The Milky Way: An Autobiography with Dr. Moiya McTier (250)

Astrophysicist and folklorist Dr. Moiya McTier channels The Milky Way in this approachable and utterly fascinating autobiography of the titular galaxy, detailing what humans have discovered about everything from its formation to its eventual death, and what more there is to learn about this galaxy we call home. After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it. It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other. They succumbed to their gravitational attraction, and the galaxy we know as the Milky Way was born. Since then, the galaxy has watched as dark energy pushed away its first friends, as humans mythologized its name and purpose, and as galactic archaeologists have worked to determine its true age (rude). The Milky Way has absorbed supermassive (an actual technical term) black holes, made enemies of a few galactic neighbors, and mourned the deaths of countless stars. Our home galaxy has even fallen in love. After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it's amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we've all been waiting for. Its fascinating autobiography recounts the history and future of the universe in accessible but scientific detail, presenting a summary of human astronomical knowledge thus far that is unquestionably out of this world. Get the book: https://amzn.to/3QsPfnT Find Moiya on Twitter: https://twitter.com/goastromo Find Moiya on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goastromo/ Find Moiya on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goastromo Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:00 What gave you the autobiography idea as the narrative for your book? 00:06:10 How do you make science accessible without "dumbing it down"? 00:07:27 Does the Milky Way have a gender? 00:08:13 What did you learn by writing the book? 00:10:50 How are you using the Milky Way as a proxy for the entire Universe? 00:14:49 Folklore and astronomy. 00:19:46 What's your favorite aspect of the Milky Way? 00:26:21What's the biggest misconception about the Milky Way you've found? 00:30:00 How have you overcome the challenges of academia? 00:38:22 How do you handle delayed gratification? 00:42:22 "Fantastic Four" final questions 📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 Neil deGrasse Tyson https://youtu.be/1kxgK6J4S5Y Michio Kaku: https://youtu.be/3to9ymn-XKI Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Jill Tarter https://youtu.be/O9K9OBd3vHk?sub_confirmation=1 Sara Seager Venus LIfe: https://youtu.be/QPsEDoOTU6k?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/sh98cwRkzAA Be my friend: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast.php A production of http://imagination.ucsd.edu/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/drbriankeating -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Please watch: "Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Plays the Race Card!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs4QCSe05I4 -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-