Wednesday, February 18, 2026

An update for week 8 of 2026 – history of astronomy, archaeoastronomy, Mercury occluded, defend Cuba, #CloseBases February 21st-23rd, Red Books Day, etc.

A waxing crescent Moon will occult Mercury February 18th, seen from Arizona to Georgia:  lunar-occultations.com  It will be partly visible from the Southern Hemisphere.  More to come.   


[petition near Sandy Creek Park in western Durhamwww.change.org/p/petition-to-city-council-to-revoke-rezoning-adjacent-to-sandy-creek-park ]


[Durham Creek Week 2026 will be March 14th-March 22nd, and there will probably be creek weekaround then in Orange, Chatham, and Wake counties, etc.; others are usually held in the summer or fall.


National Invasive Species Awareness Week 2026 (NISAWis February 23rd-27th:  naisma.org/programs/nisaw/ ]


[From Keep Durham Beautiful 



From Grand Trees of Chatham 



"Grand Trees of Chatham will lead a guided Winter Tree Hike on Sunday, March 1st at 1:30 pm at the White Pines Nature Preserve

  

Rouse Wilson will be our group leader.  Rouse has outstanding knowledge of the natural environment in White Pines and knows where all the special trees are located!  


There is no fee for the hike, but registration is required to participate. If you wish to join us, please send an e-mail to grandtreesofchatham [at] gmail com and you will receive a response confirming either that you are registered to hike or that you are on our waiting list.  As of now, there will be only one group of 15 individuals, so register early!    After we reach 15 registrations, subsequent requests will be placed on a waiting list and will be contacted if we receive cancellations.


The White Pines Nature Preserve is an outstanding hiking environment  with beautiful White Pines, Mountain Laurel, many hardwoods and steep, rocky slopes.  The Rocky River and Deep River meet at one end of the preserve.  It is managed by the Triangle Land Conservancy and we are grateful to them for preserving such a beautiful part of Chatham County and making it available to all of us for outdoor enjoyment!

 

The hike will be over moderate terrain with some steep areas and will take about 2 hours. Be sure to wear appropriate footwear.  Also, please note that there are no bathrooms at the White Pines preserve.  Regretfully, we cannot allow our furry friends on the hike as they can be disruptive to others. 


Here is additional information about the White Pines Nature Preserve, including a map and its exact location:  https://www.triangleland.org/explore/nature-preserves/white-pines-nature-preserve

Parking is in the large gravel lot just off to the left as you enter the preserve.  This parking lot is where the group will meet.  Please do not go back to the end of the entry road as there isn't enough room there for parking.  

  

If we must cancel the hike because of adverse weather conditions, we will e-mail those who have signed up.  Hopefully we will be able to reschedule.  If you need to cancel for any reason, please send an e-mail to grandtreesofchatham [...] so we can bring in others from our wait list.

 

'Hoping that you will join us for a grand hike through a beautiful forest!

 

JC Garbutt 🌳

Grand Trees of Chatham" [



[From 7 Directions of Service


  • SAT FEB 21  Charlotte Rights of Nature Information Session – register
  • SUN FEB 22  Charlotte Tabling at Patagonia
  • SUN MAR 8 – Communities Over Corporate Profits Part 2: How We Win – Durham Central Park
  • WED MAR 18 – Rights of Nature for Faith Communities Workshop – register
  • SAT APR 11-12 – Second Annual Southeastern Indigenous Environmental Conference 2026 – register ]









The 2026 Global Days of Action to #CloseBases will be February 21st-23rd:  daytoclosebases.org


On the US prison camp/military base at Gitmo, taken from Cuba:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2018/02/awtwns-ode-to-sea-art-from-guantanamo.html


The Guantanamo Survivors Fund:  gsfund.org



PSLThe People's Forum, the Hatuey Project, etc. are collecting tax-deductible donations to send medicinessolar power equipment, etc. to Cuba athe Trump-Vance intensify the economic (and covert?) war against the country.  


While NPR is pushing every day for near-future "regime change" and war in several countries, working with the Trump administration they portray as a great threat to US "democracy," maybe even admitting that the American people, or many of them, don't want yet more US wars, PBS NCfor whatever reason, happened to just rebroadcast Rick Steve's old pro-peace Iran travel program and The Volunteer (?), in which a Japanese-American veteran in California says that black fellow soldier in Mississippi (?) saved his life during the Vietnam War, by keeping other soldiers from throwing him out of an aircraft during a medical evacuation (and so admitting that killing prisonerand doing so by tossing them out of aircraft was routine for US forces during the War).  [Unidentified Vietnamese prisoners,  accused of – ? , were thrown out that day.  The Japanese-American soldier was injured or ill and was probably thought to be another captive to kill.]  On the other hand, PBS NC has also been broadcasting a documentary on the US Bay of Pigs operation against Cuba (told by a few Cuban exiles only, and without mention of the CIA, etc.?in 2026.  [An article relating to Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell in the current (?; February 19th?) issue of the London Review of Books ties operations in Afghanistan under Obama and the "Zero Units" to the Vietnam War's Phoenix program, etc.]  [There was another 'Machadoist' day of action to call for an unprovoked US war of aggression against Iran (to again re-install shah, for Israel?) around mid-February.] [Robert Kagan ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan ), the spouse of Victoria Nuland, was on on NPR's Fresh Air a few weeks ago, to say that US "democracy" has ended (!) or something; NPR really seems to have leaned into its 'Dick Cheney Democrat,' neoconservative "supply side" and warmongering inclinations in recent months (meaning that the Democratic  Party has decided to become the new Republican Party, since Trump-Vance Republicans have abandoned many of the mainline Republican Party's old orthodoxies, other than the general warmongering?).] [I heard a headline on February 20th that North Carolina might somehow end up having the first presidential primary of 2028, after the primary schedule was re-engineered to benefit Biden few years ago.]


cpcml.ca/TML2026/T56004.HTM


www.letcubalive.info 


acere.org/diplomacy2026/


www.letcubaplay.com/


There will be a Week of Action in Defense of Cuba March 8th-15th. 


[ nepajac.org/Cubablockadestatement.html ]


["Cuba & Venezuela in Crisis," organized by CovertAction Magazine, will be February 24th at 7pm EST:  funraise.org/give/CovertAction-Institute-Inc./1f56c60a-906d-4818-8703-992586c02ed9/?mc_cid=4aa287558e&mc_eid=9a86d4653a ]



www.solidaritycollective.org/2026speakertour


www.solidaritycollective.org/upcoming-delegations


["Delegation to Cuba: March 19–24, 2026" – "INTEREST FORM - IFCO U.S. Community & Faith Leaders - Nuestra America Convoy" – docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJYEF70vH42Pp84eNvO4_eFlsDu3gaOBGuKiZe5SKWRPozQw/viewform?pli=1


IFCO Pastors for Peace is organizing a National Education and Fundraising Campaign with the theme “Many Movements, One Struggle: From ICE to Blockades;" contact education [at] ifconews [ ] org to join the effort.


ifconews.org/donate


From Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission – "McGovern Introduces New Bill To Repeal U.S. Embargo Against Cuba / Rejects Six Decades of Failed Foreign Policy in Favor of Using Diplomacy & Engagement to Promote Democracy & Freedom" February 12th – mcgovern.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400314 ]


[ www.cpbml.org.uk/news/memoirs-british-communist



[February 6th "No Work for War" – www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbifQZYb3ow&t=119s


Nicolas Maduro Guerra video appeal:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfHNsfJ1gV8&t=21s ]


[Mumia Abu-Jamal's statement:  www.youtube.com/shorts/kw7_8ItPtns ]




[Emergency Call to Action for Iran – " If there is a U.S. attack on Iran, we call for unified and immediate EMERGENCY RESPONSE ACTIONS across the United States and beyond." – unac.notowar.net/emergency-call-to-action-for-iran/


Resist U.S. Led War – "U.S. Hybrid War Against Iran and What It Means for the Iranian People," part 1 –    www.resistusledwarmovement.com/uploads/1/1/0/0/110020547/iran_hybrid_warfare_weapons_watch-1.pdf 


A webinar March 1st:  www.eventbrite.ca/e/from-minneapolis-to-tehran-the-rotting-of-us-imperialism-tickets-1983671729542?aff=erelexpmlt ]


["CWPJN Webinar - US/Israel/Canada: Hands Off Iran!" – February 26th at 7pm EST:  us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FmTwIHZBTdGFfrMqUQqGDw#/registration 




Red Books Day 2026 is February 21st – www.instagram.com/p/DUMeJRejJlN/


[Bob Sheldon Day is also February 21st (commemorating 1991) – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalist_Books#Bob_Sheldon ]




[Jesse Louis Jackson (born Burns; October 8, 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina – February 17, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson ]


[February 23rd WRAL reported that a man from Moore County, North Carolina had been killed at President Trump's resort in Florida and government agents were searching a secluded homesite in a forested area in Moore County, which is southwest of Durham, south oChatham County, and bordering Fort Bragg.]    


[The 2026 primary election in North Carolina will be March 3rd (early voting is February 12-28th).]  


[US Tax Day 2026 in the is April 15th, according to WRAL.]



["Celebrating the Revolutionary Contributions of Michael Parenti" – www.eventbrite.ca/e/celebrating-the-revolutionary-contributions-of-michael-parenti-tickets-1982713482399  Michael John Parenti (September 30, 1933 in New York City – January 24, 2026 in Amherst, Massachusetts):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parenti ]






Some links from the interesting HASTRO history of astronomy listserve to check, and some otherssome othis has been edited slightly and most or all othe brackets were added by the originaauthors



[ www.cpbml.org.uk/news/roman-empire-and-religious-power ]


www.gob.pe/institucion/cultura/noticias/1296369-ministerio-de-cultura-historico-hallazgo-en-chankillo-redefine-los-origenes-de-la-astronomia-andina 


archaeologymag.com/2025/11/the-americas-earliest-known-observatory-in-peru/ 


jqjacobs.net/peru/chankillo.html 


The Sechín Alto Complex in the Pre-Hispanic Central Andes –jqjacobs.net/andes/images/latitude_sechin.jpg  


www.brepolsonline.net/doi/pdf/10.1484/J.JUA.5.133456  Casma-Sechin Archaeogeodesy


jqjacobs.net/andes/sechin.html


www.jqjacobs.net/andes/kml/sechin.kml 


"Scientists Reveal How The Maya Predicted Eclipses For Centuries" – 

www.sciencealert.com/scientists-reveal-how-the-maya-predicted-eclipses-for-centuries 


"The design and reconstructible history of the Mayan eclipse table of the Dresden Codex" (Science Advances, 10/22/25)  


Einstein and Darwin:  literaryyard.com/2025/11/09/with-einstein-and-darwin/


Two Egyptian Kings, Shepseskaf and Userkaf, and a solar eclipse (2471 BC)

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

arxiv.org/pdf/2412.20407


Updike, John, ‘The Accelerating Expansion of the Universe,’’ Harper’s Magazine, October

2004, pages 71-76.


solar-center.stanford.edu/activities/jeff/Updike,Expanding%20Universe.pdf


michelangelobuonarrotietornato.com/2021/04/20/lorologio-del-duomo-di-firenze


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Czech-2013-Prague-Astronomical_clock_face.jpg


www.cattedraledicremona.it/torrazzo-esterno


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Brescia_Orologio_Piazza_Loggia.jpg


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venice_clocktower_in_Piazza_San_Marco_%28torre_dell%27orologio%29_clockface.jpg


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padova_Piazza_dei_Signori_Torre_dell%27Orologio_Zifferblatt_1.jpg


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exeter_Cathedral_astronomical_clock.jpg


commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Padova_Piazza_dei_Signori_Torre_dell%27Orologio_Zifferblatt_1.jpg


www.bbc.com/future/article/20251114-historys-epic-theories-of-what-causes-aurora


www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/nov/16/spanish-armada-era-astrolabe-returns-to-scilly-after-mysterious-global-journey


arxiv.org/abs/2511.14809


Michael Lewis & Simon Portegies Zwart: The significance of Halley's Comet in the Bayeux Tapestry


www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt9039


brill.com/display/title/73276 Luís Ribeiro und Charles Burnett (editors), Astrologers at Work: Essays on the Practices and Techniques of Astrology in Memory of Helena Avelar


academia.edu/130002289/Galileo_and_the_Astrological_Prophecy_of_Manuel_Rosales


brill.com/display/title/73276?rskey=fd47EK&result=1


academia.edu/57168632/Galileos_first_trial


academia.edu/57168620/Galileos_astrology


academia.edu/129930699/Galileo_vs_1618s_Great_Comet_Fly_like_an_Eagle_


academia.edu/57168623/Galileo_and_the_new_star  Astronomy Now, Oct 1, 2004

        "Galileo's Astrology" a paper at the 2001 Eurosymposium on Galileo.

        The "Fly like and Eagle" Dio paper?


rutter-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Nautical-astrology-a-forgotten-early-modern-tradition.pdf


phys.org/news/2025-12-historical-geography-year-eclipse-mystery.html

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 12/2/25:


"Analyses of the Ancient Chinese Report on the Total Solar Eclipse in

709 BCE: Implications for the Contemporaneous Earth’s Rotation Speed

and Solar Cycles"


iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0461


"The Medieval Moon: A

History of Haunting and Blessing"


yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300278286/the-medieval-moon/


aeon.co/essays/what-the-moon-meant-to-medieval-christian-and-islamic-authors


And NYRB or LRB??


Liber de Motibus Planetarum Nothaft? – journals.uco.es/mediterranea/article/view/10774/9955


www.sciengine.com/JAHH/issue


ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022AN....34320017P/abstract


A new, illustrated catalogue of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese historical star maps by Nha Il-Seong and Nha Sarah (in Korean) has been published:


화려하게 부활 한 東洋 天文圖 / Masterpieces of the oriental star maps / Hwaryŏhage puhwal han Tongyang ch'ŏnmundo  An English edition is forthcoming?


stellarium, "Chinese Chenzhuo Sky (3rd Century)"


"Korean" – Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido



www.vaticanobservatory.org/sacred-space-astronomy/a-universe-of-earths-merry-christmas-to-me-and-thee/


www.vaticanobservatory.org/sacred-space-astronomy/busting-myths-in-a-universe-of-earths/


A Universe of Earths: Our Planet and Other Worlds, from Copernicus to NASA

Dennis Danielson, Christopher M Graney


academic.oup.com/book/61760


[There is an excerpt, "Lord Kelvin and Space Seeds," in the March 2026 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine.] 


"The 75th volume in the series 'Acta Historica Astronomia' was published
a week ago with the title 'Astronomie in der DDR. Studien, Essays und
Erinnerungen' ('Astronomy in the GDR. Studies, Essays and Memories').
The 18 contributions are written in German, each with an English
abstract."

The abstract:

"The contributions in this volume deal with the history of astronomical
research in the Soviet occupation zone and the German Democratic
Republic. After introducing the relevant institutes and universities,
three important research locations are discussed: Potsdam, Jena and
Dresden. A list of astronomical dissertations provides an overview of
the research topics. The essay on the political history of the German
Astronomical Society provides insight into German-German relations.

Furthermore, eight astronomers are presented who exemplify different
paths of development: Cuno Hoffmeister and Hans Kienle, who already had
an influence on astronomical research before 1945; the physicist Kurt
Mie, who worked in astronomy after returning from a forced stay in the
USSR; Otto Singer as a state-affiliated science organiser and
populariser of astronomy; Wolfgang Mattig as one of the young hopefuls
who left the GDR shortly before the Berlin Wall was built and helped
shape research in the Federal Republic; Karl-Heinz Schmidt as one of
those who had a decisive influence on astronomical research in a leading
position; and finally Georg Dautcourt and Rudolf Tschäpe, who resisted
political constraints. In addition, there are four recollections from
contemporary witnesses."

"Further information:


Title pages and Table of Contents:

Foreword by the editors:

Preprints by...:

"Astronomie in der SBZ und der DDR, 1945-1990 - Ueberblick und
Bibliographie [Astronomy in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR,
1945-1990 - overview and bibliography]

Dissertationen aus der SBZ/DDR in AstroGen
[PhD theses from the SBZ/GDR in AstroGen]

Der Physiker Kurt Mie (1900-1974) am Astrophysikalischen Observatorium
Potsdam [Physicist Kurt Mie (1900-1974) at the Potsdam Astrophysical
Observatory]

Otto Singer (1915-1977)


theconversation.com/science-has-always-been-marketed-from-18th-century-coffeehouse-demos-of-newtons-ideas-to-todays-tiktok-explainers-267707


Ancient World Magazine, 1/7/26:

"The Heavenly Antinous"

www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/heavenly-antinous-lost-constellation-almagest/


On the constellation:  penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/ALLSTA/Antinous*.html


History of Astronomy from the Collection of Jay M. Pasachoff – to be auctioned by Christies –  onlineonly.christies.com/s/fine-printed-books-manuscripts-including-americana/lots/3766?COSID=43886776&cid=ms:eml%7Cst:mkt%7Cmi:3b40e069-8b34-4ac0-bd75-94cfff6b7989&bid=


Seventh-Century Greek Wine Cup Revealed as Ancient Star Map – greekreporter.com/2026/02/10/7th-century-greek-wine-cup-ancient-star-map/ and www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.83.2.0257 ?


research-portal.uu.nl/en/publications/instrumental-practices-in-seventeenth-century-optics/


On sighting tubes – ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1954C%26T....70..175M/abstract


www.forbiddenhistories.com/2018/05/astronomy-and-astrology/


Astronomia Danica – archive.org/details/astronomiadanica00long/page/41/mode/1up


"Eclipse Calendar for the Year 1676 by the mathematics and physics professor Johann Christoph Sturm (1635–1703)" 


"Greenbaum, Dorian Gieseler
(ed.), ‘Kepler’s
Astrology’,*Culture and Cosmos* Vol. 14 no 1 and 2, Spring/Summer and
Autumn/Winter 2010.

Free to download at https://www.cultureandcosmos.org/issues/vol14.php "


The Dark side of Isaac Newton by Nick Kollerstrom


The Enchantement of Urania: 25 Centuries of Exploration of the Sky by
Massimo Capaccioli (World Scientific), 2024, ISBN 978-981-124-777-4


"Isidore of Seville, *The Etymologies*, trans.
Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach and Oliver Berghof (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2007), III.xxiv-xxvii"


Secrets of Alchemy by Lawrence M. Principe (University of Chicago Press, 2013)

Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science by Philip Ball (Yale University Press, 2025)

Alchemy Tried by Fire: Starky, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chemistry by Lawrence M Principe and William R Newman (University of Chicago Press, 2002)

Also by William R Newman:  Newton the Alchemist: Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's Secret Fire (Princeton University Press, 2018). 

Cultural History of Chemistry Volumes 1–6 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025)


"Norris, Ray and M. Norris, 'Why are there Seven Sisters?' (Advancing
Cultural Astronomy
, 2021)

Abstract:

'There are two puzzles surrounding the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters.
First, why are the mythological stories surrounding them, typically
involving seven young girls being chased by a man associated with the
constellation Orion, so similar in vastly separated cultures, such as
the Australian Aboriginal cultures and Greek mythology? Second, why do
most cultures call them 'Seven Sisters' even though most people with
good eyesight see only six stars? Here we show that both these puzzles
may be explained by a combination of the great antiquity of the
stories combined with the proper motion of the stars, and that these
stories may predate the departure of most modern humans out of Africa
around 100,000 BC.'

Limited access:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_11 [ or link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6 , 
arxiv.org/abs/2101.09170 and gwern.net/doc/history/2021-norris-2.pdf ?


The full article can be read here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0zgle7u0ynba2dl3jxxdl/sevensisters.pdf?rlkey=jbpxcdaj83ugsjxukkrm0gh57&e=2 "


www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/236 and www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFour.php#anchor_Toc69367846


www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphaiPleiades.html


By Lorenzo Verderame, regarding Mesopotamia:  www.maajournal.com/index.php/maa/article/view/752


By Maria Teresa Renzi-Sepe:  www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/The_Perception_of_the_Pleiades_in_Mesopotamian_Culture/title_7320.ahtml ?


Beyond the Blue Horizon:  Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets by E.C. Krupp, 1991 (New York: HarperCollins)


"Blue-Seven Phenomenon" – ?


From Phillip Helbig:


Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad verse 1.7 – अथ किमेतैर्वान्यानां शोषणं महार्णवानां शिखरिणां प्रपतनं ध्रुवस्य प्रचलनं स्थानं वा तरूणां निमज्जनं पृथिव्याः स्थानादपसरणं सुराणं सोऽहमित्येतद्विधेऽस्मिन्संसारे किं कामोपभोगैर्यैरेवाश्रितस्यासकृदिहावर्तनं दृश्यत इत्युद्धर्तुमर्हसीत्यन्धोदपानस्थो भेक इवाहमस्मिन्संसारे भगवंस्त्वं नो गतिस्त्वं नो गतिः


"Translation:


Furthermore, what is the point of these or other things—the drying up of the great oceans, the crumbling of the mountain peaks, the shaking of the pole star, the uprooting of trees, the submerging of the earth, or the displacement of the gods from their positions? In such a world as this, I am as I am; what use are the enjoyments of desire, through which one is seen to return to this existence repeatedly? You should lift me up, for I am like a frog in a blind well within this cycle of rebirth. O Lord, you are our refuge, you are our final resort.


"There is a statement in Mahabharata 6.2.31 which talks about Vashishta (Mizar) and Arundhati (Alcor): या चैषा विश्रुता राजंस्त्रैलोके साधुसंमता


अरुन्धती तयाप्येष वसिष्ठः पृष्टः कृतः


Translation:  And, O king, she who is praised in the three worlds and esteemed highly by the Sādhus, Arundhatī, she has even taken [her husband] Vasiṣṭha on her back.


[In this verse an unusual situation is being pointed out whereby normally Vasistha is ahead of Arundhati but here the opposite is happening]


Between 11088BC and 4509 BC the Right Ascension of Arundhati [Alcor] was greater than that of Vasiṣṭha [Mizar]."


Ammarell, G. and Tsing, A.L. (2015):  "Cultural Production of Skylore in
Indonesia." 
–  Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, edited by Clive Ruggles; Springer, pp. 2207-2214.


link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_236


Paul Kunitzsch and Manfred Ullmann, 1992, "on the role of the Pleiades in Arabic poetry" –

www.zobodat.at/publikation_volumes.php?id=56408


On the Pleiades and the Hyades – "OVID TRISTIΑ BOOK I THE TEXT REVISED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY S. G. OWEN, B.A. (1885). United Kingdom: Clarendon Press."  – page 100


A new issue of The Observatorywww.obsmag.org/issues/published/2026/02/

Including:

1:  Gustav Holmberg: The 1946 Outburst of T CrB Observed from Stockholm
    Observatory

3: Ian Ridpath: Who Named the Stars of the Pleiades?

43: Book review: David H. DeVorkin: From the Laboratory to the Moon: The
    Quiet Genius of George R. Carruthers (review by Robert Connon Smith)

46: Book review: A. E. L. Davis, J. V. Field & T. J. Mahoney: Reading
    the Mind of God: Johannes Kepler and the Reform of Astronomy (review
    by Barry Kent)


Smithsonian Magazine, 2/3/26:


"Medieval Monks Wrote Over a Copy of an Ancient Star Catalog.  Now, a Particle Accelerator Is Revealing the Long-Lost Original Text" – 


www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-monks-wrote-over-a-copy-of-an-ancient-star-catalog-now-a-particle-accelerator-is-revealing-the-long-lost-original-text-180988123/


journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00218286221128289


journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00218286241256345


ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025JHA....56..287G/abstract


link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-18683-8 , page 187


The Burunh Program (at Australia's University of Melbourne):  www.burunh.org


www.burunh.org/seminars


theconversation.com/for-40-you-can-name-a-star-for-your-valentine-but-it-wont-mean-much-274742



WGSN:  exopla.net/star-names/best-practise-for-star-names/


exopla.net/star-names/wgsn-guidelines/


scilogs.spektrum.de/uhura-uraniae/astronomers-valentine-2/


The IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach (OAO):  iauoutreach.org/rules-to-name-a-star


IAU-Catalog of Star Names (CSN):  exopla.net/star-names/modern-iau-star-names/


Julio Samso Moya, a historian of Islamic and medieval astronomy, passed away February 13, 2026.


The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar (but there is a fee?) – www.abramsplanetarium.org/SkyCalendar/


Search for "Gaston Ripert meteorite Chinguetti Mauretania"


Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5:315-331, when Typhon came upon the Greek gods


A new issue of e-News, from the Society for the History of Astronomy (SHA) (in the UK):  societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/SHA-eNews-2026-01.pdf


Past issues:  societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com/the-e-news/


PhysOrg, 12/31/25:


"Wind-battered Lick Observatory rushes to shield historic telescope

after dome damage"


phys.org/news/2025-12-battered-observatory-shield-historic-telescope.html


www.lickobservatory.org/gifts/update-on-storm-damage-at-lick-observatory/


www.facebook.com/LickObservatory 


The director of the University of California Observatories:  bsky.app/profile/bmacastro.bsky.social 






thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-myths-and-lore-of-the-milky-way/


thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/sky-gazing-on-mars/


troubledminds.substack.com/p/the-old-stories-remember-when-myth  


See also – Elizabeth Wayland Barber ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Wayland_Barber ) and Paul T Barber's When They Severed Earth from Sky:  How the Human Mind Shapes Myth (2004-2005)? – library.unc.edu/find/?q="When+they+severed+earth+from+sky+%3A+how+the+human+mind..."


troubledminds.substack.com/p/what-else-the-old-stories-remember


www.farmersalmanac.com/fond-farewell-from-farmers-almanac


tannerfboyle.substack.com/p/25-gnome-7-epstein-incidentally ]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Radin


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho-Chunk_mythology


hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.Radin@APS.html


? – web.archive.org/web/20070103031700/http://www.tcinternet.net/users/cbailey/RedHorn.html


? – hotcakencyclopedia.com


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Horn


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex


www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SP012


In far eastern Oklahoma – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Mounds


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddoan_Mississippian_culture


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddo


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawnee_people


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_people


A chiefdom in Georgia – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocute


A chiefdom in South Carolina – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cofitachequi


In Mount Gilead, in Montgomery County, North Carolina – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Creek_Indian_Mound


A chiefdom in Burke County, North Carolina – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joara


A chiefdom in Georgia – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coosa_chiefdom


Near Natchez, Mississippi – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_people


Near Macon, Georgia – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocmulgee_Mounds_National_Historical_Park


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_mounds_and_village_site


Near Blakely, in southwestern Georgia, near the border with Alabama – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolomoki_Mounds


Etowah in northern Georgia – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etowah_Indian_Mounds


Near Tuscaloosa, Alabama – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moundville_Archaeological_Site


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moundville_phase


Cahokia in East Saint Louis, Illinois – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia


In northern Louisiana – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_Point


The Weeden Island site, near Tampa and Pinellas Park in Florida – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeden_Island_culture


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachua_culture


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alachua_County,_Florida


? – web.archive.org/web/20180422202841/


www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/m_sites.html


www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/m_beliefs.html


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_stone_statuary


[In southeastern Wisconsin:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztalan_State_Park ]


From Wikipedia:


Dampier, Bennett Harrison. THE MOTH AND THE MOONFLOWER:  DATURA AND HAWK MOTH ICONOGRAPHY ACROSS ANCIENT AMERICA, Texas State University, 2022.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datura_stramonium


2022 Romain, William F., and Edward W. Herrmann.  An Archaeoastronomic Assessment of Angel Mounds, Indiana, with Commentary on Moundville, Alabama, and Cahokia, Illinois. Midcontinental Journal of  Archaeology (2022)


UNC professors Steponaitis Vincas P., and C. Margaret Scarry, eds. Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland ; etc.


In Moundsville, in northern West Virginia (an Adena site?) – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Creek_Mound