Astronomy

Astronomy is the one Hogwarts subject that keeps its students up past midnight on purpose: classes meet at night at the top of the Astronomy Tower, the castle's tallest, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone lists it among the classes every first year takes. Students study the stars and the movements of the planets through telescopes, learning the names of celestial bodies and charting their courses, with written work to match and star charts due at midnight sessions in the middle of the week. It is among the most traditional strands of magical education, a discipline wizards share with Muggle science in content if not in schedule, and its influence runs through wizarding culture, not least in a long habit of naming children after stars and constellations.