Rikku of the Al Bhed (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_merriest) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2011-01-11 05:58 am
the_merriest) wrote in fandomhigh2011-01-11 05:58 am
Entry tags:
Science is Awesome!!!, Class #2, Period 3, January 11th
Class was meeting in the Danger Shop again today, although the appearance was entirely different from last week. Last week, it had been a cliffside, for rock-flinging experiments; this week, they were meeting in a round room with a domed ceiling, chairs which leaned way back, and dim lights.
"So, this is a planetarium," Rikku explained. "Or, at least, it's the Danger Shop posing as one? Find a seat and we'll get started. It's gonna be dark in here, and those chairs are comfy, but no napping, okay?"
Once everyone was settled in, she switched the lights off and brought up the pattern of stars overhead. "This represents the sky, outside, right about now," she said. "If you're thinking the sky doesn't look anything like this, you're right, it doesn't. But that's because of this attention hog, here."
She slid another switch on her panel and there was now a bright orange disc in the middle of the sky, giving off enough light to obscure the rest of the pinpoints. "The sun," she said. "Let's back up and grab a couple of basics, for anyone who isn't from this world."
A few more switches, and now there was a simple model of the solar system, spread out over the sky.
"This planet we're on right now is the blue one, three back from the sun. It's called Earth. The star it orbits is the sun. Most worlds have at least one; a sun provides light, and heat, and nourishment to plants, which starts the whole food chain cycle. And yes, even though you can watch the sun rise and set every day, that's an optical illusion. We're the ones that are moving, both turning on our axis as well as making a long orbit around."
A few more button presses, and they were back to the daytime sky. "Let's fast forward a little," Rikku suggested. "Say, to midnight tonight." She pushed a few buttons, and now the sun was gone, replaced by those pinpricks of light.
"If you were paying attention, you'll notice that they've moved," she said. "Although that's the wrong terminology again. We moved. Not that some of them aren't moving, themselves, but that's not why everything's a few inches over. That's a longer, slower kind of process. Anyway. The stars you see here? These are all suns. They're not all exactly like this world's sun; some of them are a lot bigger, and some are a lot smaller. But they're all giving off so much light that even though they're millions and millions of miles away, you can see that tiny little speck, there."
She shrugged. "Do any of these stars have planets around them? Do any of those planets have life on them? Some of them have to. Some of you are from those places. I'm from ... somewhere, although it's so far from here that I wouldn't know where to look. Some of you might know where you're from, and can point it out in the sky. Plenty of these stars are just stars. And some of them died out a long time ago, but the light they gave off took so long to get here that we won't see their absence for years to come."
It was all a little overwhelming, thinking of how vast the space must be.
"In older times in this world, people made up stories. They saw patterns in the sky, and they came up with tales to tell. If I do this ..." She flipped another switch, and now there were various outlines on different star-patterns. "Then you can see what we're talking about. There were stories of brave hunters and bulls that fled the other way. A great bear and her smaller cub. People like to make sense of the world around them, and telling stories was a way to do it. Obviously, the patterns don't have anything to do with bears or hunters or kings. They're just what our mind makes the shapes look like. But that doesn't mean constellations aren't useful."
The outlines disappeared, except for one. "This is known as the Big Dipper," she said. "It's easy to spot in the sky, and it even appears year-round if you're on this world's Northern Hemisphere. You can see where it looks like a little cup on a handle stick, right? So. Let's take the far right edge of the cup" -- the bottom star shone especially bright, for a few moments, and then the one above it -- "and make that into a line. Carry that up a few spaces, and we hit a really bright star. Everyone see that?"
The path itself was lighting up, starting at the bottom right, and ending at the bright star above before repeating itself.
"That's Polaris," she said. "And because of how it's lying and where we are and a lot of technical details, it lies due north, and it's as close to a fixed position as you can get, for a star. From just about anywhere in this world, if you can see Polaris? That way is North. Sailors used stars to navigate by. And if you're lost somewhere, and you don't even know where you are, except that you're on this world? Find Polaris. That way is North."
She smiled at the class, even though she was fairly sure they couldn't see her. "There are hand-outs," she said. "And there's gonna be homework, too, but don't worry, it's not all that scary."
"So, this is a planetarium," Rikku explained. "Or, at least, it's the Danger Shop posing as one? Find a seat and we'll get started. It's gonna be dark in here, and those chairs are comfy, but no napping, okay?"
Once everyone was settled in, she switched the lights off and brought up the pattern of stars overhead. "This represents the sky, outside, right about now," she said. "If you're thinking the sky doesn't look anything like this, you're right, it doesn't. But that's because of this attention hog, here."
She slid another switch on her panel and there was now a bright orange disc in the middle of the sky, giving off enough light to obscure the rest of the pinpoints. "The sun," she said. "Let's back up and grab a couple of basics, for anyone who isn't from this world."
A few more switches, and now there was a simple model of the solar system, spread out over the sky.
"This planet we're on right now is the blue one, three back from the sun. It's called Earth. The star it orbits is the sun. Most worlds have at least one; a sun provides light, and heat, and nourishment to plants, which starts the whole food chain cycle. And yes, even though you can watch the sun rise and set every day, that's an optical illusion. We're the ones that are moving, both turning on our axis as well as making a long orbit around."
A few more button presses, and they were back to the daytime sky. "Let's fast forward a little," Rikku suggested. "Say, to midnight tonight." She pushed a few buttons, and now the sun was gone, replaced by those pinpricks of light.
"If you were paying attention, you'll notice that they've moved," she said. "Although that's the wrong terminology again. We moved. Not that some of them aren't moving, themselves, but that's not why everything's a few inches over. That's a longer, slower kind of process. Anyway. The stars you see here? These are all suns. They're not all exactly like this world's sun; some of them are a lot bigger, and some are a lot smaller. But they're all giving off so much light that even though they're millions and millions of miles away, you can see that tiny little speck, there."
She shrugged. "Do any of these stars have planets around them? Do any of those planets have life on them? Some of them have to. Some of you are from those places. I'm from ... somewhere, although it's so far from here that I wouldn't know where to look. Some of you might know where you're from, and can point it out in the sky. Plenty of these stars are just stars. And some of them died out a long time ago, but the light they gave off took so long to get here that we won't see their absence for years to come."
It was all a little overwhelming, thinking of how vast the space must be.
"In older times in this world, people made up stories. They saw patterns in the sky, and they came up with tales to tell. If I do this ..." She flipped another switch, and now there were various outlines on different star-patterns. "Then you can see what we're talking about. There were stories of brave hunters and bulls that fled the other way. A great bear and her smaller cub. People like to make sense of the world around them, and telling stories was a way to do it. Obviously, the patterns don't have anything to do with bears or hunters or kings. They're just what our mind makes the shapes look like. But that doesn't mean constellations aren't useful."
The outlines disappeared, except for one. "This is known as the Big Dipper," she said. "It's easy to spot in the sky, and it even appears year-round if you're on this world's Northern Hemisphere. You can see where it looks like a little cup on a handle stick, right? So. Let's take the far right edge of the cup" -- the bottom star shone especially bright, for a few moments, and then the one above it -- "and make that into a line. Carry that up a few spaces, and we hit a really bright star. Everyone see that?"
The path itself was lighting up, starting at the bottom right, and ending at the bright star above before repeating itself.
"That's Polaris," she said. "And because of how it's lying and where we are and a lot of technical details, it lies due north, and it's as close to a fixed position as you can get, for a star. From just about anywhere in this world, if you can see Polaris? That way is North. Sailors used stars to navigate by. And if you're lost somewhere, and you don't even know where you are, except that you're on this world? Find Polaris. That way is North."
She smiled at the class, even though she was fairly sure they couldn't see her. "There are hand-outs," she said. "And there's gonna be homework, too, but don't worry, it's not all that scary."
Re: OOC - SCI02