Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:00)

Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney Plus.

What are you waiting for? Hop on. The must-see galactic adventure comes home on Disney Plus. This is the way.

Theo Von (0:13)

Our only chance is to work together. I'm like this kid.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:19)

Always wear your seatbelt.

Theo Von (0:22)

Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu now streaming on Disney Plus.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:26)

Raid PG-13.

Theo Von (0:30)

He's the most famous astrophysicist in the world. And maybe in some other worlds. We don't know. You know him from his show Star Talk. He has a new book, Lost in Space, 5,000 Facts For Navigating the Universe. We caught up in his hometown of New York City.

I'm grateful for his return. Today's guest is Neil deGrasse Tyson.

We gotta ship some of this badass out in the space, man. That's what I'm saying, dude.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:16)

Space, you know, it's expensive, though. That's the problem.

Theo Von (1:19)

Yeah.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:20)

There's more talk than action.

Theo Von (1:22)

No time like the present, man. Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Good to see you.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:26)

Thanks for having me back on. Oh my gosh. It's been a few years.

Theo Von (1:29)

Yeah. It's a pleasure, man.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:31)

And you're in my town now. Yes.

Theo Von (1:32)

I was going to say, yeah, we're here in New York City. We had a chauffeur on and he talked about, he was from the Bronx and he talked one time about The Bronx.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:40)

Say it right.

Theo Von (1:40)

The Bronx. There you go.

He was from the Bronx. And it's, I heard there's a lot of Asians over there too. So from the Bronx.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:48)

Well, not when I was growing up, but yeah.

Theo Von (1:50)

Well, he said that there was a time in the 70s when they used to bring swimming pools over there, like a pool, like semi trucks into his neighborhood.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:00)

I don't remember that, but I do know that occasionally, if you had a charitable fire department, they would open the fire hydrants. And you can, there are these sort of covers with holes in it and it would put spray onto the street so that you could play in the street.

Theo Von (2:19)

So they'd crack open the fire hydrant?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:20)

They'd crack that open, but I'm looking at your images now. No, I don't remember those, oh my gosh. And I was in town at that time. Is this in the Bronx?

Theo Von (2:29)

Yeah.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:30)

That's cool.

Theo Von (2:31)

Yeah, this is the Bronx, it says. This is 1970s, so that's really-

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:34)

Yeah, I'm around, I'm an old fart, so.

Theo Von (2:37)

But you were barely alive.

You were barely alive. But yeah, I was just, I didn't know if maybe you'd remember that from growing up, you know?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:45)

Yeah, I mean, hot times in the city, you know, the street gets hot and it's just hot in the summer and no one's in school. And so I think it keeps emotions tamped down so that there's no unrest.

Theo Von (2:59)

Yeah. Last thing we want, huh? That's so true.

You have a new book, Lost in Space, 5,000 Facts For Navigating the Universe.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:10)

Yeah, it's co-produced between my podcast, Start Talk podcast, and National Geographic Books. It's like our fourth collaboration. It's gorgeous, and it's 5,000 facts in all categories. And it's, but they're not just facts, because you can just Google facts. Yeah. They're start talkified.

A start talkified fact. So I'll give you an example.

Theo Von (3:36)

All right.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:36)

Okay? Ask me, how big is the sun?

Theo Von (3:41)

How big is the sun?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:41)

I could say it's 864,000 miles, but you can Google that. Or I can say, take 100 Earths and line them up.

That's the width of the sun.

Theo Von (3:53)

Wow, really?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:54)

Or if you're hungry, I can say, if the sun were a sesame seed bagel, Earth would be the size of one of the sesame seeds.

Theo Von (4:07)

That big guy.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (4:08)

So I'm just saying, the facts are just a little more pop culture infused.

Theo Von (4:14)

A little more classy, a little more possez.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (4:15)

Yeah, yeah, just so that you will never forget it, okay? You're not gonna forget the sun and the earth right now. And I know they have bagels in Nashville.