Astronomy Part 1( Specially for first and second years)
written by Account Terminated
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 2: Planets
Chapter 2
The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago, possibly from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun, with the majority of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter, the largest planet. The four smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn, are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called volatiles, such as water, ammonia and methane. All eight planets have almost circular orbits that lie within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic
The Earth completes one rotation about its axis about every 24 hours (each day), but it completes one revolution around the Sun about every 365 days (each year). While Mars is frozen and Venus is boiling, Earth is just the right distance from the sun to allow plenty of water to exist as a liquid on its surface.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets. It has no natural satellites. It is also the brightest light in the sky after the moon and sun visible from earth near sunrise or sunset.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. So, some of these really are massive! Saturn's rings are made up of tiny pieces of ice, from tiny specs to chunks the size of a small car. These vast rings are, incredibly, just 10m (30ft) thick! Sometimes, it looks like the rings come to an abrupt stop, when it's actually just the shadow of Saturn covering them!
Exoplanets are planets beyond our own solar system. Thousands have been discovered in the past two decades, mostly with NASA's (a muggle space agency) Kepler space telescope. As you can see, telescopes are crucial in Astronomy! These worlds come in a huge variety of sizes and orbits. Some are gigantic planets hugging close to their parent stars; others are icy, some rocky.
•-•-•-•
•-•-•-•
The basic reason why the planets revolve around, or orbit, the Sun in the air is that the gravity of it keeps them in their orbits.
So the gravity of the sun keeps Earth and the other 7 (or 8, if you still include Pluto) up in their positions in the universe!
This weeks homework is to write short story about flying to a planet of your choice, what you find when you get there, what it feels like and what it looks like. No diary entries please. Just stories. It MUST be a real planet, and it can be an exoplanet if you would like it to be. If it's in our solar system, then please don't exaggerate details. If it's outside you can almost name it up!
It must be in the form of a BLOG with the hashtag #Astronomy2017. Only do it in first or third person. This blog MUST be done.
This is a story, so please remember:
The introduction
The build up
The problem
The solution
The conclusion
Please make sure you incorporate magic into it somehow, whether it's how you get there, how you solve your problem or how you breathe!
Next week the lesson will be on...
:star:Stars:star:
The birth, life and death of a star, star constellations, etc etc.
Next weeks :key::question:is...
Is the sun a star?
The Homework will be a quiz yet again!
Don't forget to read section 3 in the textbook!
So... that's a round up of this weeks lesson!
The Earth completes one rotation about its axis about every 24 hours (each day), but it completes one revolution around the Sun about every 365 days (each year). While Mars is frozen and Venus is boiling, Earth is just the right distance from the sun to allow plenty of water to exist as a liquid on its surface.
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets. It has no natural satellites. It is also the brightest light in the sky after the moon and sun visible from earth near sunrise or sunset.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. So, some of these really are massive! Saturn's rings are made up of tiny pieces of ice, from tiny specs to chunks the size of a small car. These vast rings are, incredibly, just 10m (30ft) thick! Sometimes, it looks like the rings come to an abrupt stop, when it's actually just the shadow of Saturn covering them!
Exoplanets are planets beyond our own solar system. Thousands have been discovered in the past two decades, mostly with NASA's (a muggle space agency) Kepler space telescope. As you can see, telescopes are crucial in Astronomy! These worlds come in a huge variety of sizes and orbits. Some are gigantic planets hugging close to their parent stars; others are icy, some rocky.
•-•-•-•
•-•-•-•
The basic reason why the planets revolve around, or orbit, the Sun in the air is that the gravity of it keeps them in their orbits.
So the gravity of the sun keeps Earth and the other 7 (or 8, if you still include Pluto) up in their positions in the universe!
This weeks homework is to write short story about flying to a planet of your choice, what you find when you get there, what it feels like and what it looks like. No diary entries please. Just stories. It MUST be a real planet, and it can be an exoplanet if you would like it to be. If it's in our solar system, then please don't exaggerate details. If it's outside you can almost name it up!
It must be in the form of a BLOG with the hashtag #Astronomy2017. Only do it in first or third person. This blog MUST be done.
This is a story, so please remember:
The introduction
The build up
The problem
The solution
The conclusion
Please make sure you incorporate magic into it somehow, whether it's how you get there, how you solve your problem or how you breathe!
Next week the lesson will be on...
:star:Stars:star:
The birth, life and death of a star, star constellations, etc etc.
Next weeks :key::question:is...
Is the sun a star?
The Homework will be a quiz yet again!
Don't forget to read section 3 in the textbook!
So... that's a round up of this weeks lesson!
