fandomhigh | Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets

Week 1 -- September 6: Introduction: Overview of the Solar System, its origin and layout

Syllabus | Class Roster

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

When the class arrived in the newly refurbished attic classroom, Monty Python's "The Galaxy Song was playing and Ellie was humming along. She was wearing a black t-shirt with an image of the Milky Way Galaxy and a "You are here" arrow. There was a stack of textbooks beside her, along with CDs of a an astronomy program.

"Hi!" Ellie said, smiling broadly. "Welcome to Astronomy 101. I recognize some of you from my summer camp workshops and I'm glad I didn't scare you away by talking too much. Today we're just going to go over a brief introduction to the Solar System, and then I'll show you around the telescope. You'll find the Hartmann text is a little out of date since Pluto was just demoted. But most of the facts should remain the same, and even in the chapter on Pluto there is the debate on just whether it should be a planet or not. Also, the program I'm giving you is a great resource for learning to spot constellations and the planets. Have fun with it."

After having the students introduce themselves, Ellie went on to lecture about the formation and layout of the Solar System. "For fun, check out this website," she said as she finished the lecture. She wrote the URL on the board. "You can create your own little Solar System. And make the planets crash into each other."

Ellie beckoned the students toward a door in the back of the classroom. Stair led upward into another room with a retractable domed roof. "This is Maria," she said, sweeping her arm toward the large telescope that dominated the room. "If you come to the observation lab tonight, we can take a look at a few objects. The moon will be full and we can take a look at the Andromeda Galaxy. I hope I see you all there! Observation Lab attendance is ten percent of your grade, but I hope you learn to enjoy it, too."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Luke waved ~~a little spastically~~ at Teddy, then sat down and began taking notes--very definitely not in English.

One section was things he knew about. The other was a growing list of words he didn't recognize. "Website" was underlined.

Teddy waved back at Luke, chuckling to himself.

He took a seat near him. "What's up?"

"I saw gremlins last night!" Luke whispered back. "They put on a play."

"Gremlins?" He raised an eyebrow at that. "Did one of them bite you? Because I heard they cause people to hallucinate."

"A bunch of other people saw them, too," Luke replied. "Apparently it was a dramatic interpretation of what happened last year. And there was a kickline of former principals."

Teddy 'Ooo'ed, clearly impressed.

"I guess I missed one heck of a party." Then he stopped to think about what else he'd been told about the school. "Were there any jello dragons?"

Luke nodded. "A couple of gremlins in boxes labeled 'Jello,' yeah," he confirmed. "What's Jello, anyway?"

Teddy blinked at the question before 'Oh yeah, different planet' went through his head.

"It's a kind of food. It's..." He paused, trying to think of the best way to describe jello and then frowned when he couldn't come up with one. "It's kinda hard to explain if you've never had it."

His eyes lit up, "Stop by my room tonight, I have some jello cups ~~that aren't stolen from the cafeteria at all~~ there that you can try."

"I will!" Luke said, grinning, then turned his attention back to taking notes on the planets he had passed on his way to Earth.

"Hey, Luke." Parker's in a good mood, so she restrains the teasing, to, well. Talking to him. "How are classes going?"

"Fine," Luke said. "This is my last one for the week. You?"

"Mine as well. Four days to catch up on Bio and Interstellar Relations, or, I don't know. Do something fun." She grinned, stretching out. "Have you been to Caritas yet?"

"No," Luke said, "but I walked past it as I was exploring. What it is?"

Parker's grin widened. "A karaoke bar. My boyfriend works there. Do they have anything where you get up, and sing with the band, to music that everyone knows back on Tatooine?"

"No," Luke said. "Anchorhead was boring and Uncle Owen wouldn't let me go to Mos Eisley very often."

"You grew up with your uncle?" Parker cocked her head. "And how big was Anchorhead? Come to think of it, before you signed up to be a Jedi, what were you going to do with your life?"

"Aunt and uncle," Luke said. "And Anchorhead was really tiny. A thousand people tiny. And I didn't sign up for being a Jedi so much as get tossed a lightsaber and told 'the Force will be with you' which is not a helpful set of instructions."

"Wow. I can't imagine that. My hometown's small, but we were constantly going to cities. And.. that is not typical," Parker said thoughtfully, remembering some of Anakin's bitching about all the rules of the Jedi. "25,000 years of culture and they throw you a weapon. Something just wrong with that. The little green guy would stomp his stick."

"What's wrong with it is that there aren't any more Jedi!" Luke replied, voice getting heated. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"No, it wasn't." Parker thought of the prophecy in Special Collections, then frowned. Maybe remind Rory of that, but not mention it to Luke just yet. "But then, that's why you're here, I guess. Since it isn't safe out there," she gestured at the sky beyond the telescope, "and there are people here who can at least get you started. Bridge, Isabel. Some of the others." She grinned. "Or maybe just to get some of the shiny rubbed off you, before you go out and do anything else."

"I already talked with Isabel," Luke said, "but I haven't met Bridge yet."

He frowned. "And I'm not shiny."

"Bridge is nice. I don't think I know anyone who dislikes him. He's a cadet in a future police force, and he has TK powers and some other psychic stuff too." She cocked her head, then grinned. "You are so shiny. There are coins out there, fresh off the press? That don't squeak like you, Luke."

"What's TK?"

"Sorry, telekinesis. Moving things with your mind. Bridge has a TK ball he practices with sometimes. Also, psychic sand." Parker pouted. "Which I can't make move. I'm pretty sure the one time it did, Bridge was doing it for me."

"Oh, Isabel was doing that as she was cooking," Luke said, smiling. "I didn't know that was possible. She said she'd help me."

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

mparkerceo.livejournal.com - 2006-09-07 03:06 (UTC) - Expand

tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com - 2006-09-07 03:19 (UTC) - Expand

mparkerceo.livejournal.com - 2006-09-07 03:23 (UTC) - Expand

tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com - 2006-09-07 03:33 (UTC) - Expand

mparkerceo.livejournal.com - 2006-09-07 03:38 (UTC) - Expand

Astronomy 101: Moons and Planets - Class 1

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves

Re: Talk amongst yourselves