea in the muggle world. However, wizard astronomers who tried to bridge the gap and tell muggles that idea was wrong... well, they were pretty much ignored, including the wizard Aristarchus," Professor Zumwalt paused again, gauging if she'd already lost a few students with her story. It was difficult to keep 12 and 13-year-olds engaged, especially in a subject where they weren't using their wands. However, she hoped that some of them were keeping up.

"A Geocentric Universe, simply put, is that everything is revolving around the Earth while the Earth stands motionless. It wasn't until the year 1540 that things started to change in the world when Nicolas Copernicus published work suggesting a Sun-centered model. Johannes Kepler was the first to realize the planets moved in ellipses, not circles like Copernicus had assumed. We talked about ellipses last year if you remember. Can anyone remind the class what an ellipse is?" Professor Zumwalt asked, picking a student whose hand shot up quickly. "An ellipse is the way the earth goes around the sun, and it's an oval-shaped circle," they answered. "Yes, exactly. 2 points to you!"

"The planets and other objects flying around the Sun are held in their paths by the Sun's gravity, as it is the most massive object. That is the Heliocentric model our solar system follows." Professor Zumwalt paused a moment to glance at the clock. She saw the second hand was about 30 seconds away from hitting their time, and she could see a few students yawning as they tried to adjust to night classes again after their break. "Well, that finishes today's lesson. I have a short bit of homework for you; make sure you grab a sheet from the stool by the door on your way out," she called as many students headed to the exit.

--
For full credit, RP the lesson.
First poster to answer the question will receive 2 house points.
For extra credit (3 points), fill out the homework.

[b]Name[/b]:[b]House/Year[/b]:[b]Tell me two things you remember learning about in astronomy last year.[/b]

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Talking a little with Lilith had helped some, but she was still feeling as lost as ever. She didn't know why, truthfully, because she so clearly had people in her life that wanted to spend time around her, and all she could think was that they pitied her, and they didn't want her to know it. She didn't think she needed their pity, just because her dad had two new babies to replace her and then didn't even bother to acknowledge any of that to her face. It stung, more than she would have liked to admit. She hurried quickly into class, her books carried in front of her and she smiled when she noticed some of her friends. She slid into her usual spot near the middle of the room and pulled out her notes to start doodling absentmindedly in the corner of her parchment as Professor Zumwalt began the lesson. Tori perked up when the professor mentioned the Geocentric Universe, fascinated by the idea that people once believed everything revolved around the Earth. She was so interested in the story of Copernicus and Kepler, furiously scribbling notes about ellipses and gravity. Then, when the professor asked a question, Tori's hand shot up and she grinned when she was called, "An ellipse is the way the earth goes around the sun, and it's an oval-shaped circle," she was going to work extra hard this year. As the bell rang, she grabbed the homework sheet on her way out, already thinking about how cool it was that wizards tried to set the record straight with muggles so long ago.
​

Name: Tori de Lacey
House: Gryffindor second year
- We studied the Celestial Sphere
- We also studied The North Star!​

 

[Rose Edogawa]

Rose shuffled slowly into the classroom, trying to avoid professor Zumwalt's cheerful greeting with her head down. Astronomy was one of her least favourite classes—no wands, no action, just a lot of sitting and listening, which always made her anxiety bubble up. Not that she particularly liked action filled classes either, unless it was flying, then she could enjoy it. As Professor Zumwalt began the lecture, Rose forced herself to focus on her breathing, counting silently to four as she inhaled and exhaled. She was seeing someone for her anxiety now, and she'd started working on comping mechanisms in that time. It wasn't perfect, but it did some work to help her settle down. It stopped her from wanting to bolt out the door at least. The talk about planets and ellipses barely registered, but when the professor asked a question, Rose clenched her hands under the desk, relieved that Tori answered quickly. She grabbed the homework sheet on her way out, her heart racing, but proud that she’d managed to stay the entire lesson without a full-blown panic attack. Small steps.​

 

[Primrose Kaster]

Prim had to admit that the stairs were maybe getting a little easier? It was hard to tell sometimes. She didn't spend as much time in the owlery at home as much as Iris and Hazel did, so she mostly stayed on the ground floor with the plants. When she managed to get to her spot, and huffed only slightly, much less than she would have normally, and pulled her book out with her quill, tapping it in the ink to begin her notes. The mention of Ptolemy and Aristarchus immediately piqued her interest, and she scribbled their names in the margins with little stars beside them, thinking she might want to read more about them later. As the professor asked about ellipses, Primrose hesitated, her hand twitching to rise but not quite confident enough. As the professor spoke about Geocentric and Heliocentric models, Prim felt her eyelids starting to droop. She’d never been one for late classes, and the lecture was long. She was glad when the lecture was finally over, not bothering to hide her yawn as she grabbed her homework sheet from the stool by the door on the way out.​

 

[Daiki Saito]

Daiki was happy to finally be back at school, he liked spending time at home with his mum but he could admit that at times it was a little frustrating to do so. He loved his mother, deeply and dearly, but after spending a year away and with Kairi he could admit that listening to her grief was a little tiring, especially when he was just trying to move forward, or deal with the things in Kairi’s life. Just there was so much more to things than the grief. Daiki was getting himself together and then headed out of the dorm room and to class.

Daiki walked into the astronomy classroom and took his usual spot in the room. He glanced at the professor as the woman got started. They were going to be building on what they’d learnt in the last year, and it seemed that they were immediately jumping into it. He took his quill and began writing down what was being said, not all of it, just the bits and pieces he was picking up with ease. Making sure that he got some of the important things. He didn’t raise his hand for the question but looked towards the gryffindor who did answer the question. The lesson was shortly after wrapped up and Daiki packed up and headed out of the room.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice entered the Astronomy classroom, finding a seat beside Rose quickly. When the professor greeted the class and began speaking, Eurydice leaned forward slightly, interest piqued by the mention of what they would be focusing on this year. While it was no means her favorite class, Astronomy was quite fascinating and she didn't quite mind it at all. She took notes, her quill moving across the parchment as she took notes of geocentric and heliocentric models. She did roll her eyes though at muggles ignoring the claims made by Aristarchus and the other wizard astronomers. When Professor Zumwalt asked the class to define an ellipse, Eurydice raised her hand halfway, but Tori answered first. When the class began to wrap up, she packed her stuff up and reminded herself to read up more on the topics later.​

 

[Kairi Kennedy]

Kairi was relieved to be back in classes, to be back at the school. She just felt more comfortable, more stable here. It was nice, having somewhere that felt safe. She tried to spend more time in the common room, just enjoying the freedom to curl up, to read or color or look through magazines. Whatever struck her fancy.

There were still classes to be getting on with, however, so she grabbed her bag and headed to the lesson. She smiled at Daiki, taking her seat with him. She enjoyed astronomy. Kairi took a few notes, just sitting back, listening and watching the others in class. She scribbled out the homework, turning it in with a smile before hurrying after Daiki.

 

[Jonah Edogawa]

Jonah would have just skipped Astronomy if it weren't for Eurydice waking him up to attend it. Still, she'd left him behind and he seriously considered going back to sleep but deemed it not worth the trouble. His attention had already drifted as he tried to stay awake the moment he stepped into class. The words the professor was saying floated past him as he tried to focus but his mind was too foggy and eyelids too heavy. It didn't take long for him to nod off to sleep just as a dude named Ptolemy was mentioned. By the time the lesson finished, Jonah had managed to catch only bits and pieces only being awake for moments at a time, but he had no intention of asking questions. Jonah lazily grabbed the homework sheet from the stool, though he didn’t really look at it. He would deal with it later, half asleep as he trudged out of the classroom and back to his dormitory.​

 

[Esme Styx-Cade]

Esme returned to the classroom in the Astronomy tower and to Professor Zumwalt for more astronomy lessons. She had been pleasantly surprised to enjoy the subject during her first year and was curious to see what they would learn about during second year. The professor didn’t waste any time with introductions and got right into things, they would focusing on the solar system during the semester which was the first thing Esme wrote down in her notes, with that start in mind she was surprised the lecture turned to Ptolemy, a muggle astronomer who was one of the notable figures advocating the idea of the Earth being the centre of the universe and that magical astronomers were trying to prove them wrong.

It was fascinating to her that wizards could know so much so long ago, what magic did they use to find those answers? Esme took notes as they went into more detail about the finer details of the solar system including the change in theory including moving away from the ancient geocentric idea. Once the lecture was over Esme made a note of the homework assignment and started to pack up once they had been dismissed.

 

[Nox Walden-Cade]

Nox had forgotten how much he hated going to Astronomy class. The class itself was fine, Professor Zumwalt was pretty cool but the stairs! The stairs brought his whole view of the class down and by the time he got to the classroom in the tower he was always in a foul mood, he just hoped they wouldn’t have to go the rest of the way to the top of the tower for star gazing, he really wasn’t in the mood for the trek.

Settling into his usually spot near Tori Nox listened as Professor Zumwalt introduced them to the idea of a geocentric universe, a hilariously bad theory dreamed up by muggles that posited that the earth was the centre of the known universe. It was pretty funny, wizards could be extremely arrogant and self centred sometimes but somehow muggles managed to give them a run for their money. It was apparently wizarding astronomers that dispelled this notion among muggles, the poor buggers hadn’t even been able to to figure it out themselves.

All in all it was a pretty interesting lesson, it was interesting to learn about the impact wizards had on muggle astronomy. It made sense though, they were studying the same thing with different methods. Once the lesson was over Nox packed up his things then made his way out of the classroom.

 

[William Potter-Cade]

William wasn’t all that interested in Astronomy, stars and planets were pretty boring and he didn’t see what any of it had to do with magic. He settled into the same seat he had occupied during the previous year and listened as Professor Zumwalt introduced herself for the benefit of anyone who hadn’t been part of the class next year then she got right into it, they would be focusing on local astronomy, as in the same solar system that Earth occupied and that started with a history lesson that once upon a time muggles thought the earth was the centre of the universe. It was a crazy theory but it was a long time ago and muggles were limited by the technology of their time, not everyone had the benefit of magic.

After more detail about the geocentric universe and the magical astronomers who played their part in disproving the theory William finished up his notes and started to pack them away when Professor Zumwalt began to wrap up her lecture. Once the lesson was over he picked up his bag and made his way out of the classroom.