This months meeting was held at the Campbell Aquatic Activities Building, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield Georgia.  Thirty-three members and visitors attended the meeting.

Steve Siedentop, Chapter Director, convened the gathering by introducing himself and then adjourning us to enjoy the quarterly potluck meal.  These Potlucks have become a tradition and one of our most well attended events.  There was plenty of great food and desserts to pick from.

After eating, Steve brought us back to order and introduced John Towne (Chapter Observing Supervisor) for the monthly ‘What’s Up’ presentation.  After pointing out that we were meeting on the day of the Summer Solstice, John centered our mental telescopes on the constellation Hydra and the half dozen key objects it contains including Galaxy M48, Globular Cluster M68, Open Cluster M83, Planetary Nebula NGC 3242, Variable Star Epsilon Hydra and Binary Star Alphard.  John also made mention of the upcoming Conjunctions, Occultation’s and Meteor Showers that will occur in June/July.  This months Observing Challenge is M1-92 (Minkowski 92), AKA the Footprint Nebula.

Handouts were available to all attendees.  John’s presentation is available on the Club’s website.

This month’s feature presenter, Rich Jakiel, was introduced by Steve.  Rich delivered a great presentation on Lunar Geology.  Why observe the moon?  “It is close, unaffected by light pollution and it is up more than half the month”.  What followed was a complete run down of examples of different geological features on the moon.  Each was accompanied by photographic examples captured by Rich.   The presentation is posted on the clubs web site.

Steve dismissed the meeting by inviting all to the Jon Wood Observing Field.

Approximately 25 optimistic attendees and visitors continued to socialize and talk astronomy over the 9 set-up telescopes while waiting on the clouds to part.