Neil deGrasse Tyson Tweeted the Science of Interstellar Last Night, and It Was… Stellar?
He'll help you grasp the gravity of the situation. Sorry. I'm done now.
In #Interstellar: All leading characters, including McConaughey, Hathaway, Chastain, & Caine play a scientist or engineer.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
Interstellar was big on the scientist-as-hero angle, which we can get behind, because Neil deGrasse Tyson is a scientist and our hero. The team behind the film worked really hard to make sure its physics were accurate, and it paid off both in the movie and in scientifically stimulating tweets from the astrophysicist last night. Spoilers, of course.
Relativity played a big part in the movie, but we unthinkingly deal with it in our daily lives:
In #Interstellar: And in the real universe, strong gravitational fields measurably slow passage of time relative to others. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
GPS satellites, located farther from Earth’s center than we are, keep faster time than do our clocks on Earth’s surface.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
GPS Satellites are pre-corrected for General Relativity, allowing them to beam us the accurate time for Earth’s surface. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: The producers knew exactly how, why, & when you’d achieve zero-G in space.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: You observe great Tidal Waves from great Tidal Forces, of magnitude that orbiting a Black Hole might create — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: You enter a 3-Dimensional portal in space. Yes, you can fall in from any direction. Yes, it’s a Worm Hole. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: They reprise the matched-rotation docking maneuver from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but they spin 100x faster.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: On another planet, around another star, in another part of the galaxy, two guys get into a fist fight.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar: They explore a planet near a Black Hole. Personally, I’d stay as far the hell away from BlackHoles as I can — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
But hey! This was also happening while those two aforementioned dudes were playing punch-face in space:
In #Interstellar: Of the leading characters (all of whom are scientists or engineers) half are women. Just an FYI.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
And if you need help making sense of the third act:
In #Interstellar, if you didn’t understand the physics, try Kip Thorne’s highly readable Bbook “The Science of Interstellar” — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
In #Interstellar, if you didn’t understand the plot, there is no published book to help you. — Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
Tyson sure does love tweeting about space movies, even if some people can’t take a joke. It’s about the science, people!
REMINDER: Never look to me for opinions on new films. All I do is highlight the science one might or might not find in them.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 10, 2014
And if a bunch of science reads like a glowing review to you, you’re exactly the kind of person who should go see Interstellar.
(featured image via NASA/Bill Ingalls)
- He played a pig in Gravity Falls, because he is the best
- Read some non-movie-related but still great NdGT tweets
- Here’s NdGT explaining how long we’d live on each of our own solar system’s planets
Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
