The Study of Stars:
Tools of Discovery & How We Use Them

This talk will be live at the Martz-Kohl Observatory and available online via Zoom. You are encouraged to come to the observatory to meet Dr. Alexandra Yep, as well as the astronomy team at MKO, to join in what could be a lively Q&A after her talk. Facility tours will follow. Dress appropriately for the weather as if you were outside. The classroom is heated but the domes are not.

Stars come in an astonishing variety of shapes and sizes: massive, energetic blue supergiants; small, hyperactive red dwarfs; and strange, pulsating yellow stars. But how do we know so much about these distant objects? How did humanity progress from staring at tiny points of light in the night sky to understanding the complex mechanics of red giants and supernovae?

Dr. Yep returns to the Martz-Kohl Observatory to answer these questions in a presentation tailored for a general audience. Her talk, “The Study of Stars: Tools of Discovery and How We Use Them,” will share fascinating insights into the lifecycle of stars and demystify the instruments astronomers employ to decode the stars.

Dr. Yep brings a unique perspective to the field as a poet turned astronomer. After earning her BFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, MA, she transitioned into the sciences, earning her MS in physics from California State University, Northridge, in 2016 and her Ph.D. in astronomy from Georgia State University in 2021. Today, Dr. Yep is a visiting professor at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, where she teaches physics and astronomy, conducts research on young star clusters, and directs the historic Bradley Observatory.

Zoom Meeting

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Time: July 15, 2026 at 7:30 PM, Eastern Time

Topic: Alexandra Yep
Meeting ID:  871 9223 3484
Passcode: program

Click the “One Clink Link” shown below. When prompted, click “open zoom.us” in the dialog shown by your browser. If you don’t see a dialog, click the blue “Launch Meeting” in the webpage.

One Click Link: July 2026 Zoom Link

Zoom URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87192233484?pwd=zdzwSgT0N8yhKCcMoDSLTUHVugQlPR.1

Join by SIP:  87192233484@zoomcrc.com

Meeting chat link: https://us02web.zoom.us/launch/jc/87192233484