That's true about the moons. It's also true about binary stars: sometimes we can't see the star itself, but we know it's there, because it crosses in front of other stars we can see.
But the moons are even more complicated than that, actually. We can only see most of them because of some very complicated telescope design that allows us to focus on the moon and not all the other things that might interfere, being between us and the planet and its moons.
It's a highly specialised use of both arithmancy and astronomy, basically describing the moon by arithmancy and then creating a telescope that looks only at that one thing and filters everything else out. (Hogwarts has telescopes for about ten of the moons, so we can study them in class, but of course the Guild has a complete set.)
We barely go into that part at all in class and even the project this summer is only going to touch on it. One of my good friends in the guild focuses on making telescopes, so I've picked up a bit more over the years than most people.
I appreciate your offer, too. It's often handy to have someone who doesn't mind that kind of thing, or can be relied on to hand out programmes or what have you. I'll certainly remember to ask.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-04-21 08:12 pm (UTC)But the moons are even more complicated than that, actually. We can only see most of them because of some very complicated telescope design that allows us to focus on the moon and not all the other things that might interfere, being between us and the planet and its moons.
It's a highly specialised use of both arithmancy and astronomy, basically describing the moon by arithmancy and then creating a telescope that looks only at that one thing and filters everything else out. (Hogwarts has telescopes for about ten of the moons, so we can study them in class, but of course the Guild has a complete set.)
We barely go into that part at all in class and even the project this summer is only going to touch on it. One of my good friends in the guild focuses on making telescopes, so I've picked up a bit more over the years than most people.
I appreciate your offer, too. It's often handy to have someone who doesn't mind that kind of thing, or can be relied on to hand out programmes or what have you. I'll certainly remember to ask.