Science Fiction or Mere Fiction? A Deep Dive into the Accuracy of Interstellar
AJ Juarez - October 13, 2024
Since the beginning of humanity, people have gazed up at the stars with wonder. Fueled by an insatiable curiosity, ancient civilizations tracked the movement of planets, studied the Sun and the Moon, and often used these observations of astronomical phenomena to explain the universe around them and understand their place in it. As society progressed, the need for scientific understanding became more necessary.
Early pioneers such as Nicolaus Copernicus, who in 1543 first proposed the idea that the Sun is in the center of our solar system, to Issac Newton, who proposed a theory for gravity in 1666, greatly advanced our understanding of the cosmos. This passion for astronomy has found its way into media and popular culture, as with H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. In 1938, the novel was adapted into a radio broadcast, shocking listeners into believing there was a real Martian invasion of Earth. It is as if our fascination with — perhaps fear of — the universe is inherently human.
The brain child of renowned director Christopher Nolan and physicist Kip Thorne, Interstellar (2014) is the pinnacle of the science fiction genre. Interstellar follows a future society of humans living on an uninhabitable Earth as they search for another planet to call home. As an executive producer, Nobel Laureate Thorne worked with Nolan to create not only a beautiful story, but a film that is scientifically accurate to a surprising degree.
“I was doing a lot more than simply justifying the science in the film. The story was built from the ground up on the science to a very great extent,” says Thorne in an interview with science journalist Lee Billings of Scientific American. Thorne authored The Science of Interstellar, a book covering the plausibility of the concepts in the film.
For those who have seen the film’s fantasy-like elements, it may come as a surprise that some of the most egregious scenes are theoretically plausible. Interstellar is unlike other science fiction films in that its plot almost entirely abides by the physical laws of the universe. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that some of the concepts within the film are truly possible. “There’s a lot of room where you’re not breaking the laws of physics. The laws of physics are pretty generous and they might describe a lot of things that don’t actually exist,” says Jessica Asbell, an astronomy professor at Orange Coast College. Dissecting Interstellar will answer whether or not this film is a true representation of science, or mere fiction. Among the most controversial concepts in this film are transversable wormholes, black holes, tidal waves on Miller’s planet, and the 5th dimension.
Transversable Wormholes
The plot would fall apart without the concept of transversable wormholes, but this theoretical phenomena is quite the reach. In the film, scientists are sent to distant planets in search of a habitable world, traveling through a portal-like wormhole that instantly transports them from the Milky Way to another galaxy. This is one of few concepts in the film that has not been proven — yet. The existence of wormholes is widely believed to be mere science fiction, but has not been exactly disproven, either. Even if wormholes were to exist, exotic technology would be needed to be able to travel through one safely.
To put the vastness of space into perspective, it took the Voyager 2 spacecraft 12 years to reach Neptune after it was launched in 1977. Traveling beyond our solar system at such high speeds through space-time is impossible as far as we know. Asbell critiques this aspect of the film, explaining, “A big part of the end-of-movie plot turns on getting information out of a black hole and sending it, I guess, across a wormhole to another galaxy in some reasonable amount of time. That, to me, looks a little bit goofy. They’re also getting video messages from the Milky Way to another galaxy. Do those messages pass through the wormhole?” This concept leans toward fiction and was largely driven by Nolan’s creativity, but serves as a plot device for the rest of the film.
Black Holes
Once the astronauts have traveled through the wormhole, the first planet they visit is Miller’s planet, named after Dr. Laura Miller who was sent to this water world years prior to Cooper’s arrival. The planet orbits Gargantua, a supermassive black hole and one of the largest ever discovered. As it turns out, the movie did quite a good job of modeling a black hole, even before scientists had a concrete idea of what they looked like. “The rendering of the black hole was really good. The way that they formed the accretion disk, and the bending and warping of light around it. It looked like some of the pictures that we later got of the accretion disks around supermassive black holes from the Event Horizon Telescope…It’s really stylish, it looks more pretty in the movie, but it’s Hollywood. The way that they talk about relatively is conceptually pretty right,” Asbell says.
Given its proximity to an object with such a strong gravitational force, many would believe that it is impossible for a planet to even exist in its vicinity — shouldn’t it be ripped apart? Thorne explains that if the black hole were spinning fast enough, it is possible for a planet to be in a “close, stable, circular orbit to not be ripped apart.”
Now this begs the question: shouldn’t any potential life on Miller’s planet be killed or burned up by harmful radiation from the high-energy black hole? In other words, isn’t the black hole too hot for life to exist? As this planet is not orbiting a star like Earth orbits our Sun, it is heated by the accretion disk surrounding the black hole. An accretion disk is made up of gaseous remnants of matter that a black hole has eaten, such as gas “pulled away” from stars that orbit too close. Thorne’s explanation: Gargantua’s accretion disk is cooler than those of other black holes since it has not consumed matter for a long time, so it does not radiate dangerous x-rays or gamma rays and is about the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. So, this planet would be survivable if it weren’t for its dangerous oceans.
Tidal Waves on Miller’s Planet
Miller’s planet experiences gigantic, tsunami-like tidal waves that can wipe out anything in their pat., Dr. Miller herself only lasted a matter of minutes before succumbing to these waves, and due to time dilation, Cooper and the crew arrived very shortly after — one hour on this planet equates to 7 years on Earth. The giant tidal waves seem to be a figment of Nolan’s wildest imagination, but according to Thorne, can actually exist. These extreme tidal waves are caused by the planet “wobbling” as it settles in its orbit around Gargantua. Think about the way a spinning top has to stabilize itself when you first release it. It wobbles around first! This is similar to the way Miller’s planet wobbles around, but of course, this is an oversimplified analogy. Unlike the top, the planet is also experiencing extreme tidal forces from Gargantua.
“The depiction of the gravitational effects of black hole is fairly accurate: the gravitational lensing of the light around the black hole, the tidal forces on the planet causing the gigantic waves, the time dilation experienced by the heroes, all of it was included,” writes Dr. Jerome Fang, an astronomy and physics professor at OCC.
As per the script, the waves have a period of about one hour. Thorne did post-production calculations and found that, under the conditions of the planet orbiting Gargantua, the period of these tidal waves would indeed be approximately one hour. Although a coincidence, this is a testament to Thorne’s efforts in making this film accurate where possible, even verifying results afterward.
The 5th Dimension
The film ends with Cooper entering Gargantua and transporting to a strange, enigmatic 5th dimension with four spatial dimensions and one time dimension; though of course, this scene is visualized in three spatial dimensions since our brains cannot process anything beyond what we can see. This part of the movie definitely feels like fiction, but is not necessarily impossible.
According to quantum theory, black holes have an infinitely small, infinitely dense point in their centers called a singularity where their mass is contained; whether or not this singularity is a physical structure is still debated. There are different kinds of black holes, though. A Kerr black hole is one that rotates extremely fast. Its singularity is thought to be a ring shape rather than a one-dimensional point as with typical black holes. If Gargantua is a Kerr black hole, this means that Cooper could have entered Gargantua and avoided its ring-shaped singularity without becoming trapped in it. Still, higher dimensions such as the 5th dimension are products of theoretical physics and have yet to be proven. Bearing all of these concepts in mind, there is a strong emphasis on “theoretical” — the mathematical equations may allow for it, but pure physicists are against the idea. “The ability to cross the event horizon without getting tidally disrupted was an eye-rolling moment for me. Also, what happened inside the black hole is highly speculative and untestable, as far as I know,” Fang argues.
The Verdict
There are certainly parts of Interstellar that rely heavily on theoretical physics and are not backed by solid evidence, and others that reflect Hollywood and Nolan’s artistry. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the movie is scientifically accurate and praised by many in the field. “This movie is one I refer to when I think of a reasonably scientifically accurate film. I know that Thorne et al spent a lot of effort and supercomputer time to simulate the black hole as accurately as possible,” Fang writes.
The science fiction genre is an incredibly open-ended, imaginative space. In fact, watching science fiction films has been shown to enhance creativity and innovative thinking, offering tangible benefits to viewers, even if they watch for pure entertainment. Fang expresses his personal experience with science fiction inspiring him to pursue astrophysics. “[Science fiction] can inspire someone to study science as a career (I got into astronomy via Star Trek) if the scientific material is compelling enough.”
As a STEM educator, he has concerns about viewers believing science fiction concepts that aren’t quite accurate. Despite this, he believes that the genre can open the door to a deeper understanding of important societal and philosophical ideas. “I do worry about misconceptions that science fiction can cause (e.g., black holes act like vacuum cleaners, faster-than-light travel is possible, distances can be covered in remarkably short periods of time, etc). And it can be seen as pure entertainment, with a message. I appreciate the social commentary often woven into science fiction. Sometimes one needs an otherworldly perspective to see a contemporary societal problem clearly,” Fang elaborates.
There is science in art, and art in science. The interdisciplinary fusion of the two allows for rich cinematic and intellectual experience, and Interstellar is the epitome of this. Using Interstellar as a prime example, Asbell highlights the incredible potential of harmonizing the fields, explaining, “I wish that more people who are trained in the sciences wanted to cross over into art in a way similar to what Kip Thorne did…I think that there’s a lot of people who are trained in science and understand good science who maybe could also be really good writers, or really good visual artists, or incredible musicians…I wish that more young people with more time on their hands could consider spreading their talents out and sharing them with the world through art.”
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