Astro Error in New Harry Potter Book?

(Pierre Dessemontet) wrote in message . com...
I confirm that.

If Venus max eastern elongation occurs very near the northernmost
point on the ecliptic, then at rather high latitudes (more than 50)
the planet would be close to be circumpolar and as far as the sun as
possible. Additionally, DST help us gain one hour. If all goes right,
yes, it's possible to see Venus that late.

Just ran a test on StarryNight and lo and behold! all will be right in
2007. In Manchester, England, Venus will be up at midnight (oh, very
low, but up) between mid-april and mid-june 2007. In Glasgow,
Scotland, Venus will set at 1 am DST, i.e. midnight solar, in early
May.

Not so fast.

They got to the Astronomy Tower at 11 PM. They found "a perfect night
for stargazing, cloudless and still. The grounds were bathed in
silvery moonlight..." To me, this already reflects a poor knowledge
of astronomy, as a night in which the grounds are bathed in silvery
moonlight is hardly a perfect night for stargazing. But moving on, an
hour passes, making the time past midnight. Harry completes the
constellation Orion on his chart. Then he makes a "slight adjustment"
to the position of his telescope to focus on Venus.

Now, you tell me. On what night, in what year, in Glasgow or anywhere
else in the British Isles, can one see Orion and Venus after midnight?
All this rationalizing about when Venus might be visible that late
seems to depend on proximity to the summer solstice, but Orion is a
winter constellation.

She wrote it because it sounded nice, and the editor didn't catch it.
It's a mistake, though hardly a serious one. I still don't understand
why the students are studying astronomy at Hogwarts anyway; it's only
magical to us Muggles.

Professor Marchbanks, mudblood

Not even that. I don't think their class's 'star gazing' is looking for
faint fuzzy DSO's but rather planets, the moon and bright stars. Thus it's
perfectly correct and natural to want the moon up.

"Davoud" wrote in message
...
"Professor Marchbanks":
//snip//
She wrote it because it sounded nice, and the editor didn't catch it.
It's a mistake, though hardly a serious one. I still don't understand
why the students are studying astronomy at Hogwarts anyway; it's only
magical to us Muggles.

*****

It is not a mistake at all. This is a work of fiction, not an astronomy
textbook. Or did you think that everything else in the book was real,
and that the fictional astronomy passage ruined it all? Jeez!

Davoud

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

In article , Davoud wrote:
"Professor Marchbanks":
//snip//
She wrote it because it sounded nice, and the editor didn't catch it.
It's a mistake, though hardly a serious one. I still don't understand
why the students are studying astronomy at Hogwarts anyway; it's only
magical to us Muggles.

*****

It is not a mistake at all. This is a work of fiction, not an astronomy
textbook. Or did you think that everything else in the book was real,
and that the fictional astronomy passage ruined it all? Jeez!

Davoud

There are obviously a very large number of serious errors in the Harry
Potter books...... big laugh


--
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e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
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Challenged I was. Respond in kind I must (after all, this is usenet)


They got to the Astronomy Tower at 11 PM.

That's fact 1.

The grounds were bathed in silvery moonlight..."

Hmmm. That's fact 2.

moving on, an hour passes, making the time past midnight.
Harry completes the constellation Orion on his chart.

Fact 3. Note the word "completes".

Then he makes a "slight adjustment"
to the position of his telescope to focus on Venus.

.... and that's fact 4.

So we must have Orion entirely visible at 11 PM (when Harry starts its
sketching), Venus visible at 12 PM (so he can focus on it), and a moon
past quarter in the sky at this time.

Now, you tell me. On what night, in what year, in Glasgow or anywhere
else in the British Isles

Cape Wrath, near Durness, Scotland, approx. 58°35' N, 4°57' W, perfect
horizon to the north and west (sea).

Can one see Orion and Venus after midnight?

Sunday, March 31th, 1996.

The Moon was waxing gibbous, 90% illumination. At 11 PM, the whole of
Orion was still visible, although Rigel was frightfully close to the
horizon (which is on the sea at our location for this azimuth), but
for a very bright star with maximum refraction (looking from a cape
towards the sea, it's manageable. One hour later, Orion's belt was
still above the horizon so if Harry is clever (which we all know is a
fact), he could have completed his sketch. At this time, Venus is a
comfortable 7° above the horizon.

Of course, this presumes that Hogwarts does indeed follow daylight
savings time as the rest of the British Isles. In 1996, the evening of
March 31st was the first evening of the DST season. Now, think about
it: if Hogwarts does NOT follow DST, then how would the kids be ever
able to catch correctly the Hogwarts express from London? the fact is
that they would have to wait one hour in the station. But they
-always- run! Besides, the British rail system has enough problems
without having part of its network not following DST. That would
probably kill it for good.

So I respectfully submit that we established the following:
- Hogwarts is near Cape Wrath, in northern Scotland
- It does indeed follow daylight savings time
- Harry Potter was born around 1981

Therefore I rest.


Pierre (who didn't even read the damn book!)




PS:

All this rationalizing about when Venus might be visible that late
seems to depend on proximity to the summer solstice, but Orion is a
winter constellation.

Not quite, in fact. What is important is for -Venus- to be close to
the solsticial point at maximum elongation, which makes for a Sun
around 47° to the west of this, or where it sits around end of April
(but in this cas Orion is not visible anymore at 11 PM). And whereas
Orion is indeed a winter constellation, It is easily observed in the
evening till April.

(Pierre Dessemontet) wrote in message . com...
Challenged I was. Respond in kind I must (after all, this is usenet)
[...] we must have Orion entirely visible at 11 PM (when Harry starts its
sketching), Venus visible at 12 PM (so he can focus on it), and a moon
past quarter in the sky at this time.
Professor Marchbanks wrote:
Now, you tell me. On what night, in what year, in Glasgow or anywhere
else in the British Isles

Cape Wrath, near Durness, Scotland, approx. 58°35' N, 4°57' W, perfect
horizon to the north and west (sea).

Can one see Orion and Venus after midnight?

Sunday, March 31th, 1996.

The Moon was waxing gibbous, 90% illumination. At 11 PM, the whole of
Orion was still visible, although Rigel was frightfully close to the
horizon (which is on the sea at our location for this azimuth), but
for a very bright star with maximum refraction (looking from a cape
towards the sea, it's manageable. One hour later, Orion's belt was
still above the horizon so if Harry is clever (which we all know is a
fact), he could have completed his sketch. At this time, Venus is a
comfortable 7° above the horizon.

So I respectfully submit that we established the following:
- Hogwarts is near Cape Wrath, in northern Scotland
- It does indeed follow daylight savings time
- Harry Potter was born around 1981

Therefore I rest.

Well, I'm impressed. You've run rings around me logically.
On the other hand, I've learned a thing or two.

All this rationalizing about when Venus might be visible that late
seems to depend on proximity to the summer solstice, but Orion is a
winter constellation.

Not quite, in fact. What is important is for -Venus- to be close to
the solsticial point at maximum elongation, which makes for a Sun
around 47° to the west of this, or where it sits around end of April
(but in this cas Orion is not visible anymore at 11 PM). And whereas
Orion is indeed a winter constellation, It is easily observed in the
evening till April.

It still depends on proximity to the summer solstice because it only
works if the site observes daylight savings time (or, I presume, if we
go even further north).

But I'm still impressed. You gave the date as March 31, 1996, and according
to the Harry Potter Lexicon at http://www.hp-lexicon.org/book_op.html
the events in the book take place between July 31, 1995 and the end of June
1996.

Professor Marchbanks (mudblood)