Seventh Years: Lesson Two

Professor Nakamura was looking forward to teaching some more in-depth lessons about astronomy. NEWT level was where it really got interesting, after all. “Good evening,” Professor Nakamura greeted as everyone took their seats, “tonight we will be going over sunspots and solar flares. Sunspots are temporary dark spots which appear on the surface of the sun. They don’t emit light. They are generally caused by the magnetic field within the sun.” Professor Nakamura paused, making sure everyone was writing down their notes. He smiled at those who were.

“Solar flares, our second topic, are episodes of sudden brightness on the sun. These are usually near the surface and near a sunspot group. It’s important to note that powerful flares are often, but not always, accompanied by a mass coronial ejection.”

“What is a mass coronial ejection? It is a significant release of plasma and the magnetic field from the sun’s corona into the heliosphere. They often occur after solar flares and generally present during a solar prominence eruption. Released into the solar wind, the plasma can be observed with a coronascope*.” Professor Nakamura raised a telescope that looked a little different from the others, with a lens dark enough to appear black. He offered the students an opportunity to look through the telescope, showing how it blocked out the light sources and allowed the user to view the sun safely.

Professor Nakamura spent some time letting the students look through the telescope (though the sun wasn’t viewable at that time of day) to get an idea of how it worked. He then spent the rest of the lesson talking about the difference between our sun and the rest of the stars in the galaxy, as well as taking questions. Some questions were easily answered by Professor Nakamura, others were unknown even to astronomers. Once the questions were over, Professor Nakamura dismissed the class.
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Roleplay the lesson.
It isn’t necessary to include a question for Professor Nakamura to answer, but feel free to roleplay whether or not your character took part in the question-and-answer session for full marks, or not.
*A made up telescope that takes corona imagery for the wizarding world.

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah walked into the astronomy classroom and took her usual spot in the room. Her gaze moved towards the professor at the front of the class as the man got started. She took her quill and parchment and began writing down what the professor was saying, doing her best to get the information down as quickly as the professor was saying it. Trying to make sure she missed none of the important words. She looked through the telescope as the professor allowed, but had no questions to ask him. She did linger, listening to what others asked, in case someone had something interesting to say, but eventually just packed up and headed out of the room.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

Elio walked into Astronomy and leaned against the wall, he’d been sitting way too much today so perhaps standing would be the better option tonight - he hoped the professor wouldn’t mind. He took notes absently with his quick quotes quill, easier to do now that he knew how to use one, and it wrote down his thoughts which was helpful for note taking of course. Soon the professor went on to talk about sunspots and he noted those key points too, his hand already thanking him for not having to do extra work. He perked up a bit at the mention of solar flares. Sudden bursts of brightness? That sounded more like it. When it came to the discussion part though, he quickly raised his hand. “So, if solar flares and mass coronial ejections are all about energy and plasma getting released, could that affect magic on Earth? Like, could strong enough solar activity mess with spells or enchantments?” He assumed it was a no, but it was always handy to ask, he’d found just so he knew what he was in for. He’d hate to suddenly find out differently in the middle of a solar flare that would be embarrassing. The class was over not long after, and Elio stretched a little as he headed out. He hated that it was at night, one of his only real complaints honestly.​

 

[Ruto Vernier-Raison]

Ruto was looking forward to her next Astronomy lesson. With the last lesson having been a lecture, Roo was confident that this lesson would be somewhat interesting. She reverted her attention to the front of the classroom as the lesson started. The professor announced that they would be going over sunspots and solar flares. She made an effort in her noes to draw up a table to compare them both, as she knew they were going to become confusing, especially if taught at the same time.

As the professor passed the telescope around, Roo looked into it and tried her best to get an idea of what the professor was talking about. It was a shame that this class wasn't offered during the day. Roo then continued taking notes as the professor spoke about the main differences between the sun and the other stars in the sky. All of these facts made lots of sense. As the lesson came to an end, the Ravenclaw happily thanked the professor before heading out.

 

[Cassius Styx]

Cassius Styx did not know what to think of the first set of NEWT lessons, but he knew that the lessons ahead would end up being difficult to say the least. Some classes might be easier than others, but the time to rest was last year, and not this one. Cass hoped that Aubrie was doing better than he was. He was already stressed, which was showing as he paced his dorm. He was sure that Terror was going to be annoyed if he kept doing it. He needed to read a book to help calm himself when it got closer to exam time at the end of the year. Cass finished getting ready, and then left the dorm to head out before he would end up late.

Cass walked in the Astronomy tower and settled in his seat. Professor Nakamura started the lesson with sunspots and solar flares. He got out his parchment, ink and quill to get started on the notes since, no doubt this would be on the NEWT. He barely understood what the magnetic field was, but it was hard to keep up with information thrown at him that he did not really care about. At least he was good at taking notes. After the notes were done, the seventh years were given the privilege to look through the telescope, though he sort of knew how it worked anyway. He had a couple of questions, and once they were done, he left the Astronomy tower.​