Fifth Years: Lesson One

Professor Nakamura was starting to feel settled into his role as professor. He waited for the students to enter the classroom, taking their seats, and smiled at each of them. It was always good to make a good first impression. Behind him, on the board, was a series of pictures of the phases of the moon. “Welcome to fifth year astronomy,” he said, looking around at the students. “My name is Professor Nakamura, and I will be your astronomy professor for the next few years. Providing, of course, that you continue with your studies, which I hope you will. For tonight’s lesson we will be looking at the moon. The moon is classified as a satellite of earth. The word originates from the Latin word satelles meaning ‘guard’, ‘attendant’, or ‘companion’.”

“A lunar terminator is the dividing line between the illuminated side of the moon and the dark side of the moon. While it can be mixed with the energy of the sun, the moon has energy of its own. Interestingly enough,” and Professor Nakamura did believe this was interesting, “the moon rotates on an axis slower than the earth, so we never see the dark side of the moon. We only see one side. During the waning phase, the dark side of the moon is actually illuminated by the sun. Now, onto the phases.”

Professor Nakamura paused then tapped the blackboard, where a series of notes began to appear in neat handwriting.

Spoiler: Class Notes

Full Moon: the moon appears to be fully light.

Waning Gibbous: the moon appears to be more than one-half light.

Last Quarter: only half of the moon's surface is reflecting the Sun's rays.

Waning Crescent: the moon appears less than one-half illuminated by direct sunlight.

New Moon: the moon is located between us and the sun. It just means that the side reflecting the Sun's light is facing away from us.

Waxing Crescent: the moon appears to be less than half-light in direct sunlight.

First Quarter: half of the moon is visible in the nighttime sky.

Waxing Gibbous: the moon appears to be more than half fully lit by sunlight.

“And that’s class for today. If you like, as it is a clear night, you can spend some time looking through the telescopes at the moon, but you don’t have to. Reminder than you need at least an E to advance to next year’s astronomy class. Never too early to think about grades. Oh, and don’t forget your homework,” he said, passing out a sheet of paper to each student as they left.

Spoiler: Homework

Name:
House and Year:
Label the moon phases for the image posted above:

A:
B:
C:
D :
E:
F:
G:
H:

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Roleplay the lesson for full marks.
Complete homework for extra credit.

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael entered the Astronomy classroom, already questioning why he had decided to sign up for this class. It was probably the one class that his mother had not encouraged him to take and yet here he was. He almost ignored the professor who greeted them but he did still look at the images of the moon on the board. Astronomy wasn't his favourite, and he doubted it would be, but he was already here. The lesson was hardly intriguing but he could think of a couple of people he knew that would probably be interested in the moon and its phases. In any case, he could probably read most of this information from the book. When Professor Nakamura offered the chance to observe the moon through the telescopes, Mikael considered it for all three seconds before he shrugged and slipped out of the class. He'll think about the homework later on, it didn't seem terribly important.​

 

[June Davenport]

The break was over again and June knew this second semester of her fifth year was very important. She had been staying at Hogwarts like she usually did. She just wanted to be prepared and it was amazing to have an library almost for herself sometimes when it was quiet. Misha let her do her thing and that was why June decided to be adopted by him for one of the reason, other than him being a professor here. This semester she would get him as her professor and she wondered how he would teach. Also Castillo would be her professor and she couldn't wait, perhaps she was gonna like Herbology after this semester after all. It would be better for sure since she didn't had to face Landon everytime at least.

The blonde made her way to the tower and found her spot after smiling to the professor shortly. He was an new face and June observed the man. The moon was tonights subject and the blonde took her parchment to take notes. And writed along with some facts the professor spilled. She watched the blackboard as the professor tapped it. And quickly writed along with the notes, but still in perfectly well written handwriting. It was clear to June that she needed an E at least to advance to next year. But for June only an O was good enough, so that wouldn't be a problem. She watched at the homework they were given and made sure she got all her stuff before leaving the room.