fandomhigh | Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: Holst - Venus, the Bringer of Peace

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astronomy

Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 4

Week 4 -- September 27: Venus, the Earth's "twin"

Syllabus | Class Roster

Handouts:
Starmaps: North | South | East | West | Overhead

The strains of Holst's "Venus, the Bringer of Peace" greet the class for this session. Ellie hums along before she beings the lecture.

"Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. After Earth's Moon, it is the brightest object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of -4.6. As an inferior planet from Earth it never appears to venture far from the Sun, and its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, and is often referred to as the Morning Star or as the Evening Star.

"A terrestrial planet, it is sometimes called Earth's 'sister planet,' as the two are similar in size and bulk composition. The planet is covered with an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds and its surface cannot be seen from space in visible light, making it a subject of great speculation until some of its secrets were revealed by planetary science in the 20th century. Venus has the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric pressure at the planet's surface is 90 times that of the Earth.

"Venus' surface has been mapped in detail only in the last 20 years. It shows evidence of extensive volcanism, and some of its volcanoes may still be active today. In contrast to the constant crustal movement seen on Earth, Venus is thought to undergo periodic episodes of plate tectonics, in which the crust is subducted rapidly within a few million years separated by stable periods of a few hundred million years.

"The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and most of its surface features are named after famous and mythological women.

"Before we go, I'd like to explain your midterm project. It will be due November 8th, and should be an interview with a student from a planet other that Earth. If you're not from Earth, make it a planet other than your own. Ask questions about what type of world it is and what kind of society has developed. There's no set form for this; it's meant to be a learning experience. Have fun with it!"

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Luke was excited. No one else was from Tatooine, so he could talk to whoever and have it count.

He took notes for a while and then began practicing his levitation. Spinning pens was fun!

Parker blinked. And resisted the urge to reach out and spin the pen the other direction, just in case it fell down instead of turning.

"Looks like you're getting the hang of it."

"I'm not quite at glitter levels yet," Luke whispered back.

Parker kept her voice down, and covered her mouth to hide a smile. "Heard about your dad's favorite birthday present, hunh?"

Luke blinked. "I heard of it from Isabel who said he used it to train. It was a present?"

Parker smiled a little. "Jedi weren't supposed to have possessions. So when people had birthdays, he was kind of stuck for presents to give to people here. He used to do tricks with the glitter, making it fly or make cool patterns and fall on people, in place of a material present. At least he did it for Jaye and Rory."

Luke thought that was one of the coolest things he'd ever heard. "Nice present," he said, grinning.

"Yeah. For Molly's birthday?" She grinned, no wickedness in evidence this time. "He'd catch people jumping off the roof. Molly was thrilled. Seriously. That may have been one of the most awesome things I got to do last year."

Luke's eyes went very wide. "Yeah, I'm not even close to that yet."

Parker laughed aloud, then lowered it to a chuckle. "Well, he had been doing it for nine years by then. So it might take you a while." She grinned. "He didn't really 'get' birthdays, but he was pretty cool about playing along anyway." She reached out for the pen, and cocked an eyebrow. "Can I spin it in the other direction, or will it drop?"

Luke took a deep breath and stared hard at the pen. "Go ahead," he said.

Carefully, Parker reached out, and with the tip of a fingernail, tried to spin the pen in the other direction.

Luke was pleasantly surprised to discover that the pen hadn't gone shooting across the room, but was instead just spinning in the other direction.

"I can do this," he said, pleased.

"Evidently," Parker said, looking amused. "Can you do this, and hold a conversation at the same time?"

"Depends on the conversation," Luke said. "This is requiring a lot of concentration still."

The pen was wobbling slightly in the air.

"Okaaay. Hmm." Parker doesn't want him to quit *too* soon, so.... "Clubs. Are you in any?"

"Gun Club, which you know," Luke said with a smile, "and Flight Club, which you should've guessed."

The pen was still spinning.

"True. Any problems in your other classes?" Parker watched him, and the pen, trying to gauge when she could ask something more difficult.

Luke gave her a strange look. It was like she was trying to test him or something. "They're fine," he said, going back to staring at the pen whirling in front of him.

"Got a date for Homecoming yet?"

Hey, if he didn't, she could always find him one. Probably. Maybe.

Luke dropped the pen, then read the note and grinned.

Not at all! Any time.

He floated it back across the room.

Teddy grinned and stuck his tongue out at the display before whispering, "Show off."

Luke smiled back, not sorry at all.

Billy did a double take.

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