lupin and his transformations...

[Sherry Garfio <sgarfio@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48911

Sorry for the late reply and slight OT-ishness; I'm quite far behind
in reading the recent posts.

bboy_mn wrote:
<SNIP>
> As far as transforming only at night (back to the original question), 
> I would like to point out that, for those who are very observant, you 
> will have noticed that the moon is sometimes visible in the late 
> afternoon in broad daylight. Although, I couldn't swear to the fact 
> that it's ever full at this time.


No, it's never full at this time.  The moon's light is reflected
sunlight, and its phases are caused by changes in the angle between
sun and moon as the moon orbits the Earth.  Sometimes the half of the
moon that is lit by the sun is not facing us, or is only partially
facing us, and we see anything from a sliver to a nearly full circle.
 In order for the moon to appear full from Earth, it must be directly
opposite the sun, with Earth in between, so that the half that is lit
by the sun is facing us full on.  When the moon is visible during the
day, its position in the sky is near the sun, so the sun illuminates
it from the side and creates a half moon that will continue to be
visible for several hours after sunset.  When the moon is full, it
rises just as the sun sets and sets just as the sun rises.  A diagram
would be helpful here (better yet, a basketball and a flashlight), but
alas, this is text only.  Here's a link to a decent (albeit fairly
technical) description and diagram:

http://www.astronomynotes.com/nakedeye/s13.htm

and an animated diagram is available here (Java-enabled browser required):

http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/java/MoonPhase.html

Of course, this proves only that the full moon can't be in the sky
during the day.  It doesn't say anything about whether Lupin stays
transformed during the day.  I don't recall the kids ever seeing him
on the days that Snape takes his classes.  They ask where he is, and
Snape tells them he is ill, leading them to put this together with the
potion Snape gives him and conclude that Snape is poisoning Lupin.  I
assumed that Lupin was still curled up in his office in harmless wolf
form with the help of the wolfsbane potion.  After all, the moon is
still full, it's just not visible from Hogwarts.

If you want to get astronomical about it (you all know by now that I'm
a geek, no sense in trying to hide it), the thing that triggers a
werewolf's transformation could be the opposition of the sun and moon,
rather than the light of the full moon per se.  There are actual
gravitational effects associated with this, which is what causes the
tides.  These effects are present both day and night, because during
the day at full moon, the moon is on the other side of the Earth from
us, pulling away from the sun.  I assume the lore developed from very
old superstitions about the full moon, long before any of this was
well understood, but it is true that weird things happen during the
full moon.  There could well be an astronomical explanation.

Sherry