Society monthly meeting recorded on 20260121 at The Briars Mount Martha Observatory.

Meeting introduction was by the President, Dr. Peter Skilton, with member, Ian Barry, showing the recent Australia Post stamp releases for both the historic Sydney and Melbourne Observatories.

A recap of the unmanned Artemis 1 mission was given, and details shared of the imminent launch of Artemis 2 with its crew of 3 American and 1 Canadian astronaut that will loop around the Moon before returning to Earth.

There was no Astrophotographic challenge this month. Committee member, Dr. Guido Tack, then presented the Sky for the Month.

The main topic was about “The First Astronomers”, presented by Assoc. Prof. Duane Hamacher, Cultural and Indigenous Astronomy, from the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne, covering aspects of his research into how some of the Elders of Australian Indigenous culture have read, interpreted and passed on knowledge of the night sky for tens of thousands of years. The lecture was originally given on 20250821 at the same venue, and was attended by representatives of the Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association.

An educational science video then followed: “Missions We Lost When Apollo Was Cancelled”, presented by Amy Shira Teitel, Canadian Space Historian, courtesy of her The Vintage Space YouTube channel. She shared what missions Apollo 18, 19 & 20 (the rocket vehicles of which were already assembled), would likely have been if their budget hadn’t been cut.

A musical closure followed, showing “The Moon Phases and Librations for each hour of 2026 as seen in the Southern Hemisphere”. The video is courtesy of the NASA Scientific Visualisation Studio, and is set to the audio of “Unexplored Moon” by Miguel Johnson, courtesy of the [No Copyright Music] channel.