The Moon Revisited
If you look outside, the Moon is not there. Where is it? Oh yes, I have seen many hands go up, which means many of you have remembered. Yes, the moon is in the waning crescent phase, which means that the moon is not visible at this time of day. When could you have seen the Moon? If it were not cloudy, you could have seen the Moon earlier today. Good job. I can tell that you have been paying attention and studying. If we are not sure what phase the Moon is in today and had no access to lunar calendars, what magical device could we have used? Yes, that is correct – the Lunascope.
Here is another question. Which of these pictures looks more like your view the Moon? Notice that I have covered up the lunar calendars in the room – since you've seen the Moon several times in the last few weeks, your gut answer is probably correct. How many say that the left image is more representative of what you see? The right image?
Good job! Yes, you are all correct – the right image of the Moon is more representative of what you see. The right image is an image of the “near” side of the Moon, and the left image is of the “far” side of the Moon. Interestingly, the near side of the Moon is the side that always faces Earth. No matter what phase the Moon is in, the near side of the Moon is always facing Earth – even though you cannot see a good portion of the Moon due to its phase. Two phrases that describe this situation are “tidal locking” and “synchronous rotation”. Either phrase can be used in this class, and I will use both phrases interchangeably as both are used regularly in magical Astronomical literature. In a future year, I will explain how gravity causes tidal locking. What you need to know for this class, however, is that tidal locking plays a major role in the Moon's magical effects on the Earth.
How is the near side of the Moon different from the far side of the Moon? From this picture, it is easy to see that the near side looks very different from the far side. In particular, the near side shows a very unique and complex relationship between light and dark designs. It makes the Moon very identifiable. In fact, if someone had shown the picture of the near side to you in the corridor last week, many of you would correctly guess that is the Moon. The far side, to many, may seem like just another moon or planet.
The difference between the light and dark sections is critical to understanding how lunar magic works. The Moon does not have a flat surface. Like the Earth, the Moon has places of high elevation and places of low elevation, as well as flat land and areas with more jagged profiles. Light portions of the Moon's surface represent areas of higher elevation – also known as the “highlands” - and dark portions of the Moon's surface represent flat, plain-like areas created by cooled lava from ancient volcanoes. These dark, flat areas are called “mare” or “seas” - based on a previous but incorrect assumption that these areas are lunar seas.
Remember how I mentioned earlier that moonlight was actually reflected sunlight? The Moon does not generate any light itself; all the light that you see coming from the Moon is actually reflected from the Sun. Some of the moonlight was originally earthlight, or light from the Sun that is reflected by the Earth. Either way, all moonlight was originally sunlight. Of course, the highlands reflect more light than the mare because the highlands are much lighter than the mare. That being said, we as Magical people know instinctively that moonlight does not have the same effects as sunlight – as we can see for example, in werewolves. Werewolves maintain their human forms during the day and most nights. In their human forms, very few will realize that these people are werewolves. However, on the day of the full Moon, they turn into their wolf-like beast forms, and they will act with the violence and attitudes you would expect of giant wolves. These observations seem to suggest that even though the moonlight is reflected sunlight, something about being reflected from the Moon changes the light's magical properties.
A.M.E. - The Astronomy Magical Effect Quotient
The term A.M.E. Quotient, or Astronomy-based Magical Effect Quotient, describes the amount of magical effect a non-light-producing astronomical body has on another planet (or other object, such as a moon or even a spacecraft). Unless the other planet is specified, the default planet is Earth. The concept of the A.M.E. Quotient was first proposed and developed by Dr. Ayesha S. Mansour, whom you will learn about in the last lesson of this year. She was one of the hometown heroes of Stamford, Connecticut's magical community; she had moved to the United States from England when she was 3 and spent most of her life in Stamford, Connecticut. She was also a “foremother” in my academic family tree - in other words, she mentored my mentors. She loved making up fun-sounding new terms for her many discoveries; the original name for the A.M.E. Quotient was the “Astromeff Quotient”, but she changed it after realizing that other astronomers did not appreciate her sense of humor. Fun fact – she was an alumna of Hufflepuff house. Her mother, an Englishwoman, was the Hufflepuff Head Girl during her school days.
The equation for the A.M.E. Quotient is rather complex. However, I am not going to have you memorize the equation. All you need to know is the variables that constitute it. These factors are:
- Composition – what the astronomical object is made of
- Observed Size – how big the astronomical object seems from Earth
- Albedo – how much light and magic the astronomical object reflects off its surface
- Teamwork – how the astronomical object interacts with other astronomical objects
- Surface – type and character of the astronomical object's surface
These factors, which Mansour cleverly arranged into the acronym “C.O.A.T.S”, will be defined in next week's lesson. For today, all you need to know is that objects that appear large from Earth and objects that have a high albedo value (that reflect a lot of light) tend to have a very strong effect on the Earth. In addition, the composition and the surface of the astronomical object can change the type and quality of the magic that impacts the Earth. Generally, astronomical objects that have a large magical effect on the Earth, such as the Moon, have a high A.M.E. Quotient. Objects like undiscovered planets in star systems in other galaxies tend to have low A.M.E. Quotients because we rarely feel the affects of these planets on the Earth.
The A.M.E. Quotient is also why we learn so much about the surface and composition of planets in the Solar System in wizarding Astronomy classes. Yes, that information is fascinating, but that information can also help you make appropriate choices should you wish to take advantage of the planets' magic.
A.M.E. Basics Review
Last class, we talked about the Astronomy-based Magical Effect Quotient, or the A.M.E. When we ask about how much of an effect the Moon, for example, has on the Earth, we are discussing the Moon to Earth A.M.E. We also went over the five parts of the A.M.E. What were those again?
Yes, that is correct. The five parts of the A.M.E. are:
- Composition – what the astronomical object is made of
- Observed Size – how big the astronomical object seems from Earth
- Albedo – how much light and magic the astronomical object reflects off its surface
- Teamwork – how the astronomical object interacts with other astronomical objects
- Surface – type and character of the astronomical object's surface
Today, we will go over each part of the A.M.E. individually. In future years, we will go in depth into the physical properties of planets, moons, and other astronomical bodies, and the above details will be crucial to understanding how astronomical magic affects us. Remember, for these descriptions, we are assuming that we are standing on the Earth, but should you be lucky enough to be given the chance to leave the Earth’s atmosphere, you can apply the same concepts to your location at any place in the universe.
Composition
Composition refers to the molecular makeup of an astronomical body. Both the surface composition as well as the internal geology of the planet or moon is important because both alter the type of the magical effect of reflected light.
For example, there is much iron in Mars’ composition. In fact, Mars looks red to us on Earth because of the iron oxide on the planet’s surface. Because of the effect of the iron, magic being reflected by Mars tends to be reactive, chaotic, and high-energy - you will learn more about this in Alchemy next year. Mars’ iron content also affects its use in Divination, as the sighting of Mars can be linked to readings of war and battle. You can look forward to more information about Mars’ symbolic meaning in Divination next year, if you choose to take the class.
Observed Size
This property is self-explanatory. Small objects can look bigger in the sky than larger objects because they are much nearer to us. For example, the Moon appears to be bigger than Mars in our sky even though the Moon is much smaller than Mars.
How does this relate to magic? In general, non-light-producing objects that seem larger in appearance tend to have a stronger magical influence than those that have a smaller appearance. This is because objects that are closer tend to reflect more magic on the Earth than objects that are further away.
In this example, the Moon has a stronger magical effect on the Earth than Mars does. While the effects of Mars can be powerful when used effectively, the magic reflected from the Moon has a significant impact on the Earth and is easy to harness.
Albedo
Like light, magic is generated from the Sun and reflected off objects in space. Some objects reflect the magic better than others. The word that describes how much of the received magic a surface reflects is called magical albedo. A surface’s albedo can be expressed in any number between 0 and 1; a surface with a magical albedo value of 0, seen on the left side of the above image, reflects no magic at all, while a surface with a magical albedo of 1 reflects all the energy that shines at it.
Magical albedo can be estimated by visual albedo - light surfaces tend to reflect more magical energy than dark surfaces. For example, the light surfaces of the Moon reflect more magic than the dark surfaces of the Moon. This is also why the magic during the full Moon is very strong; since so many of the light surfaces of the Moon are visible to Earth, we know that there is much magical energy sent to the Earth during a full Moon.
Teamwork (Interference)
When magic is reflected off of astronomical objects, it is influenced by the magic of other objects. Sometimes magical effects influence one another to create different magical effects. Dr. Mansour originally called this “teamwork”, but the word currently used today is “interference”.
There are two types of interference. Constructive interference occurs when reflections from two or more magical sources enhance each other so that the magic’s effects are stronger. Destructive interference occurs when reflections from two or more magical sources partly or completely cancel each other out so that there is less or no magic. Complete constructive interference and complete destructive interference - the former refers to a situation with the maximum strengthening of the reflected magic, while the latter refers to essentially a complete cancellation of the reflected magic - are rare, as most interference interactions are complex.
Teamwork is similar to the concept of transitionals. In transitionals, you will use the relationship between two objects in the solar system, such as Venus and Mars, to change the qualities of an element. You can learn more about transitionals next year in Alchemy. Teamwork is also similar to what one would see in astrology. When diviners use astrology, they study how stars, planets, and the like work together to produce magical effects.
Surface
The surface of an astronomical object has an effect on the type of magic that is transmitted to the Earth. For example, flat areas will have different effects than mountainous areas. This is why we will be learning about surface geology of planets, moons, and other features later on in our Astronomy program. For other objects with very varied magical effects, astronomers often study aspects such as a planet’s rotation, particularly if it is irregular.
Let’s take the Moon as an example. Ever notice that the effect of the full Moon is rather uniform no matter when the full Moon occurs? This is because of the Moon’s synchronous rotation - even though the Moon looks different on the near and the far sides, the near side always faces the Earth, and therefore the same side of the Moon reflects the magic back to the Earth. As a result, magic reflected from the Moon is very predictable. This is why Moon-based magic is used relatively reliably for many specific magical processes, such as maturing Veritaserum potions.
I will be ending class now so that you will have enough time to complete your midterms. I will be passing them out now; once you are done, you can hand them to me and head back to your dorms. There will also be additional homework distributed; please complete these for next class period.
Good luck on the midterms!
