Astronomy Notes(Year 1)
written by Lightning Akane
The notes from each week of Astronomy 101. Taught by Professor Professor Gagarina. Written by a Ravenclaw.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
4
Reads
1,266
Week 1-Guided by the Stars (Essay)
Chapter 2
ESSAY PROMPT- "As evidenced from the Harry Potter books and movies, the knowledge of Astronomy plays an important role in the wizarding world. Here is a chance for you to examine this and earn points for your house at the same time.
Pick a scene from any official Harry Potter book or movie, and directly mention that book or movie in the essay.
The scene must *not* have happened in an Astronomy class or at the Astronomy Tower.
Describe the scene as if you were talking to a fellow wizard and witch.
Explain how Astronomy has had an effect on the scene."
ESSAY-
In the 'Philosopher's Stone', the centaurs Bane and Ronan state "Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. ‘Mars is bright tonight.’" and
"Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skywards.
‘Mars is bright tonight,’ he said simply.
‘We’ve heard,’ said Hagrid grumpily."
This had happened when Snape had sentenced Harry, Hermione, and Neville to the Forbidden Forest has detention. Hagrid disapproved of this, but Snape insisted. They ended up splitting up. In the end, they found a dead unicorn with its blood sucked out by someone, which they later found out to be Professor Quirrell. But it doesn't actually give us a solid answer to why they said that Mars was bright. Or did they?
The answer to what does Mars being bright have to do with that night can be viewed more figurally then literally. Mars is the Roman god of war. Centaurs know when war is approaching, and I believe it is a metaphorical way of saying the ‘god of war’ is coming. Harry soon meets Quirrell, who has Voldemort's face on the back of his head. This ‘god of war’ is Voldemort and Harry will soon have to battle him.
Another way to see this to think of Mars itself. The planet Mars is viewed as “[the] planet of energy action and desire, and can be thought of as the "leftover" animal nature of man.” When they left the Forest, they finally realized it was the ‘leftover’ of Voldemort.
But on the contrary, Mars is brightest when it is closest to the Earth. And dimmest when it is furthest away. According to Lexicon Timeline, “Ronan’s remark about Mars’s unusual brightness was made in late May of 1992, about 7.5 months before its January 1993 opposition.” This means it is 10% of its maximum. Making it hardly bright at all.
Astronomy has affect the wizarding world more than it has affected muggles. If you read between the lines, you can tell how astronomy predicted what was going to happen later in the books. Without this astronomy, the Harry Potter series would have looked a lot different. It impacted a lot of events that could have been different. Overall, it made the series a lot more interesting.
Pick a scene from any official Harry Potter book or movie, and directly mention that book or movie in the essay.
The scene must *not* have happened in an Astronomy class or at the Astronomy Tower.
Describe the scene as if you were talking to a fellow wizard and witch.
Explain how Astronomy has had an effect on the scene."
ESSAY-
In the 'Philosopher's Stone', the centaurs Bane and Ronan state "Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. ‘Mars is bright tonight.’" and
"Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skywards.
‘Mars is bright tonight,’ he said simply.
‘We’ve heard,’ said Hagrid grumpily."
This had happened when Snape had sentenced Harry, Hermione, and Neville to the Forbidden Forest has detention. Hagrid disapproved of this, but Snape insisted. They ended up splitting up. In the end, they found a dead unicorn with its blood sucked out by someone, which they later found out to be Professor Quirrell. But it doesn't actually give us a solid answer to why they said that Mars was bright. Or did they?
The answer to what does Mars being bright have to do with that night can be viewed more figurally then literally. Mars is the Roman god of war. Centaurs know when war is approaching, and I believe it is a metaphorical way of saying the ‘god of war’ is coming. Harry soon meets Quirrell, who has Voldemort's face on the back of his head. This ‘god of war’ is Voldemort and Harry will soon have to battle him.
Another way to see this to think of Mars itself. The planet Mars is viewed as “[the] planet of energy action and desire, and can be thought of as the "leftover" animal nature of man.” When they left the Forest, they finally realized it was the ‘leftover’ of Voldemort.
But on the contrary, Mars is brightest when it is closest to the Earth. And dimmest when it is furthest away. According to Lexicon Timeline, “Ronan’s remark about Mars’s unusual brightness was made in late May of 1992, about 7.5 months before its January 1993 opposition.” This means it is 10% of its maximum. Making it hardly bright at all.
Astronomy has affect the wizarding world more than it has affected muggles. If you read between the lines, you can tell how astronomy predicted what was going to happen later in the books. Without this astronomy, the Harry Potter series would have looked a lot different. It impacted a lot of events that could have been different. Overall, it made the series a lot more interesting.
