Astronomy Class

## Astronomy

"*They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of difficult stars and the movement of planets.*"
— Harry Potter's summary of the subject

**Astronomy** was a core class and subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Uagadou. Astronomy was the branch of magic and science that studied stars and the movement of planets. Students would also use their wands with an Orrery to predict the next eclipse, the only known practical form of magic used in the class.

Uagadou students were known to be skilled in Astronomy, implying the teaching that was provided at Uagadou was excellent.

## Class information

Astronomy lessons were spent learning the names of stars and the movements of planets. It was a required class from year one until year five, and became an optional subject for the final two years.

In the fifth year, the Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations were taken. During the exam, students had to fill in a blank star chart. If a student achieved a passing O.W.L. score, they were allowed to advance to N.E.W.T. level.

Astronomy was one of the only fields of study at Hogwarts which had a direct equivalent in the Muggle world. Known student activities included learning the names of stars, constellations, and planets, as well as their location and movements, and describing the environments of planets and moons.

Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment in Diagon Alley sold telescopes and other equipment needed for Astronomy. Aurora Sinistra was the Astronomy professor at Hogwarts during Harry Potter's time as a student. She was also teaching during Jacob's sibling's time at Hogwarts.

## Location and Time

### Classrooms

Astronomy classes took place in the highest level of the Astronomy Tower, the tallest tower in Hogwarts Castle, and included sky observation sessions with telescopes (each student has to buy one of his/her own).

## Curriculum

### First Year

During the first year of studies at Hogwarts, students studied the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the different names of the stars and the movements of the planets. Towards the end of the 1991–1992 school year, Hermione Granger was quizzing Ron on Astronomy for preparation for their first year exams. Their studying included using a map of Jupiter. It was noted that the studies on Jupiter continued into later years, when Harry tried to learn the names of Jupiter's moons in his fifth year of study at Hogwarts.

### Third Year

In the 1993–1994 school year, one of the homework assignments included drawing a star chart which probably means they studied stars that year, and they took a midnight exam at the end of the year.

### Fifth Year

"*Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra. Europa's covered in ice, not mice.*"
— Hermione Granger during the 1995 - 1996 school year

Hogwarts students studied Jupiter's moons and wrote an essay for their homework containing facts such as Europa being covered by ice and Io having many volcanoes. They filled in blank star charts and the homework during this year became intensive enough that some students had to organise a meeting to help each other get through it.

### Sixth Year

Sixth-year students studied multiple topics, including:

* Constellations, including Cetus
* Lunar phases
* Star charts
* Cosmic ages
* Space weather
* Meteor showers

### Seventh Year

Seventh-year students studied multiple topics, including:

* Dark cloud constellations
* Rogue planets
* Dark energy and dark matter
* Black holes and wormholes
* Jupiter's moons

## Grades

* Exceeds Expectations [E]
* Acceptable [A]
* Dreadful [D]
* Troll [T]