East of the Sun, West of The Moon. Astronomy, Lesson 2, Third Years.

Casey slipped into Astronomy, yawning. It had been a long day and she was tired. She slid into a desk and propped her bag up on her desk. Slowly, her head sunk onto it and, despite her efforts to prevent it, she fell asleep on her desk.

"Ms. Donahoe," Colin humed entering the room, "Thank you for showing up. It is always nice to see a face or two in my lessons. I trust you had a good holiday?"

"Today we will be speaking about Venus," Colin rested on his desk, "Tell me what you know about this planet."

Alex walked into class to see Casey and the professor. "Sorry, professor O'brian" Alex apologized for being late. Alex took a seat at an empty table and got out what she would need. Astronomy was one of her favorites, she loved to learn more about the stars and such.

Casey smiled at the Professor. "Yes, it was lovely. Yours?" She drew breath to answer his question, but was interupted by Alex walking in. She smiled at the girl, then began again. "I know it's the brightest planet, one closer to the Sun than Earth, it's got a really think atmosphere, making it really hot, and it usually shows up near the horizon in the sky."

Colin raised his eyebrow and smiled at the gryffindor, "Yes thank you. Five points for that answer. Yes, Venus is all those things."

He frowned at Alex, "Ms. Gilbert, please arrive on time next time. I shall have to take points from your house in hopes that you shall remember that for next time."

"Yes. Venus is the second planet from the sun, however, it is the hotest planet in our solar system. This is because of the thick atomsphere that Ms. Donohoe meantioned. It creates something called a "Greenhouse effect". Does anyone know how this works?"

Casey raised her hand. "Radiation from the sun is long wave radiation, which easily passes through 'Greenhouse Gases' like carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, et cetera. When it's absorbed and re-emmited by the soil, it comes out as short wave radiation, which cannot pass back through the greenhouse gasses, thus effectively trapping all the heat which is given off by the ground." Casey blushed as she realized how complicated and show offish her answer was. "Sorry, I just read a book on it." She slid a few inches down in her seat.

(OOC Haha, we're just learning about this in school! Hence the much more complicated than necessary answer. I'm a nerd, don't judge. )

Colin raised his eyebrows, quite impressed, "Why thank you Ms. Donohoe; that is quite correct. THere was a time in our history where the muggles were most worried about the earth repeating this manor and turning into a planet like Venus. This however has been changed slightly."

"But the worry is always there, from time to time."

"Ten points to Gryfindor for such a complete answer."

He sighed and looked out at his papers.

"Now, we are slowly running out on time here, so I'd like to get to todays practical appliences. I would like you to all research and record the movement of Venus through earth's sky. There are plenty of books and if you are lucky perhaps we can even see it during or days."

alexander walks in and bows to the professor "i apologize for my lateness sir... i am quite foolish for letting the time fly by." he sits down in the empy seat next to the slytherin girl. he flashes her a small smile "good afternoon milady."

"Sorry for being late Professor," Storm apologized with a quick smile as she entered the classroom and took a seat near the back. She took out her supplies and hoped she hadn't missed much. Looking around, she wondered if there were more students who were going to show up.