Cosmic Elk

science, history and the history of science

Time, Space, Siberia, and Tudor bastards

Links
News from the Cosmic Elk.
Time Before Clocks
How they built the iconic Westminster Clock the amazing story.
Hampton Court Clock The story of the astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace. Full details are in Inside the Hampton Court Clock.
Tudor Bastard More information with full references in this book
King Edward VI's Defence of Astronomy
Lady Jane Grey's Clocks
Asteroids - their history the discoveries of small bodies orbiting the sun and exoplanets planets orbiting other stars.
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 the geology and early history
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
Japan attacks Russia
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.
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.
Ulughbek
Astronomy in the 17th century The impact of the telescope new observatories France, China and other places.
Harrison More on John Harrison and the Problem of Longitude in this book which also has information on Harrison's scientific work.
astronomy in the 18th century drinking song fuzzy blobs
space travel - its history
astronomy in the 19th to 21st centuries red shift and big bang problems with Big Bang and dark matter.
observing from back garden also down under and other places
websites by cosmicelk include: Mary Gordon Electric Boat. Has about the early electric batteries used for transport and for the first really effective submarines. Rotary Club of Lincoln Colonia
Galaxy Zoo: join in classifying the galaxies
astronomy data including historical data
Observations can make from back garden
where is space station and other astronomy data
Space News from ESA
weather
traffic warnings
exact time
world time
Currency Converter
copyright information and other background info on The Cosmic Elk.
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

• 40 years since the first manned moon landing. This was at 4 in the morning, and having sat up all night to watch it, we then had to deal with the twins banging their cots as they wanted their breakfast.
  Unmanned probes have continued to be more scientifically effective at discovering more about our nearest neighbours. More about the Moon.

• Nearby red giant Betelgeuse may be about to turn supernova. According to observations over many years by Nobel Prize winner charles Townes and colleagues. They have discovered that over the past 15 years, the star has shrunk by 15 per cent. This could indicate that the red giant is now collapsing inside, which is the prelude to a supernova explosion. Not a lot we can do about it.
• Time Team update excavation results at Stonehenge. Confirms the alignment to the mid-winter solstice sunset as mentioned here - worked it out many years ago (it is so obvious though).
• More International Year of Astronomy Events.

• Kepler Conference.

• Hubble space telescope fixed.

• Far off gamma-burst detected - redshift of 8.2, which according to Big Bang theory was 13 billion years ago just 600 million years after Big Bang.

• 150 this year! How they built the iconic Westminster Clock, the amazing story. The only turret clock which was also built as a sewer ventilation shaft.

• Teddies and some less sweet cosmonaut customs

• 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, as even in the shorter crossings, the seas was infested with hungry sharks and crocodiles, toxic jellyfish, sudden violent storms and strong currents. And they must have had developed some way of finding their way to another shore.

• Revelations from Messenger - the first probe to Mercury for thirty years. More on Mercury and its history.
• 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 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• New Horizons probe well on its way to Pluto (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 small 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.
• 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
  • Chukchi Directions
  • Directions of Time and Space
  • mammoth hunters astronomy and World-Surveyor-Man and in
  • Time Before Clocks.
  • Shamans and Time - - Siberian shamanism is a survival of the beliefs and techniques which led to our modern methods and ideas in astronomy from the iron age

  Tudors popular again!

  • And 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 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.

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

  Link to Amazon

  By Heather Hobden.

  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:

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

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

  Link to Amazon

  By Heather Hobden.

  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.

  • 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)

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  John Harrison and the Problem of Longitude
  ISBN 978-1-871443-25-7

  Link to Amazon

  By Heather and Mervyn Hobden.

  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.

  Mervyn Hobden also gives talks on Harrison's scientific achievements and is to add more information on Harrison's scientific work in a new edition of this book.

  Additional information from:

  • 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

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

  by Heather Hobden

  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 eventually as a book. Meanwhile the story is being built up on the website. Helpful feedback, links, information, etc. is always 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
  • Japan attacks Russia and Wins
  • Tunguska event
  • from first world war on to present

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  enquiries, information and feedback always welcome, you can contact us at post@cosmicelk.net

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  The Cosmicelk website is designed and maintained by Heather Hobden

  The Cosmic Elk

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