Since the beginning of the Space Age, cosmologists and geophysicists have made great strides in modelling the electromagnetic environment of the earth in response to the solar wind and other external features impinging on the earth, such as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and, far less frequently, cometary intruders into the inner solar system.

Our purpose is to consider how knowledge of this kind might aid our understanding of traditional ideas about cosmology and the recent history of the earth, as documented in the history of astronomy, cultural astronomy, archaeoastronomy and certain classes of mythology and ancient ritual.

Aurorae, the zodiacal light and various transient atmospheric events have been recorded throughout history.