Sixth Years: Lesson Two

Professor Nakamura hoped there wouldn't be a repeat of last lesson. He liked teaching, but not so much when he had to reprimand his students. Nevertheless, 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 lesson. First student to answer question gets extra credit.

 

[Bailey Walden-Cade]

It was another lecture for Astronomy so Bailey took out a blank roll of parchment and started taking notes as Professor Nakamura started his lecture. A lot of numbers were thrown around as the professor began to discuss the distance between the sun and the earth. Bailey couldn’t even fathom that distance, which was probably a good thing as if it was closer the earth would probably boil and everyone would die. So maybe earth was the perfect distance after all. She didn’t even bother putting the numbers down, hopefully they’d be in one of the textbooks if it was important for the exam, but memorizing a number like that hardly seemed like the most important thing. Bailey followed the lead of Professor Nakamura and put her thumb up in front of her to check out her depth perception, she noticed the things that he was pointing out and continued to follow his instructions.

Once the lesson was over Bailey packed up her notes and then once they’d been dismissed she made her way out of the classroom.

 

[June Davenport]

June felt that this year was important as ever to score as much points as she could for Slytherin and herself, and get straight O's for her classes and exams. But there were no OWLS, next year she would have her NEWT. And her last year had to be the most important perhaps. So this year was an year of planning ahead and explore things she didn't had done before. Feel thing she hasn't had, perhaps even. And make sure the people who tried something to bring her down and fail, get what was coming for them. And for that she needed to make sure some connections were made.

The blonde made her way to the Astronomy tower and found her usual spot close to the professor, but she didn't liked the man. She had her parchment ready to take notes of whatever the professor explained to them. He started about the distance between the sun and the earth. The exact distance June put down, since that was something what seemed important to her and a fact what was usefull. She watched the professor putting up his thumb and looked closely to what he did. She did as he told to and hold up her thumb and followed the rest of his instructions. She could understand what he explained as she did. It looked silly she figured. When he asked an question about holding her thumb closer to her face what she would notice the blonde was quicky to answer and see. '' The background shifts even more.'' the blonde said. And smiled as she was obviously the person to answer right. When the lesson ended she took her belongings after making the last note and left the room.

 

[Mikael Nightray]

Mikael entered the Astronomy classroom, making sure to stay away from Theodore as much as possible and hoping that sitting next to Bailey would be enough of a deterrent. He doubted it, but she seemed to dislike his cousin enough. When the professor began the lecture, he listened with one ear. While the concept of the astronomical unit and calculation was vaguely interesting, he didn't think he had much use for it. As Professor Nakamura demonstrated the parallax with his thumb, Mikael just watched Bailey perform the exercise. It was simple, almost rudimentary, but he understood the concept. Once class was done, he left the classroom, debating on reading up on the subject. Perhaps if patrol doesn't take any more of his time. Or he could read while he walked. He'll think about it.​

 

[Theodore Nightray]

Theo strolled into the Astronomy Tower, his hands in his pockets, uniform slightly rumpled. He slid into a seat near the middle of the class, leaning back in his chair with a casual grin. No feet propping this time for now. When Professor Nakamura began the lecture, Theo listened with mild interest, his gaze flicking between the professor and the chalkboard. As the professor demonstrated the parallax effect with his thumb, Theo quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Thumbs?" he whispered under his breath, but he complied nonetheless, raising his hand and mimicking the motion. Closing one eye and then the other, he watched as the background behind his thumb shifted. "Huh," Theo murmured, his expression shifting from mild skepticism to intrigue. He pulled his thumb closer to his face as instructed and noticed the exaggerated shift in the background. "Coooooooool," he admitted, tilting his head as if trying to analyze the effect further. As the professor let them investigate for a few minutes on their own, Theo turned his head to stare at one of the Slytherin prefects, @June Davenport. "So, Professor," he began, closing his eye and then the other. June had become the thumb in his little experiment. "This mean if I stare at someone long enough, I can figure out how far away they are without moving closer?" he asked smirking before turning to the professor with a mock-innocent shrug. "Just testing my understanding, sir."​