Substitute Teacher, Miss. Howard
April 29, 2012 9:38 PM
What's your sign? (Advance Lesson) by Substitute Teacher, Miss. Howard
Phoebe Howard was currently a graduate student in college studying the art of Divination. To make money, she was a substitute teacher. This was why she was currently at Sonora, sitting in the tower that had a ceiling that mimicked the night sky.“Good day everyone.” Phoebe greeted with a grin. She wasn’t your typical substitute. Phoebe was a little bit wild. She was an Artist and she loved Tarot cards. She was what most people would refer to as a Hippie. She even had the appropriate look for it. Her blonde hair was in dreads, some were pink, some green, some black, but most were still her natural blonde color. She was unshaven (not that they could tell), wore no makeup, and had both a nose and lip piercing. Tattoos covered some parts of her body, but again, these were placed in areas they could not see. While ‘working’, Phoebe kept it casual, but still appropriate in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. She may have been a tad unconventional, but she wasn’t outrageous. Besides, she had noticed some Goth looking staff members when she grabbed a bite to eat.
“I’m Miss Howard who will be subbing for your lesson today. I have no idea where your actual professor is, but It’s none of your business anyway.” She said this with a bright smile. Either they would hate her or find her funny. She didn’t care either way. “So, Astronomy is a natural science that is the study of celestial objects. What that means is basically, it’s the study of things in space. Like stars and planets. But it’s also the study of any phenomena that happens outside of our atmosphere. Most people don’t think about that last bit, and, really, in this class you probably won’t either.” Phoebe waved off her last comment, shrugged, and continued on.
“So, Astronomy really had a big effect on our history of events and on cultures. Many cultures way back when used Astronomy to predict things. Like the Mayans and when the world ends. We can also see the sort of instruments that these cultures used. For example, the Mayans left hieroglyphics depicting their findings from the stars and others had sun dials.”
Phoebe was pacing the room while she spoke. Notes on the board behind appeared, only giving bullet points of what she was saying. “Now, there are two branches of Astronomy that are usually the main focus of studies. You have Observational Astronomy and Theoretical Astronomy. Observational study is the focus of acquiring data from observing celestial objects , which is then analyzed. Theoretical study is focused more towards the development of analytical models to describe objects and celestial phenomena. Although they have split, they actually work well together. Without the observations of one, you cannot have the theoretical analysis of the other.
“So, those are two of the main ones that you all will probably be learning in more depth later. For today, I will be discussing with you Astrometry. This is the oldest fields of astronomy and one that is relatively probably the most important. This is the measurement of the positions of the stars, planets, moons, comets, etc. These measurements are what created calendars. These are how the Mayans predicted every major disaster within their lifetime and the lifetime of others.” Phoebe totally believed the Mayans to be honest and true ‘Seers’ and she thought that was just the coolest.
“Astrometry also allows for celestial navigation, which is basically using the stars to navigate. Anyone who has ever heard of pirate tales, knows that they use the stars to guide them. Constellations are a large factor in navigation, but also, they are said to predict personalities based on how the stars are aligned when you are born. These are also known as Zodiacs. After our discussion, I would like for you to each write something about the signs, why they are important, what your sign is, and what it represents. Before that though, can anyone name any of the constellations and find them in the stars above? ”
OOC: Hey everyone, welcome to Astronomy. You all know the posting rules. Please be sure to put your house so that we can give points to the proper houses and have fun!
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Substitute Teacher, Miss. Howard
What's your sign? (Advance Lesson)
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Substitute Teacher, Miss. Howard
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