Cosmic Elk

science, history and the history of science

Time, Space, Siberia, and Tudor bastards

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News from the Cosmic Elk.
About the Cosmic Elk.
Small planets in our solar system exoplanets planets in other solar systems.
Mercury - its history - its transit Messenger
Venus - its history - its transit Venus Express
Mars - its history latest updates
Jupiter - its history latest updates
Saturn - its history and Cassini updates
Uranus - its history
Neptune - its history
Siberia
History of Siberia Part One
mammoth hunters and World-Surveyor-Man
bronze and iron age civilizations from Siberia
Medieval Siberian Invaders Evenk and others.
Continues with the invasion from the west.
16th century Yakutia and the origin of the Sakha
17th century Yakutia and the Russian Invasion
Yakutia in the 18th century - the explorers - part one
Yakutia in the 18th century - the explorers - part two
Russian America 18th and 19th centuries
Yakutia1820 to 1890 extreme tourism
Siberia 1890-1912 and a British gold mine starts a revolution
Tunguska event As seen by shamans and scientists
Siberia - especially Yakutia, from the start of the first world war on to present.
Time Before Clocks
The Bear and Seasons
The Moon
The Moon and Calendars
Origins of modern calendar
Directions of Time and feng shui origins
Chukchi Directions
Stonehenge and Winter Solstice
Spring Equinox
Shamans and Time
The Cosmic Mill Early views of the rotation of the northern stars.
More Iron Age astronomy-the mathematicians.
The Ptolemy Effect Medieval astronomy.
Astronomy in the 17th century The impact of the telescope new observatories France, China and Thailand.
astronomy in the 18th century drinking song fuzzy blobs
space travel - its history
astronomy in the 19th to 21st centuries red shift big bang problems with Big Bang and dark matter.
Ulughbek
Hampton Court Clock
Tudor Bastard
King Edward VI's Defence of Astronomy
Lady Jane Grey's Clocks
Harrison and Longitude
Lincs BHI
Mary Gordon Electric Boat
science and history around Lincoln
information on us books and websites
back garden observing plus other side of the sky at last!
Global Warming as revealed by History
astronomy data including historical data
where is space station and other astronomy data
Space News from ESA
Sun's flares live from SOHO
weather
traffic warnings
exact time in Lincoln
world time
What's On TV
Currency Converter
About the name Cosmic Elk
copyright information
Link to us, link to you.
contact us
The Cosmic Elk does not send spam unauthorized use of the name Cosmic Elk or cosmicelk is an infringement of international copyright laws

News from the Cosmic Elk

• The history of astronomy goes back further in time than previously imagined. Early humans in South-East Asia, of at least two different species ancestral to to modern humans today, succeeded in travelling across open sea to islands in what is now Indonesia, and further to Australia. As much as a million years ago. Even in an ice-age, open seas wide enough to form a barrier to plants and animals divided islands like Flores from its neighbours, and the Australian continent from South-East Asia. These early voyagers would have had the technology to make sea-worthy boats - or they would have been eaten by sharks or crocodiles and never made it. And they must have had some way of finding their route since voyages were made and new settlements have been found since then. Have now been on fact-finding trips to Sydney and Wellington seen the Southern Cross, etc. and shall fill in this essential part of the history of astronomy and navigation on website and new book on early timekeeping.

• On June 11th 2008, the IAU announced a new category of dwarf planet - the Plutoid. Pluto and Eris are now Plutoids, but not their satellites and not Ceres which is not on the outside part of the solar system. More here.

• Before the Big Bang. More to be added to the cosmicelk webpage on cosmology from the 19th century to the present.
• More being discovered about Stonehenge.
• Most accurate clocks in the world.
• Stunning pictures from the Japanese Kaguya (Selene) of the Moon. More on this and the Moon from our Moon website.
• New revelations from Messenger - the first probe to Mercury for thirty years. More on Mercury and its history.
• Latest from Venus Express. More on Venus.
• The Cosmic Elk is also a dot.com - you can reach us on cosmicelk.com and cosmicelk.co.uk. The list at the side of this page gives details of the links to other parts of the cosmicelk website. You can see astronomy, the history of astronomy, the history of Siberia, some Tudor history, and useful links and contacts. Lots more on its way.
• 1970s probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which gave us the first close up views of the gas giants of our outer solar system have now left home, they have now both passed through the boundary dividing our solar system from inter-stellar space. You can find out more on our website and also about the search for planets around other stars.

• British space flight should not have been curtailed. See also New Report on Space Exploration and The British National Space Centre and also about Blue Streak - to see how damaging the government curtailment of the British space programme has been - leaving Britain which was ahead with technological innovation in the 1950s, with little involvement in the ISS and other projects now. Also Cosmicelk's still growing space flight website.
• More "out of Asia" evidence for early humans. And another early modern human who did not walk all the way from Africa.
• More evidence for early humans developing technology in the north.
• See black hole eat star.
• More Evidence Our Universe is one of many all squashed together? - see more about the universe on the cosmicelk website.
• A ring of dark matter has been found around a cluster of galaxies, as seen through the Hubble space telescope. New light on dark galaxies. More on the still mysterious dark matter in the universe.
• Big hole found in universe. More on finding the shape and size of universe.
• See New Horizons probe on its way to Pluto (already passed Jupiter) and other Kuiper objects (with our names on board). - When probe first planned, Pluto thought to be the only planet missed on the Voyager trips - now known, not only to have a huge moon Charon, and two more recently discovered but to be one of many planets far out in our solar system, many bigger than Pluto and many with their own moons. This led to discussions and disputes over the new definitions of planets. And to defining the new solar system.

• Recent measurements show universe older and bigger than previously thought. Hubble constant may not be so reliable as previously thought either. See also the last part of our series on the history of astronomy.
• New pictures keep coming from Mars. Mars was closest to us in 2003, than it had been for 60,000 years- the big red star in the sky must have impressed our Neandertal ancestors and led to stories which became part of our folklore.

• More early astronomy in
  • The Bear and Seasons
  • Directions of Time and Space
  • mammoth hunters astronomy and World-Surveyor-Man and in
  • Time Before Clocks.
• History of astronomy continues:
• Shamans and Time - continues into the iron age - Siberian shamanism is a survival of the beliefs and techniques which led to our modern methods and ideas in astronomy from the iron age
• - more astronomy in the Iron Age - continues with
• More Iron Age astronomy - the mathematicians which continues with
• The Ptolemy Effect. Medieval astronomy.
• Astronomy in the 17th century - the revolution caused by the telescope. .
• Astronomy in the 18th century. Continues from our book on John Harrison and the Problem of Longitude. This has the development of the telescope with acromatic lenses and reflectors, the astronomers drinking song and the discovery of fuzzy blobs.
• Continues on with the 19th century and the sudden expansion of perception of our universe with the discovery of the galaxies and new ideas on the shape and origin of the universe and the gamma bursters now being investigated by the Swift telescope.

• Tudors popular again. With so much original source material available no excuse for major historical errors. Some accurately researched history of this period in this small well referenced academic monograph .
• Some more Tudors - a clock collector - Lady Jane Grey better known as the "9 days Queen" nominated illegally by King Edward VI (also an amateur astronomer) as his successor. Jane asked for her clock collection to be sent to her in the Tower where she was imprisoned after the coup to put her on the throne failed.

• History of Siberia.
  • The hub page with references and a competition.
  • starts here.
    One of Earth's oldest continents. Includes the effect of the event nearly 700 million years ago on Venus - its history. The devasting extinction event 250 million years ago which began in Siberia. The two million years of human history - including some of the early finds at sites like Diring Yuryakh.
  • The story continues - mammoth hunters. Who invaded Europe.
  • bronze and iron age
    civilizations from Siberia more invaders into Europe
  • Medieval Siberian Invaders into Siberia
  • 16th century invaders including European.
  • 16th century Yakutia and the origin of the Sakha.
  • 17th century Yakutia and the Russian Invasion.
  • Great explorations of the 18th centuryand the effect on NE Siberia
  • The Billings expedition. Led by some members of Captain Cook's last expedition to explore the Pacific. Their observations on the land and people.
  • Russian America, the extension of Siberia across the Pacific.
  • Siberia 1820 to 1890 - extreme tourism
  • Siberia 1890 to 1912 - and trouble with gold.
  • Tunguska event.
  • from first world war on to present
  also
  • The Bear and Seasons
  • Directions of Time and Space
  • Chukchi Directions
  • More on the Governor of Chukotka and Chelsea Football.
  • The Moon and Calendars
  • Time Before Clocks
  • The Cosmic Mill
  • Shamans and Time

• About the Cosmic Elk.

• Books and booklets from The Cosmic Elk

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More information on books and booklets published by the Cosmic Elk

Inside the Hampton Court Clock. ISBN: 978-1-871443-14-1

By the author of the official guides to the astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace, this book contains the full information on the history of this famous clock much of which was not published in the official guide books. Including all those involved in the design, construction and maintenance, and the discovery of the hidden Tudor loo.

More information:

• Details of book.
• The Hampton Court Clock. - with links to other information and updates.
• More on this and other similar clocks.

Tudor Bastard: Henry VIII's son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and his mother Elizabeth Blount. ISBN: 978-1-871443-30-1

Henry Fitzroy was to die suddenly in mysterious circumstances, soon after Anne Boleyn's execution and just as an act was going through Parliament to enable the King to nominate him as the heir to the throne.

More information:

• Details of book.
• Earlier article on Elizabeth Blount.
• Henry Fitzroy is in this excellent Argentinian site on the English Royals.
• Sherriff Hutton where the Duke of Richmond spent his school-age years
• tomb(moved here from Thetford with other Howard tombs)

John Harrison and the Problem of Longitude

ISBN 978-1-871443-25-7

First published in 1988, and considerably expanded and updated since then to meet demand - with details of Harrison's scientific work, his home and work in Barrow-on-Humber, and the longitude problem. Based on orginal research and material by Mervyn Hobden, with Heather Hobden, their work has been much used as reference by writers, film and tv producers and others. The only book with details of Harrison's life and pioneering scientific work, in Barrow-on-Humber. With orginal research of Harrison's scientific work by Mervyn Hobden.

Further information. The tea-towel has sold out but Harrison CD-roms can be compiled for specialist use. Additional unpublished information is also shown in talks. Additional information from:

• Details of book.
• John Harrison. One of the web articles written by Heather Hobden.
• Larcum Kendall who made the copy (K.1) of Harrison's watch (H.4) that was used by Cook on his second and third voyages, and also made two other chronometers with an interesting history, K.2 and K.3.
• Work done by Charles Lucy on Harrison's musical scales.
• Robert Bray makes a clock based on Harrison's H.1

Siberia: land beyond time. ISBN 978-1-871443-16-5.

The turbulent history of this ancient and forgotten land, its great mineral wealth and rich cultural heritage. One of the oldest and the longest inhabited countries in the world, and possibly the source of modern civilization. To be published as a book. Meanwhile you can read the associated webpages with constantly updated information, additions and links. Helpful feedback is welcome.

• Siberia hub with the references and links - frequently updated and a competition.
• An introduction to the earliest history of Siberia and its origins as one of the first surviving continents on Earth.
• The Great Bear and the Seasons
• Time Before Clocks. Has more on time in Siberia.
• Siberian calendars and timekeeping included in this.
• Chukotka and the directions of time.
• More on the directions of time and space - includes significant directions in Yakutian cosmology and Evenk time-keeping.
• From ice-age mammoth-hunters and their legacy to iron age. Since it appears that the first modern Europeans came from Siberia some 40,000 years ago.
bronze and iron age
civilizations from Siberia. Again spreading to the West...
• Shamans and Time. Has more about the religion and the shamans.
• Medieval Siberian InvadersEvenk and others.
• Continues with the invasion from the west.
• 16th century Yakutia and the origin of the Sakha.
• 17th century Yakutia and the Russian Invasion.
• Yakutia in the 18th century Part One..
• Yakutia in the 18th century Part Two.The Billings Expedition.
• Russian America
• Siberia 1820 to 1890 - extreme tourism
• Siberia 1890 to 1912 - and trouble with gold
• Tunguska event
• from first world war on to present

Ulughbek and his Observatory in Samarkand. ISBN: 978-1-871443-18-9

Ulughbek was assassinated by religious extremists who razed his observatory to the ground. But his work on astronomy survived. As Ulughbek said in words that incensed the religious fanatics:"Religion disperses like a fog, kingdoms perish, but the works of scholars remain for an eternity."
The booklet was originally published as an article in Astronomy Now, August 1988. A short article for space.com edited by Gian Trotter for the American market, was published 17th October 2001, and was much quoted and referenced.

Details of this booklet.

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