Changes: Astronomy

Revision as of 19:27, 29 May 2015

"They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of difficult stars and the movement of planets. "

— Harry Potter^[src]

Astronomy is a core class and subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Astronomy is a branch of magic that studies stars and the movement of planets. It is a subject where the use of practical magic during lessons isn't necessary.

Aurora Sinistra was the Astronomy professor at Hogwarts during Harry Potter's time as a student.

Class Information

Tumblr n5munym41a1rlwn4io8 r2 250 — The study of stars

Astronomy lessons are spent learning the names of stars and the movements of planets. It is a required class for the first five years of study. And is optional in the last two.

In fifth year the Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations are taken. During the exam students must fill in a blank star chart. If a student achieves a high O.W.L. score of either 'Outstanding' or 'Exceeds Expectations' they are allowed to advance to N.E.W.T.-level.

Astronomy is one of the only fields of study at Hogwarts which has a direct equivalent in the Muggle world. Known student activities include learning the names of stars, constellations, and planets, as well as their location and movements, and describing the environments of planets and moons.

Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment in Diagon Alley sells telescopes and other equipment needed for Astronomy.

Location and time

Astronomy classes take place in the top-most level of the Astronomy Tower, the tallest tower in Hogwarts Castle, and include sky observation sessions with telescopes (each student has to buy one of his/her own).

Lesson times

First year
- Wednesday (Midnight)
Fifth year
- Wednesday (evening)

Curriculum

First year

During the first year of studies at Hogwarts, students must study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the different names of the stars and the movements of the planets. Toward the end of the year, Hermione was quizzing Ron on Astronomy. Their studying included using a map of Jupiter. It was noted that Harry tried to learn the names of Jupiter's moons in his fifth year of study at Hogwarts.

Third Year

Although Astronomy lessons were not shown during his third year, one of the homework assignments included drawing a star chart which probably means they studied stars that year.

Fifth year

"Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra. Europa's covered in ice, not mice."

— Hermione Granger to Harry Potter in 1995^[src]

During the fifth year of studies at Hogwarts, students must study Jupiter's moons and write an essay containing facts such as Europa being covered by ice and Io having many volcanoes. For the Astronomy O.W.L. exam in their fifth year, each student has to "fill in a blank star chart" based on a few hours of observing the night sky. Coursework during this year was intensive enough that some students had to organise a meeting to help each other get through it.

Harry Potter was taking his Astronomy O.W.L. in 1996 when Rubeus Hagrid was confronted by Professor Umbridge and a team of Aurors in what was an attempted sacking, which was also the night that Minerva McGonagall took "no less than four Stunners to the chest."

Known professors

Professorsinistra — Professor Aurora Sinistra

Aurora Sinistra (pre. 1991-?)

Grades

Pass

Fail

Poor [P]
Dreadful [D]
Troll [T]

Known O.W.L.s

Behind the scenes

During the O.W.L. exam, Harry focuses his telescope upon Venus at midnight. However, Venus's orbit is closer to the sun, and when it is midnight at a location, that part of the Earth is approximately facing completely away from the sun. Given these two facts, it is highly unlikely that Harry would have been able to see Venus regardless of Britain's high latitude and the proximity to the summer solstice due to line of sight issues, but the telescope may have been magical.
In the films, the Astronomy class is never seen or directly mentioned, and Professor Sinistra only appears as an unidentified background extra.
From the fact that it is common knowledge among wizards that Europa is icy and Io has volcanoes, it seems that, despite the separation of wizarding and Muggle cultures (and the wizarding ignorance of other scientific concepts such as electricity), Muggle science is well-known to wizard astronomers. Just how far wizarding knowledge of modern astronomy goes, though, is unknown. However, it is quite possible that the wizarding world has other means of conducting these studies without the use of Muggle technology since Professor Trelawney possessed a globe of the solar system that accurately depicts all the planets (including Pluto) and their moons. Furthermore, Harry Potter found a moving globe of the galaxy in Diagon Alley when he was staying at the Leaky Cauldron during the summer before his third year. This far surpasses the current state of Muggle knowledge, let alone what it was in the early 1990s.

Appearances

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mentioned only)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) (Mentioned only)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) (Mentioned only)
LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World (Mentioned only)
LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World (Mentioned only)
Pottermore (Mentioned only)

Astronomy

Professors: Satyavati Shah · Aurora Sinistra
Astronomy at Hogwarts: Astronomy classroom · Astronomy Corridor · Astronomy Club · Astronomy department · Astronomy homework meeting · Astronomy reading room · Astronomy Room · Astronomy Stairs · Astronomy Tower
Astronomers: Aurora Sinistra · Copernicus · George von Rheticus · Perpetua Fancourt · Hesper Starkey
Objects: Astrolabe · Globe of the Moon · Lunascope · Moon chart · Orrery · Sextant · Star chart · Telescope
Planets: Jupiter · Mars · Mercury · Neptune · Pluto · Rogue planets · Saturn · Uranus · Venus
Satellites: Callisto · Europa · Ganymede · Io · Moon
Constellations: Aquila · Bartholomeus · Cetus · Crater · Dark cloud constellations · Orion · Ursa Major
Other topics: Black holes · Cosmic ages · Dark energy · Dark matter · Eclipse · Lunar phases · Meteor showers · Space weather · Wormholes

Wizarding education

The eleven schools
Beauxbatons · Castelobruxo · Durmstrang · Hogwarts · Ilvermorny · Koldovstoretz · Mahoutokoro · Uagadou
Specialised schools
Academy of Broom Flying · Charm School · Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages · Merge School of Under-Water Spellage · The Naaszcademy of Magizoology · Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts · Young Wizards Daycare Center

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |required equipment=*[[Telescope]]
 *[[Star chart]]
+*[[Books]]
+*[[Parchment]]
+*[[Quill]]
 |first=''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' {{mention}}
 |latest=''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'' {{mention}}
 |last=
 }}
-{{Quote|They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of difficult stars and the movement of planets. |[[Harry Potter]]|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone }}'''
+{{Quote|They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of difficult stars and the movement of planets. |[[Harry Potter]]|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone }}
-'''Astronomy''' is a subject taught at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]. Astronomy is the study of stars and planets. [[Aurora Sinistra]] was the Astronomy teacher at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]].
+'''Astronomy''' is a core class and subject taught at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]. Astronomy is a branch of magic that studies stars and the movement of planets. It is a subject where the use of practical magic during lessons isn't necessary.
+[[Aurora Sinistra]] was the Astronomy professor at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry|Hogwarts]] during Harry Potter's time as a student.
-==Class location==
-Astronomy classes take place in the [[Astronomy classroom|top-most level]] of the [[Astronomy Tower]], the tallest tower in [[Hogwarts Castle]], and include sky observation sessions with telescopes (each student has to buy one of his/her own).
-==Lesson times==
-*[[First year]]
-**Wednesday (Midnight)
-*[[Fifth year]]
-**Wednesday (evening)
 ==Class Information==
-[[File:Telescope.png|thumb|left|125px|telescope]]
+[[File:Tumblr_n5munym41a1rlwn4io8_r2_250.gif|thumb|left|245x245px|The study of stars]]
 Astronomy lessons are spent learning the names of stars and the movements of planets. It is a required class for the first five years of study. And is optional in the last two.
@@ Line 35: / Line 31: @@
 Astronomy is one of the only fields of study at Hogwarts which has a direct equivalent in the [[Muggle]] world. Known student activities include learning the names of stars, constellations, and planets, as well as their location and movements, and describing the environments of planets and moons.
-[[Wisearcre's Wizarding Equipment]] in [[Diagon Alley]] sells telescopes and other equipment needed for Astronomy.
+[[Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment]] in [[Diagon Alley]] sells telescopes and other equipment needed for Astronomy.
+==Location and time==
+Astronomy classes take place in the [[Astronomy classroom|top-most level]] of the [[Astronomy Tower]], the tallest tower in [[Hogwarts Castle]], and include sky observation sessions with telescopes (each student has to buy one of his/her own).
+=== Lesson times ===
+*[[First year]]
+**Wednesday (Midnight)
+*[[Fifth year]]
+**Wednesday (evening)
 ==Curriculum==
-[[File:Astronomy_Tower.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The Hogwarts Castle [[Astronomy Tower]]]]
+[[File:Astronomy_Tower.jpg|thumb|right|195x195px|The Hogwarts Castle [[Astronomy Tower]]]]
 ===First year===
 During the [[first year]] of studies at Hogwarts, students must study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the different names of the stars and the movements of the planets. Toward the end of the year, Hermione was quizzing Ron on Astronomy. Their studying included using a map of Jupiter. It was noted that Harry tried to learn the names of Jupiter's moons in his fifth year of study at Hogwarts.
@@ Line 48: / Line 53: @@
 {{Quote|Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra. Europa's covered in ''ice'', not mice.|[[Hermione Granger]] to [[Harry Potter]] in [[1995]]|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix}}
-During the [[fifth year]] of studies at Hogwarts, students must study Jupiter's moons and write an essay containing facts such as [[Europa]] being covered by ice and [[Io]] having many volcanoes. For the Astronomy [[Ordinary Wizarding Level|O.W.L.]] exam in their fifth year, each student has to "fill in a blank star chart" based on a few hours of observing the night sky. Coursework during this year was intensive enough that some students had to organise a [[Astronomy Homework Meeting|meeting]] to help each other get through it.
+During the [[fifth year]] of studies at Hogwarts, students must study Jupiter's moons and write an essay containing facts such as [[Europa]] being covered by ice and [[Io]] having many volcanoes. For the Astronomy [[Ordinary Wizarding Level|O.W.L.]] exam in their fifth year, each student has to "''fill in a blank star chart''" based on a few hours of observing the night sky. Coursework during this year was intensive enough that some students had to organise a [[Astronomy Homework Meeting|meeting]] to help each other get through it.
-[[Harry Potter]] was taking his Astronomy O.W.L. in [[1996]] when [[Rubeus Hagrid]] was confronted by [[Dolores Umbridge|Professor Umbridge]] and a team of [[Auror]]s in what was an attempted sacking, which was also the night that Minerva McGonagall took "no less than four Stunners to the chest."
+[[Harry Potter]] was taking his Astronomy O.W.L. in [[1996]] when [[Rubeus Hagrid]] was confronted by [[Dolores Umbridge|Professor Umbridge]] and a team of [[Auror]]s in what was an attempted sacking, which was also the night that Minerva McGonagall took "''no less than four Stunners to the chest.''"
 ==Known professors==
-[[File:Professorsinistra.jpg|thumb|135px|[[Professor Aurora Sinistra]] ]]
+[[File:Professorsinistra.jpg|thumb|214x214px|[[Professor Aurora Sinistra]] ]]
-*[[Aurora Sinistra]] (pre 1991-?)
+*[[Aurora Sinistra]] (pre. 1991-?)
 ==Grades==
@@ Line 68: / Line 73: @@
 ==Known O.W.L.s==
-*[[Aurora Sinistra]]
-*[[Bartemius Crouch Jr.|Barty Crouch Jr]]
-*[[William Weasley|Bill Weasley]]
-*[[Percy Weasley]]
-*[[Hermione Granger]]
-*[[Harry Potter]] {{comment|he may not have qualified for N.E.W.T. level courses}}
-*[[Ronald Weasley|Ron Weasley]] {{comment|he may not have qualified for N.E.W.T. level courses}}
+<gallery widths="80" position="center" spacing="small" orientation="portrait">
-==Behind the scenes==
+Professorsinistra.jpg|[[Aurora Sinistra]]
+Barty Crouch, Jr.jpg|[[Barty Crouch Jr.]] †
+Bill-Weasley-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-movies-17182060-1919-2560.jpg|[[Bill Weasley]]
+Percy.jpg|[[Percy Weasley]]
+Hermione-granger.jpg|[[Hermione Granger]]
+PromoHP7 Harry Potter.jpg|[[Harry Potter]] {{c|did't qualify for N.E.W.T.-level}}
+Ron-Weasley-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows.jpg|[[Ron Weasley]] {{c|did't qualify for N.E.W.T.-level}}
+</gallery>
+==Behind the scenes==
 *During the O.W.L. exam, Harry focuses his telescope upon [[Venus]] at midnight. However, Venus's orbit is closer to the sun, and when it is midnight at a location, that part of the Earth is approximately facing completely away from the sun. Given these two facts, it is highly unlikely that Harry would have been able to see Venus regardless of Britain's high latitude and the proximity to the summer solstice due to line of sight issues, but the telescope may have been magical.