Astronomy Part 1( Specially for first and second years)
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Astronomy instructs students on planets, stars, and other sky objects and their role in the magical world. At Hogwarts, this may be a core subject, required of all Hogwarts students until at least their fifth year; those with sufficiently high O.W.L. marks in the course can then go on to N.E.W.T.-level study in years 6 and 7.
Last Updated
05/31/21
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Lesson 1: Constellations
Chapter 1
Tonight, in our first lesson, we will familiarize ourselves with the stars of the night sky. We will ignore the moon and the planets for now, and concentrate on those seemingly-unchanging points of light in the velvety tapestry of the cosmos. So please, put away your telescopes, since for this lesson you will only need to use your eyes.
Humans (Muggles and Wizards alike) have observed the stars above for millennia, and they have noticed that it is possible to tell the time of day and the time of the year by which stars are visible at the moment. To help identify the stars, humans have made patterns in them -- artificial patterns that arise due to our perspective when looking out at the sky -- and these patterns are called constellations.
Different peoples at different times have devised different constellations. At the present time, Muggle astronomers divide the celestial sphere into 88 constellations, many of which were originally conceived by the Greek Wizard Ptolemy. Let's go take a look at some of them -- but before we step outside, you must all know that since it is nearly midnight, it is quite dark out there. So please take out your wands and cast LUMOS RUBER! The red light will allow you to see where you are going without completely destroying your night vision.
Now then. Let's all face south and then look straight up, at the zenith, the point directly above your head...
(this is what you are seeing in the sky above Hogwarts right now)
You can see many stars, some brighter (bigger dots in the star chart), some dimmer (smaller dots in the star chart). The stars probably look like a random collection of dots to you if you are not familiar with astronomy. I will now cast a spell that will project the patterns of the constellations onto the sky for you to see them, similar to what you would see in a Muggle planetarium -- SIDERIS FORMAM!
(you can now seeing the constellations in the sky)
You can now see the constellation patterns along with their names. These again may seem completely random to you. I doubt many of you see two fish in Pisces, or an Eagle in Aquila, or a cow herder in Bootes. I don't see them either, but I can recognize many of the patterns easily thanks to my years of experience in both Muggle and Magical astronomy.
Some interesting things to notice:
You can find a few members of the extended Black family represented in the sky above right now (Andromeda, Cygnus, Draco...)
The Zodiac is a group of constellations that span the ecliptic, which is the path that the sun appears to take in the sky during the year. Some Zodiacal constellations that can be seen at the moment are Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, and Capricornus.
The Summer Triangle is made up of the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair, which are the brightest stars in the constellations Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila, respectively. These three stars are bright enough that the Triangle is visible even in heavily light-polluted Muggle cities.
The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, which you may be familiar with since they are quite well-known, are subsections of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, respectively.
Please take note of the star at the very end of the handle of the Little Dipper. That star is called Polaris, and it is very important as it is currently our North Star, which means that it lies almost exactly on the North Celestial Pole, the point around which the sky appears to rotate.
I will now erase the projection of the constellation patterns and will return the sky to its former clear state -- SERENITAS!
(you can now see only stars again)
Perfect. I hope you have had a stellar time during this lesson! If you want to learn more about constellations, you may check out the following books from the Hogwarts Library: The Constellations and their Stars, Star Myths and Constellation Lore, and The Constellations, among others.
And now I will assign your homework for this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASTRONOMY HOMEWORK #1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draw New Constellations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Due date:
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
7:00pm EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using the unlabeled star chart from tonight's lesson, you will draw new constellation patterns on it, kinda like playing connect-the-dots. Here is an example. You don't have to use all the visible stars. Please design a minimum of 3 constellations (no maximum, you can draw however many you want). Your constellations can be anything, so be creative! Also don't forget to give them names.
Additional guidelines:
DO NOT alter the positions of the stars. Remember, this is just like playing connect-the-dots, and in that game the dots are fixed.
DO NOT put any identifying information on the image (username, Hogwarts house); just draw your constellations and write their names.
Upload the start chart with your new constellations to an image hosting site (e.g., imgur), and then fill out this submission form to turn in your assignment.
Only one submission per student is allowed.
Everyone who turns in this assignment gets 5 points for participation. After the submission deadline, I will make another post with all the submissions (made anonymous) for everyone to see and to vote for their favorites. (EDIT: If there's a lot of submissions, I'll pick the best ~25 or so and then put those up for voting). The submission that gets the most votes will win First Place and receive 50 points; the submission in second place gets 40 points; the one in third place gets 30 points. The house that votes the most will also get an additional 10 points.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
NOTE New scaling rule is in effect for points. See here for details.
Humans (Muggles and Wizards alike) have observed the stars above for millennia, and they have noticed that it is possible to tell the time of day and the time of the year by which stars are visible at the moment. To help identify the stars, humans have made patterns in them -- artificial patterns that arise due to our perspective when looking out at the sky -- and these patterns are called constellations.
Different peoples at different times have devised different constellations. At the present time, Muggle astronomers divide the celestial sphere into 88 constellations, many of which were originally conceived by the Greek Wizard Ptolemy. Let's go take a look at some of them -- but before we step outside, you must all know that since it is nearly midnight, it is quite dark out there. So please take out your wands and cast LUMOS RUBER! The red light will allow you to see where you are going without completely destroying your night vision.
Now then. Let's all face south and then look straight up, at the zenith, the point directly above your head...
(this is what you are seeing in the sky above Hogwarts right now)
You can see many stars, some brighter (bigger dots in the star chart), some dimmer (smaller dots in the star chart). The stars probably look like a random collection of dots to you if you are not familiar with astronomy. I will now cast a spell that will project the patterns of the constellations onto the sky for you to see them, similar to what you would see in a Muggle planetarium -- SIDERIS FORMAM!
(you can now seeing the constellations in the sky)
You can now see the constellation patterns along with their names. These again may seem completely random to you. I doubt many of you see two fish in Pisces, or an Eagle in Aquila, or a cow herder in Bootes. I don't see them either, but I can recognize many of the patterns easily thanks to my years of experience in both Muggle and Magical astronomy.
Some interesting things to notice:
You can find a few members of the extended Black family represented in the sky above right now (Andromeda, Cygnus, Draco...)
The Zodiac is a group of constellations that span the ecliptic, which is the path that the sun appears to take in the sky during the year. Some Zodiacal constellations that can be seen at the moment are Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, and Capricornus.
The Summer Triangle is made up of the stars Vega, Deneb and Altair, which are the brightest stars in the constellations Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila, respectively. These three stars are bright enough that the Triangle is visible even in heavily light-polluted Muggle cities.
The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, which you may be familiar with since they are quite well-known, are subsections of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, respectively.
Please take note of the star at the very end of the handle of the Little Dipper. That star is called Polaris, and it is very important as it is currently our North Star, which means that it lies almost exactly on the North Celestial Pole, the point around which the sky appears to rotate.
I will now erase the projection of the constellation patterns and will return the sky to its former clear state -- SERENITAS!
(you can now see only stars again)
Perfect. I hope you have had a stellar time during this lesson! If you want to learn more about constellations, you may check out the following books from the Hogwarts Library: The Constellations and their Stars, Star Myths and Constellation Lore, and The Constellations, among others.
And now I will assign your homework for this week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASTRONOMY HOMEWORK #1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draw New Constellations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Due date:
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
7:00pm EDT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using the unlabeled star chart from tonight's lesson, you will draw new constellation patterns on it, kinda like playing connect-the-dots. Here is an example. You don't have to use all the visible stars. Please design a minimum of 3 constellations (no maximum, you can draw however many you want). Your constellations can be anything, so be creative! Also don't forget to give them names.
Additional guidelines:
DO NOT alter the positions of the stars. Remember, this is just like playing connect-the-dots, and in that game the dots are fixed.
DO NOT put any identifying information on the image (username, Hogwarts house); just draw your constellations and write their names.
Upload the start chart with your new constellations to an image hosting site (e.g., imgur), and then fill out this submission form to turn in your assignment.
Only one submission per student is allowed.
Everyone who turns in this assignment gets 5 points for participation. After the submission deadline, I will make another post with all the submissions (made anonymous) for everyone to see and to vote for their favorites. (EDIT: If there's a lot of submissions, I'll pick the best ~25 or so and then put those up for voting). The submission that gets the most votes will win First Place and receive 50 points; the submission in second place gets 40 points; the one in third place gets 30 points. The house that votes the most will also get an additional 10 points.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
NOTE New scaling rule is in effect for points. See here for details.
