Kate LaRue, a journalist from the New York Times is set to give a virtual presentation at the Martz-Kohl Observatory next week. Submitted photo

FREWSBURG — The Martz-Kohl Observatory will be hosting a virtual lecture given by a New York Times magazine journalist on an online interactive article and the Webb telescope.

Andy Felong of the Observatory’s Public and Media Relations Department said the lecture series is something that started on an occasional basis about five years ago. During the pandemic, the Observatory’s Program Committee decided to invite local and remote speakers to give presentations via Zoom, monthly.

“We expanded our outreach to include NASA scientists, university professors in physics and astronomy and amateur astronomers,” Felong said. “We currently have a video library of about 40 presentations on a variety of topics, including black holes, cosmic origins, climate change, Mars rovers, and even had a doctoral defense by Dr. Alexandra Yep.”

The next presentation in the lecture series is set for Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will be shown on the big screen at the Observatory, 176 Robbin Hill Road, or virtually via Zoom.

The lecture will be given by Kate LaRue, a designer and journalist from Toronto, Canada. LaRue has worked for National Geographic, FiveThirtyEight, The Globe and Mail, and Corus Entertainment. She’s currently the digital art director for The New York Times magazine in New York.

Felong said the Program Committee chose LaRue for a presentation after seeing her online article.

“A couple of months ago, Program Committee members shared with each other the fact that the New York Times Magazine had a very impressive online interactive article, ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Looking at the Universe,'” Felong said. “This incorporated many images from the James Webb Telescope with explanations of what, where and why. We reached out to the author, Kate LaRue. After conversations with Kate, we all agreed that the process of creating the article as well as the content would reach out to a wide swath of people. So, Kate signed-up to do our January Lecture, ‘The New York Times Magazine and the James Webb Space Telescope.'”

LaRue is also putting together a video for use in the Observatory’s Summer STEM Camp for Chautauqua County students in grades six through nine.

In her presentation, LaRue will walk through the history of the New York Times website and explain how one article — “Snowfall” — changed the course of interactive storytelling and her own career. She will then do a case study of how one of the New York Times Magazine’s latest features, “A Beginner’s Guide to Looking at the Universe” came to be.

“Rather than just focussing on what the Webb Telescope has discovered, we mutually decided that it would be interesting for Kate to share how these types of articles came to be and how they were constructed, in addition to some science regarding the Webb Telescope,” Felong said.

The public is welcome to come to the Observatory and meet LaRue virtually there, or join via Zoom. A question and answer session will take place after the talk, and later on depending on the weather there will be tours and viewing opportunities of the Observatory’s big telescopes. Felong encouraged visitors to dress appropriately for the weather, as the domes are not heated even though the classroom is.

Felong added that the presentation is for everyone.

“This presentation is not technical,” Felong said. “It is intended for all ages and interests and combines journalism aspects along with easily understood science. We hope students and adults will find it interesting and inspiring. We hope for a large in-person turn-out as well as a large virtual audience.”

A video of the presentation will be available on the Observatory’s website afterwards.

Felong said the lecture series is something that the Observatory does to continue their mission.

“The Martz-Kohl Observatory’s mission is to inform, educate and inspire the general public and support teaching in the sciences of astronomy and physics,” Felong said. “We have found the lecture series to be very effective in promoting that mission. The Marshal Martz Memorial Astronomical Association, Inc. that runs the observatory is a non-profit organization. Our only source of income is via contributions and grants. We encourage, but do not require, a donation of five dollars for adults and three dollars for students to attend or view our lectures.”

Future lecture speakers include NASA Eclipse Ambassador and Observatory Vice President Tom Traub in February and a Nobel winner in physics, Dr. John Mather, in March. Traub will be discussing the upcoming solar eclipse, and Mather will be talking about the discoveries made by the James Webb Telescope in the infrared portion of the spectrum.

The Observatory hosts open observatory nights every Wednesday. To learn more about upcoming special events, view image galleries, videos from the lecture series, sign up to become a member and to learn more about the Martz-Kohl Observatory, visit https://martzobservatory.org/.