Spotify

How Legendary Is The Milky Way? with Dr. Moiya McTier

Apple

‎Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness: How Legendary Is The Milky Way? with Dr. Moiya McTier on Apple Podcasts

Stitcher

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness - How Legendary Is The Milky Way? with Dr. Moiya McTier on Stitcher

Notes

Guest: Dr. Moiya McTier (she/her)

• Astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator based in New York City
• The first Harvard student ever to double major in astronomy and mythology
• The first Black woman to graduate from Columbia's astronomy PhD program
• Author of “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy”
• Host of the podcasts Exolore, Fate & Fabled, and Pale Blue Pod

Highlights:

• How old is the Milky Way?

• Is the universe flat?

• How is the Milky Way like a jellyfish?

• How did dark matter create our galaxy?

• How long would it take to reach Andromeda?

• How many stars and planets are in the Milky Way?

• How many Earth-like planets could be in our galaxy?

• Could life exist under different conditions?

• How fast is the Milky Way moving?

• What’s a gamma-ray burst?

• Why and how are we looking for life on Europa?

• Can galaxies die? What is quenching?

• How and when will our sun die?

• Where does the word “galaxy” come from?

• Are there creation stories about the Milky Way?

• Why are myths valid scientific inquiry?

• Can the universe die?

• What is the Big Bounce?

Intro

JVN kicks us off by talking about growing up in rural Illinois where he took for granted the ability to just look up and see tons of stars without much light pollution.

Now as an adult with the means to travel, he’s excited about seeing new areas of night sky from different points on the globe, but it wasn’t very successful until he went waaaay to Southern Australia where seeing new constellations and the outrageous number of stars around us broke his brain. The disorientation was similar to learning about LIGO experiments and gravitational waves.