Date: November 13, 2010

Title: Harry Potter and the Night Sky

Podcaster: Bev Levene

Description: Some of the characters in the Harry Potter series have the same names of constellations and stars in the night sky. The show discuses possible reasons that the character named after the constellations and stars. This show is not related to Warner Brothers, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling herself, or any other part of the Harry Potter franchise.

Bio: My name is Bev Levene and I am a college student at Bates in Lewiston Maine. I am interested in astrophysics. One of my projects for one of my classes was to put on a planetary show, and I decided that I would like to turn that show into a podcast for 365 days of astronomy.

Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Sue Freier in memory of George and Phyllis Freier who inspired generations of students in physics and astronomy.

Transcript:

HARRY POTTER AND THE NIGHT SKY

BEV
Welcome to the November 13th edition of 365 days of astronomy. I am Bev a college student interested in astronomy. In a couple of days, I will be celebrating my 19th birthday by going to go see the seventh Harry Potter movie at its midnight’s release. I am very excited to see the movie; it is going to be amazing. I could spend hours discussing harry potter in depth. J.K Rowling is an amazing author who put so much detail into all of her books. Each character is very thought out. Even the characters’ names have to do with their personality. For example Colin Creevey’s first names means, youth, child, and victor, all of which describe him well.

PERSON 1
You know this is an astronomy pod cast not a harry potter pod cast, right?

BEV
I know, I know, I am just about to get to that part. As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted there, J.K. Rowling put a lot of thought into her character names. I noticed while reading the books that some of her characters were named after stars and constellations such as Draco and Regulus. I was wondering what J.K. Rowling’s reasoning was for naming some of her characters after constellations and stars. I decided the best way to find out was to give her a call. I called her up and talked to her about it. I also asked if by chance she would be willing to talk to you guys about it. She was more than willing to and sent me this recording. This is her and two of her friends talking about the reasons that she named some of her characters after constellations and stars. Let me first say that there are a couple of spoilers about the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows but nothing major. Also some of the things they are going to talk about are very specific details about the book that unless you are a very detailed reader you might have missed. Hope you enjoy.

Transition music

FRED
Welcome, I am Fred Weasley and this is my twin brother George

GEORGE
Yep, that’s me. Fred and I are here to entertain you during the boring talk that Jo is going to give you.

ROWLING
It is Professor Rowling to you two. You probably know me as J.K Rowling. I would like to correct the statement that Gorge said about this being boring. I am not the ghost, professor Bins. This pod cast is going to be about the stars

FRED
Such as my twin brother and myself

ROWLING
Well actually, I am also going to talk about some of the “stars”, to use the word loosely, that show up in my book series Harry Potter and stars in the night sky. Now let’s get on with the show. There are many great things to see in the night sky. I am going to start out by talking about Orion.

GEORGE
He is a great hunter

ROWLING
Yes he is. The star on his right shoulder, Betelgeuse is the second brightest star in the constellation, the brightest star is Rigle.

FRED
Rigel is the left knee

ROWLING
Correct and the left shoulder is the third brightest star in Orion, Bellatrix

FRED
Wait! What do you mean, Bellatrix? She was a death eater, not a star

ROWLING:
Bellatrix Lestrage was a Death Eater, but I was talking about the star Bellatrix. Bellatrix is the third brightest star in the constellation Orion and the 27th brightest in the night sky

FRED
Why did you give Bellatrix Lestrage the name Bellatrix?

ROWLING
Well, Orion is the great hunger, which most people think of as male, in Latin Bellatrix means female warrior

GEORGE
Wait I got it, you chose the name Bellatrix because Bellatrix Lestrage was one of the few female warriors for Voldemort

ROWLING
That is correct George. Bellatrix Lestrage is the only female death eater so I named her Bellatrix, after the star that represents a female in the male constellation Orion. Another think I would like to talk about is the constellation Canis Major

GEORGE
What is Canis Major suppose to be?

FRED
Is it a dog?

ROWLING
Yes it is Fred. It is hard to see in the night sky. In Latin Canis means dog and major means big. There is also a Canis Minor, which is a small dog.

FRED
Aren’t there also an Ursa Major and an Ursa Minor constellation?

ROWLING
Yes there is an Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but we are sadly not going to be able to talk about them tonight. I would like to talk about one star in particular in Canis Major. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Actually it is not one star but a binary star system. The Sirius system is a variable binary start system with Sirius A and Sirius B orbiting each other.

FRED
That is all interesting but why did you name Sirius Black after the star Sirius?

ROWLING
The main reason is that Canis Major is a dog and Sirius is often called the Dog Star so…

GEORGE
That makes since because Sirius Black’s Anamagus was a dog so you named him after the Dog Star

ROWLING
That is correct. Since Sirius black was able to change into a dog, I named him after the Dog Star. If you look north from Canis Major you can see some other interesting constellations.

FRED
I know Ursa Major is up there

GEORGE
And so is the little dipper

ROWLING
And Draco is too.

GEORGE
Draco Malfoy is not up there

ROWLING
I know that, I was talking about the constellation Draco. I am going to tell you some interesting things about Draco

GEORGE
Well what I know about him is that he is a rich snob,

FRED
A spoiled git

GEORGE
A wimp

FRED
a…

ROWLING
Boys we are not talking about the person Draco Malfoy but the constellation Draco. The constellation is near the two dippers. It takes the shape of a dragon.

FRED
I think I learned that the cat’s eye nebula was in the constellation Draco

ROWLING
Wow, Fred you mush has actually paid attention in astronomy occasionally because that is correct. The cat’s eye nebula is located by the dragon’s neck. You boys are probably wondering why I named Draco Malfoy after the constellation. About five thousand years ago the star Thuba, one of the stars in Draco, was the North Star.

FRED
I though that Polaris was the North Star

ROWLING
Polaris is the current North Star but five thousand years ago thuban was the North Star. The star that points north has changed over the last twenty five thousand years. This is because the earth has axial precession

GEROGE
What does that mean?

ROWLING
The earth has axial precession which means that the earth rotates around its axis like a gyroscope or top. The axle spins in a circle. It takes a very long time for the axel to make it all the way around the circle. Five thousand years ago the North Star was not Polaris but thuban. The Egyptians that that everything revolved around Draco because when you look into the night sky everything revolved around the north start.

FRED
So like the Egyptians thought about the constellation of Draco, Draco Malfoy’s parents thought everything revolved around him.

ROWLING
Right Fred. The next character I am going to talk about is Regulus Arcturus Black. Do you remember him?

GEORGE
Not really

ROWLING
Do you recognize RAB?

FRED
I over heard Hermione, Ron and harry trying to figure out who RAB was.

ROWLING
The summer after their sixth year I had them trying to figure out who RAB was.

FRED
Did they ever figure it out?

ROWLING
Harry, Ron and Hermione figured out who RAB was during their hunt for horcruxes. RAB was Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius Black’s younger brother.

GEORGE
So what did you name Regulus Black after?

ROWLING
I named him after the stars Regulus and Arcturus.

FRED
What constellation are those stars in?

ROWLING.
Well Regulus is in the constellation Leo. In Latin Regulus means little king. Regulus’s parents treated him like the king of the family.

GEORGE
Ok that makes since but what about Arcturus

ROWLING
Hang on to that question for a second. A really cool thing about the star Regulus is that it is a multi star system consisting for four stars, two binary star systems. Now onto Arcturus. Arcturus is a star in the constellation Bootes. Bootes is the herdsman. [Arcturus is known as the watcher. Regulus Black watched over the house elf Kreacher. When the Dark Lord was going to hurt Kreacher Regulus Black watched over Kreacher and made sure that Kreacher was safe and he was willing to risk his own life for Kreacher’s even though Kreacher was a house elf and the average witch or wizard did not care about house elves.

FRED
Are there any more characters that are names after stars and constellations?

ROWLING
There are a couple but time is sadly running short so I would like to thank you for listening and to Bev for letting me talk to you guys.

Transition music

BEV
I hope you all enjoyed that. I am not Fred Weasley, George Weasley or J.K. Rowling. None of this show is in any way related to Warner Brothers, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling herself, or any other part of the Harry Potter franchise. I am just a fan who enjoys talking about Harry Potter. Thought out this show what J.K. Rowling said is just what I think she would have said to these questions not anything that she has actually said. I hope you enjoyed this show as much as I did. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at bev.levene@gmail.com.

I would like to thank Sally helping me and thanks for listening.

End of podcast:

365 Days of Astronomy
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