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Post by Dylan Cooper on Oct 2, 2007 2:40:30 GMT -5
Raising his eyebrow slightly at Susan's erratic movements, a small smile found its way onto his face. Sliding out his telescope and setting it up, he aligned it according to the directions given from their professor. He had no trouble locating their intended galaxy as he'd viewed it many times himself, both with the naked eye and his telescope. Quickly aligning his trusty old brass telescope, he moved to note down the information they'd been given on the cluster of stars under a neat heading.
Knowing the answer to his second question immediately, just as he had the first, his hand remained down. He never liked to draw any extra attention to himself in classes. Smirking slightly at the particular question that had been posed, he deduced that while Professor Archer was extremely enthusiastic about his class and made it enjoyable to be in, he had a very good sense of humour. The question, of course, being a bit of a trick, his smirk remained pronounced as he gazed up at the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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Post by Alessandro Darko on Oct 2, 2007 2:52:46 GMT -5
Alessandro raised his hand at the question of what type of galaxy it was. He was sure that he had the right answer regardless if he knew what the galaxy was called, he could definitely recognize the type. He patiently waited as he recognized that most every teacher required the students to refrain from calling out the answer.
He took another quick look through his telescope to double check to make sure his answer would be accurate.
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Susan Matthews
Gryffindor
[red]5th Year Gryffindor[/red] Shadow Warrior of Earth
goddess, nymph, divine.
Posts: 505
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Post by Susan Matthews on Oct 2, 2007 6:55:43 GMT -5
Susan recognized the answer to this new question as well. However, she'd noticed the dirty looks from her classmates and chose to spend an extra long time searching for the cluster in the night sky. Susan realized she must have been just a little impulsive. Well maybe a lot. She hadn't meant to steal anyone's thunder. It wasn't often that Susan knew the answers to questions in class. Astronomy was one of the few subjects that Susan seemed to excel in. She had found the small galaxy, but took only a moment to marvel at it. Susan looked up from her telescope, biting her tongue as not to call out an answer again.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Oct 2, 2007 7:30:14 GMT -5
((Tonic to your soul am i? How wonderful )) Keaira always enjoyed the little bantering her and Alessandro had been known to have. There really was nothing that could make her genuinely happy more than a bit of a coy response to Alessandro. As he suddenly said ‘What’ in a way that Keaira perceived to be a bit too sudden and a bit too loud, Keaira flinched a little. After his sudden outburst though, it appeared he remembered her telepathy, and Alessandro began actively thinking his response. As she pulled out her notes she allowed her mind to skim his response, willing herself to refrain from delving deeper. Although she had recently found herself a bit more interested in how his mind worked, she understood, and knew that it was very wrong to just delve in to some ones mind to find the answers. Instead she just slipped a few more of her own thoughts to him. “I understand that it’s not going to be a very difficult time, but you can always write to me. A bit of contact from some friends while I’m away would be much appreciated. Just so you know, the story that every one is going to know, is that I’ve fallen dreadfully ill due to some magical means, and I’ve been sent to St. Mongos, but we’ll talk more on that later.”Keaira noticed the strained quality to Alessandro's voice as he talked about his current well being. There was more going on there then he was letting on. As much as curiosity ebbed at her, Keaira knew that invading his mind was not the right thing to do. After all, they were friends, and she did not wish to throw away all of the trust they had built up. “Well, you know, I’m always here to talk, if things get too crazy for you. Besides, its always a good idea to share the burden of problems, it makes them seem a little smaller when you have some one to help you with them.”The secret garden, it had been a happier time then. She silently wondered if it would stay there for future generations to see, or if it would be wiped away like it never existed. As her thoughts of gardens roamed her mind she found herself thinking of the little garden she was gifted by Dylan. He had created it as a show of his prowess in charms. He was a nice boy, but right now, her mind seemed to remember that he was not too happy with her. “Well, now that the ban has been lifted during day hours, maybe we can instead go for a stroll through the real gardens. With the fall coming at us so swiftly, there’s bound to be less warm days ahead, we should take advantage of the nice one.” She couldn’t help but repress a small giggle when the image of Alessandro falling out of a tree, and transforming in to a mouse came in to her mind. Those were less complicated times. Times when happiness was much easier found, and her biggest worry was whether or not people would take the time to get to know the girl behind the Slytherin robes. “No tricks this time though, promise?” She felt the need to add the after thought. As the class commenced she set up her telescope, zeroing in on where the celestial body was. She remembered the late nights she spent gazing in to the sky with her family. The first constellation she had ever located, the thought of these past events brought a bitter sweet feeling to her. While she loved the memories, she was always plagued by the happy smile on her grandfather’s face. She felt a frown beginning to form on her face, and quickly buried her face in to the telescope, pretending to readjust it to the proper location, although it didn’t need to be.
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Oct 2, 2007 8:13:27 GMT -5
D'rorah had set to work lining her telescope up to capture the Small Magellanic Cloud and had just finished fine-tuning her own focus and placement when she heard Professor Archer ask if anyone knew what sort of galaxy it was. Her own hand had risen calmly along with, she noted, Alessandro's. She began making quick notes on a spare piece of parchment, writing out an equation to verify the distance she had read about in the textbook. While she trusted the information she read, she always took to a policy of outside verification for things which she could readily verify. After all, typos could be made, mistakes could be made. Her attention felt a bit divided as her hand remained raised in the air. She was simultaneously noting the equations she was working on, thinking of the answer to Professor Archer's question, and remaining alert for any sign of anything which might not hesitate to find a group of students on the roof of the astronomy tower in the dark of night a likely target.
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Post by Alexander Archer on Oct 2, 2007 18:03:25 GMT -5
Alex strolled around behind the students, stopping to correct alignments by a few degrees here and there. "Let me know if you're having any trouble," he said, particularly to those who weren't doing much. He noticed the latest little Slytherin girl was behind the rest of the class a bit and smiled at her encouragingly. Seeing a Ravenclaw hand up in the air first, quickly followed by another one, he pointed to the boy. He had, afterall, raised his hand first. "Mr Darko?" he questioned with a smile on his face, eagerly awaiting his answer.
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Post by Alessandro Darko on Oct 3, 2007 0:19:39 GMT -5
Professor Archer pointed to Alessandro and asked him to answer the question. He hoped that his observations were correct. He cleared his throat.
"The type of galaxy, I believe, is an Irregular Galaxy probably caused by the collision of another galaxy. It doesn't look quite Elliptical..." He trailed off as he peered into his telescope again.
"But you said the declination was negative seventy three degrees? I think my calculations must be wrong then, because I got a negative sixty five....? Or is there room for interpretation depending on where you are on earth?" Alessandro asked not really understanding why his calculations were dissimilar.
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Oct 3, 2007 7:36:29 GMT -5
D'rorah's hand remained in the air after Alessandro had finished answering, confident that he had missed part of the galaxy type and also knowing the answer to the question he had posed. She was fairly certain Alessandro was using the measurement for Tucana rather than those for the galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud. She double-checked her own calculations, wanting to make certain they were correct before she was actually called upon... of she were called upon at all.
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Post by Alexander Archer on Oct 3, 2007 19:58:28 GMT -5
Considering Alessandro's answer for a moment, he smiled in a playfully evil manner. "Perhaps Miss Philosophy could elaborate on the galaxy type?" he said, noticing her still raised hand. "As to your calculations, Mr Darko, the declination of any celestial body is the same from anywhere on this planet. Perhaps you should re-calculate according to the Small Magellanic Cloud, not Tucana," he said, picking up on the common mistake.
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Oct 3, 2007 20:14:22 GMT -5
D'rorah's hand lowered as she began to speak. "It is an irregular galaxy, no doubt. Specifically though, it is an irregular dwarf galaxy," she elaborated. "Most regular galaxies contain at least thirty to fifty billion stars... the actual line between dwarf and regular galaxy is not completely delineated. The Small Magellanic Cloud, however, is quite easy to classify as dwarf because it only contains several hundred million stars."
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Post by Alexander Archer on Oct 4, 2007 4:34:14 GMT -5
Listening to her elaboration, he smiled brightly. "Correct, Miss Philosophy! Five points to Ravenclaw for the combined effort of you two," he said cheerily, indicating to both Alessandro and D'rorah. "As Mr Darko and Miss Philosophy said, it is an irregular galaxy, unlike the spiral and elliptical types. Contrasting to these other two galaxy types, it has no distinct or characteristic form," he explained jovially, strolling along behind the row of telescopes. "The dwarf is considered only one of the three forms of irregular galaxies, but one that's also regarded as very important for us in understanding the evolution of galaxies," he continued. "Any questions?"
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Oct 5, 2007 10:44:10 GMT -5
Satisfied, D'rorah returned her attention to her telescope and notes. She was finding she rather liked this class. She could appreciate the exact science of the equations and the mathematics which ran throughout the heavens. Planets and stars attracted to each other with a force that was both proportional to the products of their masses and inversely proportional to the distances between them... and then were drawn into precise orbits determined by their own inertias as they moved throughout the universe. The equations were solid, definite, and could be applied to any object they observed. She wondered if the others perceived the beauty of this mathematical precision as equally as they were aware of the simple beauty of the heavens before them.
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Post by Alexander Archer on Oct 6, 2007 18:51:45 GMT -5
"Alright, time's nearly up everybody so if you could please pack away your things. For homework, a foot long essay on the importance of dwarf galaxies in evolution," he said cheerily, anticipating a high standard of work. "If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to come and see me at any time. And well done you lot, I'll see you in a few days for our next class!"
Standing back behind his desk, he waited for the students to depart for bed.
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Post by D'rorah Philosophy on Oct 6, 2007 21:56:13 GMT -5
D'rorah quietly gathered her things, carefully fitting her telescope into its case and her books into her satchel. Once everything was secured, she made her way back towards the classroom. "Good night, Professor," she bid quietly as she made her way toward the stairs. She waited by the door a moment for Dylan, thinking they might walk down towards the common room together.
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Susan Matthews
Gryffindor
[red]5th Year Gryffindor[/red] Shadow Warrior of Earth
goddess, nymph, divine.
Posts: 505
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Post by Susan Matthews on Oct 6, 2007 22:51:37 GMT -5
Susan, sad that the class had ended, slowly began to collect her things. She really liked Astronomy, for that fact that everything they studied was so different and so far from Earth. She made a note of the homework, not looking forward to the essay. After her books and papers were in place, she moved to her telescope. She carefully collapsed it into a more transportable form. Susan yawned openly, and waved to her friends left in the class. "Good night, Professor," She said shyly to Professor Archer as she made for the door, only to go down the hall to the Gryffindor tower for a good long sleep.
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