Holiday Meeting & Potluck Dinner

Please join us to celebrate the holidays with a Potluck Dinner on Saturday, December 17 at 5 PM, before we present "Stonehenge: An Epic Enigma" by J. Kelly Beatty at about 6:15 PM.

RSVP to Kathy Siok at kathys5@cox.net. Please bring a Main Course, Side or Dessert to share.

Please note that this event will take place at the North Scituate Community House, and not at Seagrave Memorial Observatory.

Some 5,000 years ago, a Neolithic civilization in southern England erected the world’s most famous standing-stone monument. Yet its builders left no written records, so why and how they constructed it remains a mystery. Many of the smaller pillars, known as bluestones, were hauled to the site from central Wales — more than 100 miles away. And while Stonehenge is most famous for its alignment with the rising Sun during summer solstice, some researchers have suggested that it could have been constructed to serve as a daily calendar or even an eclipse calculator. Whatever its true purpose, Stonehenge remains an iconic enigma visited by 800,000 people each year.

J. Kelly Beatty has been explaining the science and wonder of astronomy to the public since 1974, when he joined the staff of Sky & Telescope. An award-winning writer and communicator, he specializes in planetary science and space exploration. In 2018, after 43 years of pounding the keyboard, he retired from full-time work but remains actively involved in many S&T articles, tours, and other projects. You'll occasionally hear his interviews on The Weather Channel and National Public Radio. Kelly holds a Bachelors degree from the California Institute of Technology and a Master's degree from Boston University. Asteroid 2925 Beatty was named on the occasion of his marriage in 1983, and in 1986 he was chosen one of the 100 semifinalists for NASA's Journalist in Space program.