Solunaria
Solunaria
The solunarium is a wizarding device for studying the heavens. The full scale device is akin to the camera obscura
popular in victorian times (but is thought to have dated back to the dark ages). Instead of projecting an image of the surrounding countryside the Solunarium projects an image of the heavens. In particular wizards use this to study the sun and the moon. These bodies are important in magic because of their general influence on the flow of magic; who hasn’t felt the magical qualities of a bright full-moon.
The solunarium in Old Beck House was built by the house’s previous owner Geoffrey Nutter (a wizard theoretician specialising in obscure opto-magical phenomena) and a non-wizard normal, Albert Pyke (a gifted optician and manufacturer of custom lenses and mirrors). Albert knows about the wizarding world because his son was born as a spontaneous wizard. The wizarding council is unaware of its existence.
The solunarium is an optical instrument which can be controlled by magic. As its use involves the control of hundreds of mirrors and lenses a particularly powerful and adept wizard is needed to direct and focus the instrument on the skies.The solunarium appears in The Crystal Entanglement and is a central location in the plot which allows the Phoenix to discover the limits and uses of power.
The solunarium in Old Beck House was built by the house’s previous owner Geoffrey Nutter (a wizard theoretician specialising in obscure opto-magical phenomena) and a non-wizard normal, Albert Pyke (a gifted optician and manufacturer of custom lenses and mirrors). Albert knows about the wizarding world because his son was born as a spontaneous wizard. The wizarding council is unaware of its existence.
The solunarium is an optical instrument which can be controlled by magic. As its use involves the control of hundreds of mirrors and lenses a particularly powerful and adept wizard is needed to direct and focus the instrument on the skies.The solunarium appears in The Crystal Entanglement and is a central location in the plot which allows the Phoenix to discover the limits and uses of power.
However the non-magical Phoenix cannot control the full solunarium and so its use is limited to specific times of day (and night).
Albert solves this problem by creating a small portable solunarium which can be controlled by mechanical means. He also added a slow motion clockwork mechanism so that the portable solunarium, once focussed would track its target across the sky.
This solunarium doesn't work on the same principles as the full scale version but uses the concept of the mirascope; a double concave mirror that can create 3d illusions.