Seventh Year [ ] Solar System Chart [ ] Star Chart [ ] Identifying Moons and Constellations [ ] Astronomy Symbolism
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:11 pm
It was a Thursday evening, and Wolfgang was first to arrive at the Astronomy tower. He reasoned that otherwise, it was probably not safe for students to go there unsupervised given the altitude of the tower. As far as he was concerned, these teenagers were most likely tired. Though, Wolfgang wasn't tired at this time of the night, probably blame his father's heritage for that.
The fourth-years students finally arrived and Wolfgang, now that he thought about it, was quite thankful that he didn't have to handle first years that much. This castle was much larger than Durmstrang, and there were already a lot of students who were unlucky enough to get lost.
"Good evening, Guten abend," Wolfgang greeted both in English and German with a serene smile, arms folded. His German accent was hopefully understandable, certain that it shouldn't be that thick. "I'm Professor Wolfgang Deadman, and..." He trailed off and frowned, unsure if saying stuff about himself was a good idea. But Wolfgang felt that students here might be intimidated by his "eerie aura", and he pretty much liked a good first impression. "Well, to introduce myself- I'm from Germany, and I studied in Durmstrang. Not sure if there's anything else I can say so- feel free to ask. Anyway, from now on I'll be your teacher for the next three years. I'd like to know names and house by raising your hand, please, so I may get an idea of who's who."'And to not butcher the pronunciations, I suppose,' he thought, as he ran down the list of students, trying his best to remember them. "Now let me have you recall some things Professor Laslow had taught you last term: Can some of you tell me anything you learned about Mars and Jupiter? Or the well-known Galilean moons?" He asked, looking at the students with his narrow steel eyes, then he had a thoughtful look, "Also, additional bonus points for anyone who can name a moon from Jupiter outside the Galilean moons."
The classroom took place in the Astronomy Room instead of the rooftop where the students usually go with their telescopes. They're going to have a full lecture, at least tonight, about some planets in detail. "Evening, class," Wolfgang greeted with the tiniest yet sincere smile, after he was convinced that these were all the students present, "For the last two years, you've been studying about the last five planets in detail after learning their positions in the solar system. Tonight I'll be continuing what Professor Laslow left for you upperclassmen." The tall German paused to observe the students, making sure that they were still listening, raising his eyebrow to some drowsy students, "Let's get started, now all ears and turn your book to Chapter Eleven."
"Now," Wolfgang started, waving his wand at the astronomical model, making it glow in pale beige and in motion, "Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, known for its extraordinary and iconic rings. As the second largest, its size is big enough to hold more than 700 Earths. And mind, Earth is already big enough since it takes about 250 days to walk across from west to far east Russia." He never tried nor dreamed for walking from west to east Russia, but maths always did the trick for him. Before moving on, he paused for a minute to see if the students wanted to ask questions. Or need the time to digest things, honestly.
"While it is the second-most largest, it has the lowest density of all the planets- even less dense than water. So say, if there's a bathtub big enough to hold Saturn, this planet would most likely float." After a moment of pausing as he let the students write down the notes and answering questions, now was the time to move on for the philosophy and symbolism. After all, magic always had a symbolism going on, like alchemy and its relation to the cosmos, divination, and the like. "Moving on, the symbol for Saturn was a sickle. This is representing its namesake, Saturnus, being the Roman god of not only time but also of agriculture. Additionally, this planet is often associated with death. It looks like this." He waved his spiraled wand, glowing with fire as he drew the symbol in the air.
"Aside from death, Saturn has always been associated with the law, authority, and change," the professor said, dispelling the fire-drawn spell after a wave of his wand, then gestured at the blackboard. It looked like a word diagram with a few images, intended for students to easily understand. Among them, there were two zodiac symbols included in the diagram. "In symbolic alchemy, the Saturn symbol doubles as a symbol for lead. Philosophical alchemy explains lead is a component of transformation. And in astrology, Saturn rules over Capricorn and Aquarius. For your optional bonus homework that can be submitted for next week, especially if you have much House pride, write down an explanation on your parchment of why this planet qualifies to rule over these two signs."
Eventually, his pocket watch made a clicking sound, which means that the class was now over, "This is all I can discuss for now, we'll be continuing this at our next meeting. For your official homework, I'd like you to do a bit of research about Saturn's major moons in a parchment, try to be as concise as possible. Return to your dorms and don't go sneaking around. Dismissed." Now, he would appreciate some students who would go far in detail, but Wolfgang hoped it won't be that long-winded. Even if he won't say anything about it.
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:05 am
"I hope you manage to do your homework before coming here. Hopefully not crammed," Wolfgang dryly told the class as they arrived at the top tower, despite the serious expression, then he asked to pass their homework to him after saying so. After all, he gave the homework last week and it wasn't like he was asking for, what, three paragraphs with five sentences each? No, he hated writing like that, too. Then, he gave out lesson papers, its ink charmed to glow in the dark, that was basically a Ring system map. "While we're still in the topic about Saturn, we'll be discussing about the very thing it's famous for: the rings. As you all know, muggle telescopes don't have the perks magical telescopes do- so we pretty much have an easier time observing the satellites as you learn along the way. So we're now going to observe the rings to have a better picture: seeing it in person is better than just looking at the picture, honestly."
"Now, these rings," Wolfgang started, walking slowly as he observed the students, "are the remnants of objects that get too close to the planet and are torn apart by the Roche Limit. Which reminds me, can anyone tell me the concise way to define the Roche Limit?" Obviously, as an astronomer he should already know what that means but he'd like to ask the students just to look alive. Also he wanted to see if they did their reading.
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"Eyes on the telescopes if you can on Saturn's ring system," he said, watching them get their telescopes ready. The German professor will then try to check on the students incase they forgot where they're supposed to point their telescopes at. Which can be exasperating as an astronomer, since the planets were never still in the first place. "As you can see, these ring systems aren't just a series of ringlets- but rather they are more of a disk with vary density. Mostly, they consist of water and ice but a trace amounts of rocks exist, too, and these particles range from tiny micrometers to, well, gigantic meters."
"Saturn's rings are held together by gravity and most importantly, they are maintained by the planet's 'shepherd moons'. You can see them orbit near the outer border of one of the rings there, or within it. Their role is to maintain the shape of the ring system with their gravitational effect, each of the moon has varying gravity effect which is why not all rings are identical. Additionally," Wolfgang clasped his hands, as a way to get the students' attention on him, in case they're either preoccupied, busying in the telescope... or drowsing. "Saturn has 62 moons, but not all of them are shepherd moons. Now, for your activily, I'd like you to find at least one shepherd moon and identify it." Of course, he will be checking if the moon they saw was actually a shepherd-type, and it might be confusing. Though he guessed it shouldn't be that difficult, since he already said where these types of moons were placed. Oh well, the students should know (if they're paying attention to his rules) that Wolfgang never said that he'll be docking point for mistakes. He's a teacher, not Gordon Ramsay.
"Assuming you paid attention to astronomy classes, including your last professor's, you know that each moon regardless of what planet it's orbiting is unique," Wolfgang said as the class officially began. They were going to use the telescopes this time, since the topic they were about to discuss was on sight in the night sky right now. "Saturn's moons, most of them being named after the Titans from Greco-Roman mythology, each has quirks as well: Enceladus' hundred geysers, Mimas' very noticeable crater, Hyperion's spongy potato-like shape, you name it. But, one of them that is quite worth mentioning is the planet's biggest moon, now please turn your books to Chapter 12."
"Titan is not only Saturn's largest moon, but the second largest in the Solar System. If it weren't a moon, it would've been considered a planet since it was even larger than Mercury. And our Moon, too, as you could see in this diagram," Wolfgang tapped the board, which appeared to be written with magically glowing chalk. There is a diagram of Titan being places beside the Moon and Earth. It's pretty much bigger than the former, but not that drastic.
"Its surface is primarily composed of water ice over a rocky interior. In fact, bodies of water exist there: lakes, seas, and it can even rain. The moon is very known for its dense atmosphere: the only known satellite to have this trait. It's atmosphere has a presence of wind and nitrogen, similar to Earth whose atmosphere is about 80% nitrogen. This is actually why some astronomers would compare it to Earth. Well, early Earth."
He then later gave the students some time to copy the notes in his glow-in-the-dark backboard, as well as giving them the options to ask him questions any time... as long as it wasn't a stupid question. Or a story about his private life, he prayed. Wolfgang was looking at his own telescope to ensure that the Titan was present in the sky. Thankfully it is. He clapped his hands to get the students' attention, "Alright sleepyheads, now that you know Titan's perks it's time for us to find where it is. Fortunately, it's present in my telescope as we speak. I'd like you to identify Titan based on what you learned," he paused for a while, "No peeking on your textbooks... but you can maybe help each other and no, that doesn't mean you'll coerce a classmate to find Titan for you. Also, this may be off-topic but ten points to any students who was able to identify the other Saturnian moons. Just one, please." An amateur wouldn't usually identify the name of a moon right away, which was why Wolfgang made it point-worthy.
Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:22 am
"Alright teens, hope you guys have enough energy left for another new planet and lesson," Wolfgang clapped his hands, attempting to maybe pop some student sleep bubbles. Sleeping while standing or on a chair wasn't a good idea, "Save the z's for the dormitories, sleeping while standing or sitting will only hurt your neck, trust me."
"Next planet we're gonna observe about is Uranus, the seventh planet- so turn your books to Chapter Thirteen if you have to. And, yes, I know that there's a lot of joke about the planet depending on your accent, but the proper pronunciation is YOOR-unus. Emphasis on the first syllable, and I'm saying this to save you from embarrassment." Wolfgang said, giving the students a wry smile before continuing on the main topic. You wouldn't be sure if he was trying to act humorous or was just prepared in case someone won't listen. "Anyway, this is how big Uranus is- about sixty-three Earths can fit inside this planet." He tapped at the board, which shows a diagram of a small Earth and a gigantic Uranus. Then, there is another diagram of how far the cyan planet was from the Sun. "The planet is named after the Greek personification of the Sky, symbolizing the element of surprise, freedom, individualism, and inventions. Its astrology symbol is the combination of the Sun's and Mars', representing how Uranus, the God of the Sky, was dominated by light and Mars' power." He then went ahead and drew the symbol with his wand in the air with glowing fire.
"Together with Neptune, they're both called 'ice giants' to make them more distinguishable from the other two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Now, assuming that you've done your study and without peeking on your textbooks, can anyone tell me what makes them be known as 'ice giants'... aside from the fact that they're far away from the sun?"
- - -
Carrying on, after answering a few questions and explaining details, Wolfgang straightened himself and said, "Alright, it's time for us to make an observation about Uranus, since it's present in the telescope tonight. I will explain on the way about some physical features of this planet," the German said, observing and waiting for the students to prepare their scopes, "Alright, as you can see, Uranus's interesting feature is that it spins on its side and that its south pole is facing the Sun, and it has two sets of rings but it's not as fancy as Saturn's. Moving on, Uranus has twenty-seven moons, most of them being named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope: like Ophelia from Hamlet and Stephano from The Tempest. But, there are five moons that stand out more than the others, who can tell me one moon from those five?"
ππ¬ππ«π¨π§π¨π¦π² Professor Wolfgang Deadman
Astronomy Classroom
"The spacious Astronomy classroom is located on the top-most level of the Astronomy Tower. Accessed via a steep spiral stairway, the classroom is surrounded by crenelated ramparts and iron security railings around the edge of the Tower, where students gaze the skies with their telescopes. Astronomical models and telescopes are propped against the ramparts when the classroom is not in use. There is also a blackboard where the professor will always write with a chalkboard charmed to glow in the dark and there are floating warm-lit lanterns for students to see their writing in the dark. A door leads into a turret and the steep spiral stairway inside leads below.
This class, for 4th Years to the end, will be taught by a Durmstrang Alum named Wolfgang Deadman. An astronomer from Germany, he always wanted to become a teacher but for personal reasons he cannot teach in Durmstrang. He was pretty quiet and hard-to-read, but once you get to know him better he was actually pretty nice outside of class. Still, Deadman isn't a lenient professor, though as long as you listen in class you'll be in his good side constantly.
Thusday. 11:00pm to 11:45pm. (Updated on Sundays)
Rules of the Classroom Arrive on time, ten minutes is the grace period.
Be patient while I'm lecturing, I will give you time to ask questions.
Spellwork isn't necessary for this class, so put your wands away.
Pass your papers on time. No extensions.
Any insensitive and derogatory remarks against anybody here will be sent to my office.
There will be no fighting in my class. I will not entertain or allow any form of violence.
Syllabus for Fourth Years [ ] Saturn [ ] Saturn's Rings [ ] Titan [ ] Uranus
"Astronomy Class in case we can't use the top classroom for weather reasons"
x x x x x x
[align=center][color=black][size=18][u]ππ¬ππ«π¨π§π¨π¦π²[/u][/size] [size=15]Professor Wolfgang Deadman[/size]
"The spacious Astronomy classroom is located on the top-most level of the Astronomy Tower. Accessed via a steep spiral stairway, the classroom is surrounded by crenelated ramparts and iron security railings around the edge of the Tower, where students gaze the skies with their telescopes. Astronomical models and telescopes are propped against the ramparts when the classroom is not in use. There is also a blackboard where the professor will always write with a chalkboard charmed to glow in the dark and there are floating warm-lit lanterns for students to see their writing in the dark. A door leads into a turret and the steep spiral stairway inside leads below.
This class, for 4th Years to the end, will be taught by a Durmstrang Alum named Wolfgang Deadman. An astronomer from Germany, he always wanted to become a teacher but for personal reasons he cannot teach in Durmstrang. He was pretty quiet and hard-to-read, but once you get to know him better he was actually pretty nice outside of class. Still, Deadman isn't a lenient professor, though as long as you listen in class you'll be in his good side constantly.[/size]
Thusday. 11:00pm to 11:45pm. (Updated on Sundays)
[b][u]Rules of the Classroom[/u][/b] Arrive on time, ten minutes is the grace period.
Be patient while I'm lecturing, I will give you time to ask questions.
Spellwork isn't necessary for this class, so put your wands away.
Pass your papers on time. No extensions.
Any insensitive and derogatory remarks against anybody here will be sent to my office.
There will be no fighting in my class. I will not entertain or allow any form of violence.
[img="500"]https://s6.postimg.cc/b8q2w03gh/nicer.jpg[/img] [size=9]"Astronomy Class in case we can't use the top classroom for weather reasons"[/size][/align]
