Kev Lochun

2 days ago | skyatnightmagazine.com | Kev Lochun

Inferior planets are Solar System planets whose orbits lie between Earth and the Sun; superior planets' orbit lies beyond Earth. The difference between inferior and superior planets has a major bearing on the planets in our Solar System and how we observe them. To the naked eye, Mercury and Venus appear as bright star-like entities, but through a telescope they exhibit phases in much the same way as the Moon.

2 weeks ago | historyextra.com | Kev Lochun

“The jury often reached a not guilty verdict simply because they thought, ‘This person doesn’t deserve to be hanged’”, explains Professor Manuel Eisner, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast. “They thought, ‘He’s a respectable member of the community. He gives to the Church. He has apprentices who he trains. He does all kinds of things right. And here was this stupid conflict that ended up badly, and somebody died.’”Theft, however, was a different story.

2 weeks ago | historyextra.com | Kev Lochun

In this early Mesopotamian society, being an exorcist – an āšipu – didn’t mean you were someone who expunged the supernatural. These exorcists were trained healers who treated everything from toothaches to cattle fevers, not only with the aid of scalpels or potions alone, but with rituals, incantations and appeals to the gods.

3 weeks ago | historyextra.com | Kev Lochun

Instead, he had tried to regroup at Blackness Castle, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, but fled when rebel forces advanced, and was intercepted near a mill outside Bannockburn. What happened next remains one of the most unresolved and politically resonant royal deaths in Scottish history. “We just know there was a pursuit to get to a mill and then he's stabbed by someone,” explains historian Gordon McKelvie, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast.

3 weeks ago | historyextra.com | Kev Lochun

Rooted in both seasonal and religious traditions, Hocktide marked the shift of the agricultural calendar from winter to summer, when those working the fields enjoyed a rare break and a chance to let loose after Lent with sports, games, eating and drinking. But, at its core, Hocktide was a fundraising ritual with a mischievous twist.