First Year Astronomy Notes
written by Elizabeth Wonders
There you go, your brand-new notes for Astronomy 101! Good luck! <3 (Notes on other subjects are coming out. Owl me if you would like to request a specific subject published sooner.)
Last Updated
05/15/24
Chapters
10
Reads
258
Lesson 6) How to Find the A.M.E. Components
Chapter 6
- In the past, witches and wizards used magical tools like the von Rheticus telescope to find the components of the A.M.E. Quotient
- Muggles have made more progress in telescope making, with their best telescopes being far superior to magical ones
- Muggle telescopes can make more accurate measurements of angular size, phase, optical albedo, and distance from the Sun
- The magical world has made some progress in telescope design, but the newer models are expensive and not available to First Year students
- Von Rheticus calculated the distance of planets from the Sun based on their motion in the sky, assuming circular orbits
- The distance entered for each planet was the average distance, as the orbits of most planets are close to being circles
- The exact distance of a planet from the Sun at any specific time can be calculated using advanced methods discovered by Isaac Newton.
- Muggles have more accurate measurements of angular size, phase, and optical albedo of celestial bodies
- The von Rheticus telescope has a button labeled "S" for measuring angular size
- The telescope calculates the angular size by measuring the magnified object and dividing by the magnification
- The telescope calculates the phase of an object by measuring its angular length and width and dividing the width by the length
- The von Rheticus telescope has a button labeled "A" for measuring optical albedo
- Albedo is harder to measure than angular size
- The magical albedo of most surfaces is the same as the optical albedo, but rocky surfaces reflect less magic and water absorbs even more magic
- The newest version of the von Rheticus telescope can detect the amount of magic coming from a celestial object and calculate the A.M.E. Quotient
