Differences Among Inner Planets
In the previous lesson, we learned about the Inner Planets and how they are similar to one another. For example, they are small in size, and they have few or no moons. They are also very rocky, and they have metallic cores. Their surfaces possess discernible texture because they do have a hard surface, and they have craters. While I did not mention this additional fact specifically, I showed images of the planets, and we all could see that the Inner Planets, though they are small, are spherical in shape.
The Inner Planets, however, are not exactly the same. In terms of magic, the Inner Planets were associated with different - and sometimes conflicting - qualities. For example, Venus was associated with calmness, while Mars was associated with chaos. In Alchemy next year, you will learn about how the diametrically different properties of Venus and Mars can be used to change certain qualities of elements.
Here is the picture of just the Inner Planets again. In the top row, we have Earth on the left and Venus on the right. In the bottom row - Mars on the left, Mercury on the right. Size-wise, the planets are depicted to scale. As you can see, Mercury is the smallest of the Inner Planets. Venus and Earth are similar in size but look very different.
Let us talk about Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun. As you can see from the picture, it is essentially a cratered ball of rock. In fact, with its mare-like sections and many craters, it may even look a little like our Moon. There is an atmosphere on Mercury, but it is very thin - too thin to burn up any space rocks that manage to get pulled towards the planet by its gravity. We will talk more about gravity in future years. Also, because the atmosphere is so thin, the planet has both very hot areas and very cold areas at the same time. That being said, this ball of rock is associated with the magic of speed and intuition. Perhaps it’s the 88-day year that gives it its association with speed, and perhaps it’s the planet’s varied temperatures and vulnerability to space rocks that give it its penchant for intuition.
Venus and Earth are considered “sister planets” because they are roughly around the same size and adjacent to one another, Venus being the second planet from the Sun. Venus has cloud cover and an atmosphere thick enough to burn up many incoming meteorites. However, the planet is also very different from Earth. For example, Venus is covered by clouds made of sulfur dioxide, and the atmosphere of Venus is mostly carbon dioxide. This atmosphere makes Venus a very hot planet, as it traps in a lot of the heat. In Alchemical applications, Venus represents love and calm, even though there are many storms on the planet. Do the storms represent the hidden side of love, and does the atmosphere’s effect in burning up meteorites bring about a sense of calm? Magical astronomers are still debating.
Then, of course, follows Mars, our red neighbor on the other side. Of all the Inner Planets, it is furthest from the Sun. Mars also has a thin atmosphere, but thicker than Mercury’s. That being said, you can see Mars’ red surface from Earth, so the atmosphere must not be very thick. Even though Mars’ atmosphere is made mostly of carbon dioxide, it does little to stop meteorites from crashing into the surface. The surface is red because of the iron oxide in the Martian crust. Likewise, Mars is associated with chaos, youth, and masculinity. The red is said to symbolize blood and the reactive, violent qualities that come with the planet.
Differences Among the Outer Planets
The Outer Planets, as well, hold their differences. This section will focus on the differences between Jupiter and Saturn, as these two planets have the most impact on the A.M.E. Jupiter and Saturn have many similarities - they are the largest and second largest planets in the Solar System, and they are both made of primarily hydrogen and helium. However, Jupiter is associated with the qualities of strength and guardianship, while Saturn is associated with wisdom.
Jupiter is known for its distinctive bands and its Great Red Spot, a storm so big that it is actually bigger than the size of the Earth! Inside these storms, the winds whirl at high speed, which seems interesting, especially since the planet itself has characteristics of strength. In fact, one can argue that Jupiter portrays strength in a very complex and unique manner - as it has the ability to remain emotionally intact even in a turbulent state of mind.
Then, of course, there are Saturn’s rings, perhaps the planet’s most recognizable feature. Even though the rings appear to be solid, they are not: instead they are made of myriads of small pieces of ice and rock, not exactly the most exciting building blocks. That being said, the magic that originates from light being reflected from Saturn has the characteristic of wisdom. Perhaps’ Saturn’s ability to create beautiful rings out of broken pieces of rock and ice - rough and jagged - are an analogy of wisdom itself.
Comets
Comets are essentially ice-covered rocks. The ice can be water ice, or it can be ice of other materials, such as frozen carbon dioxide or methane. These celestial objects come close to the Sun with varying frequency, and when they do approach, their magic becomes available for us to use. Luckily, a good number of Solar System comet paths have been charted, and thus we as astronomers have a good idea of when the next comet will come visit.
One example is Halley’s Comet, which is pictured at front of the class. Unlike the planets, which orbit in an almost-circular path around the Sun, this comet’s orbit is elliptical and crosses the orbits of the Outer Planets. However, approximately once every 75 years, you can see the the comet in the Earth’s skies, and it is one of the few comets that can be seen without a telescope.
There is much power to be had by harnessing the magic from these comets. When Halley’s Comet last visited Earth’s neighborhood in 1986, there was plenty of excitement within the Magical astronomy community, and much Magical research relating to the comet was performed and published. Even Magical newspapers covered the arrival of the comet in great detail. We will learn more about the magic and influence of comets in future years.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for coming to class today. As you know, today you will be taking the final exam. Before the exam, however, Professor Dumbledore and I will be discussing the lives of two of the astronomers mentioned in class this year. In the interest of time, I will have Professor Dumbledore talk first.
Sometimes when discussing the amazing achievements of wizarding astronomers in the past, we lose sight of the personalities who are responsible for the magical astronomy discoveries and insights that we know today. We are thus privileged today to listen Professor Dumbledore’s first-hand experience in interacting with the famous Dr. Mansour. Please welcome Professor Dumbledore!
"Hello everyone! Professor Lunet asked me to come and further your knowledge on the ever so lovely Dr. Ayesha S. Mansour, whom you heard about in Lesson Four. She was a dear friend of my aunt, and I had the pleasure of getting to work with her one summer before finishing my education! She truly was a delightful lady… Does anyone remember what she did? If so, wonderful! If not, we will be discussing it again here, so don’t worry!
Dr. Mansour was born in England to an American father and an English mother on July 30, 1929. She spent most of her childhood in Stamford, but once she became of school age, her parents decided that they wanted her to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where her mother received her education. Her father was a Muggle, and her mother wanted first-hand knowledge of the education that her daughter would be getting. Thus they would travel between England and the United States, wanting her familiar with the United Kingdom before sending her off to school alone.
When she was eleven, she was sent to Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Hufflepuff House. She had been nervous about her sorting, but was happy with the house that she now refers to as being her home away from home during her schooling. She always had an extremely bubbly and joking personality, something that made her well liked among other students.
Dr. Mansour had never been a poor student, but to say that she was a star pupil was a small stretch. However, when she began Astronomy class, something clicked. She fell in love with the subject within the first few weeks of class and began studying independently with her professor. She constantly craved new knowledge about the subject, even in aspects that had not yet been discovered in either Wizard or Muggle Astronomy. She stayed with the subject all through her schooling, finishing with Outstanding marks each year, including her N.E.W.T.’s. This led her to go into Astronomy research as soon as she graduated Hogwarts, still desiring more knowledge on the subject!
She worked with a group of other Wizard Astronomers for a few years before leaving to pursue her own research. She did so for nearly ten years before making her big discovery. Dr. Mansour is known within the Astronomy community for her discovery of A.M.E. From there, you know the rest of the story!
Thank you for allowing me to visit within your classroom and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your lesson!"
Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. Let’s have a round of applause for him.
As you can hear from Professor Dumbledore’s story, anyone can be an astronomer. Our stereotype of astronomers is a pensive, introverted male who loves to gaze into the starry sky. He seems to have a calm demeanor, but he is also very logical and soft-spoken. He would probably be a Ravenclaw if he had been a Hogwarts student.
That is, of course, a stereotype. As you can see, Dr. Mansour did not fit the stereotype. She was bubbly and extroverted, and she had a great sense of humor. Many say that her enthusiasm was contagious, and she could fill a room with her excitement for Astronomy.
While Dr. Mansour moved to the wizarding portion of Stamford after her graduation, she regularly enjoyed venturing to the Muggle portions of the city. In fact, she often mentioned that she got her best ideas walking down the Muggle streets and visiting Muggle cafes.
The second person that we will be learning about today is George von Rheticus, a wizarding Astronomer. Here, I have a print of his portrait. Where may have you seen this portrait? Yes, this image is taken from one of the magical portraits in our school. Did you know that von Rheticus was the only student of Nicholas Copernicus, the famous Muggle Astronomer?
Let’s talk a little about von Rheticus’ mentor, Copernicus. Copernicus was a Muggle Astronomer who first argued that the Sun, not the Earth was the center of our solar system. For thousands of years, many people believed Ptolemy’s model of the universe - namely, that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Now, Ptolemy is an important person when it comes to Astronomy - after all, we do have a chocolate frog card named after him - but he was definitely wrong when it comes to his model of the Solar System . Only after many years of research and study was Copernicus able to propose an alternative - that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not vice versa.
If it were not for von Rheticus’ work, Copernicus’ ideas may not have been published. Copernicus’ Sun-centric concepts were published in his most famous work, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Von Rheticus played a major role in the publishing of the book.
Von Rheticus was also known for two other things - his love for (and work with) triangles, and his work in making astronomical instruments. While telescopes did not become very useful until a century later, von Rheticus made other Muggle and Magical astronomical instruments. He also did a large amount of work in trigonometry, which is a branch of mathematics that focuses on using triangles to solve problems.
One interesting aspect about von Rheticus’ life is that his father was not only a wizard but a crook in the Muggle world. His name was originally George Iserin. Von Rheticus’ father was caught stealing, and as punishment, Rheticus’ father was not allowed to use the name Iserin anymore. As a consequence, von Rheticus used his mother’s maiden name and became George de Porris. Later, von Rheticus changed his name again. At that time in history, most intellectual works were still written in Latin, so many intellectual researchers changed their names to Latin names. This was when he became von Rheticus.
As for von Rheticus’ personality, we do not know for sure. Assuming that the portrait artist captured von Rheticus’ personality - and you will learn more about magical portraits in Magical Art - von Rheticus seemed to like helping others except those that he called “scoundrels”. Sometimes, to prove that you are good person, he will require you to answer an Astronomy question. Perhaps he developed this attitude due to his own personal relationship with his father, who was quite a scoundrel.
Thank you for being part of my class this term. This has been an amazing year, and I am so happy to have everyone in class. Next year, I will be talking about the Moon and it’s effect on the Earth. There will be lessons on eclipses, magical plants, Mooncalves, and much more. I am super excited to be teaching everyone here next year.
I will be passing out the finals right now. After you complete them, you may leave the class. Good luck!
