“Two-Eyed Seeing,” a concept introduced by Mi’kmaq elder Albert Marshall, describes the richer understanding that comes from drawing on both Indigenous knowledge systems and Western science. This talk will explore how that principle can inform our approach to astrophysics, beginning with the longstanding challenge of disentangling the many dynamical drivers of disk galaxy evolution. Disks evolve within diverse environments set by their merger histories and halo geometries. Resonances from bars and spiral arms reshape disk morphology while also continually reorganizing stellar populations, star clusters, and exoplanet systems. I will present a collection of methods that allow us to deconstruct some of these overlapping processes, link parsec-scale dynamics to kiloparsec-scale morphological evolution, and identify observational clues to the dynamical history of the Milky Way. Time permitting, I will touch on the status of the next generation gravitational wave observatory in the US, Cosmic Explorer. In particular, how our approach to site selection embodies two-eyed seeing and why our approach is critically important to the future of big science.
“Two-Eyed Seeing”: Dynamical evolution across galactic scales
Host: Matthew Robbins