Professor Nakamura felt like the first class had gone well. He had quite a bit to get through today so as the students settled into the class he got straight into it. “Welcome back to lesson two of advanced astronomy,” Professor Nakamura said amiably. “This week will be more notetaking, but next week we will be looking at the stars so if you’ve a more practical mind, look forward to that.” Professor Nakamura scanned the faces of the students, taking note of their reactions. He always preferred the more practical when he was their age – actually getting to look at and admire the stars solidified the teachings they’d done.
“Now, the distance between the sun and the earth is an important measurement in astronomy. Unfortunately our eyes are quite sensitive to light, as you are no doubt aware. Looking at the sun directly can also lead to harm to our eyes. Getting an accurate estimate was difficult, but we now know the distance. This distance is known as the astronomical unit, or AU.” Professor Nakamura used his wand to lift some chalk to write ‘astronomical unit = AU’ on the blackboard. “If you want to know the precise distance, it is 149,597,870,700 meters.” The number also appeared on the board, the chalk moving quickly to keep up with Professor Nakamura. “Jupiter, for instance, is on average 5.2 AU from the sun. Now for something a bit more practical.” Professor Nakamura paused, taking his thumb and stretching it out – for a moment appearing to give a thumbs up. He closed one eye, then opened that only to close the other. “If you copy what I’m doing, you will notice that the background behind your thumb shifts. This is called your depth perception; the shift is known as the parallax. The parallax changes depending on how far apart your eyes are and how close the object you’re looking at is.” Professor Nakamura stopped, pulling his thumb closer to his face this time. “Now try holding your thumb closer to your face. What do you notice about this compared to the thumb further away?” Professor Nakamura asked the class. He nodded as a student gave the right answer. “That’s right, the background shifts even more.” Professor Nakamura let the students continue experimenting for a few more minutes.
“Next week we’ll go further into this, but for now your homework is to read the next chapter in your textbooks. Class dismissed.”
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Roleplay the lesson for full marks.
First person to answer the question gets 3 house points.
“Now, the distance between the sun and the earth is an important measurement in astronomy. Unfortunately our eyes are quite sensitive to light, as you are no doubt aware. Looking at the sun directly can also lead to harm to our eyes. Getting an accurate estimate was difficult, but we now know the distance. This distance is known as the astronomical unit, or AU.” Professor Nakamura used his wand to lift some chalk to write ‘astronomical unit = AU’ on the blackboard. “If you want to know the precise distance, it is 149,597,870,700 meters.” The number also appeared on the board, the chalk moving quickly to keep up with Professor Nakamura. “Jupiter, for instance, is on average 5.2 AU from the sun. Now for something a bit more practical.” Professor Nakamura paused, taking his thumb and stretching it out – for a moment appearing to give a thumbs up. He closed one eye, then opened that only to close the other. “If you copy what I’m doing, you will notice that the background behind your thumb shifts. This is called your depth perception; the shift is known as the parallax. The parallax changes depending on how far apart your eyes are and how close the object you’re looking at is.” Professor Nakamura stopped, pulling his thumb closer to his face this time. “Now try holding your thumb closer to your face. What do you notice about this compared to the thumb further away?” Professor Nakamura asked the class. He nodded as a student gave the right answer. “That’s right, the background shifts even more.” Professor Nakamura let the students continue experimenting for a few more minutes.
“Next week we’ll go further into this, but for now your homework is to read the next chapter in your textbooks. Class dismissed.”
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Roleplay the lesson for full marks.
First person to answer the question gets 3 house points.
