Interstellar Discussion

[OrbitalConfusion]

I admit, I am very, very late to the party... I just watched it for the first time about 2 or 3 nights ago and since then I have been thinking a lot about it. It was a great sci-fi movie if you did not remain grounded in reality while watching it. It hits some spots like 2001/2010 did.. On human emotion, how would we react kind of things not to mention others. I did some reading and it seems the Director wanted the viewers to make up their own conclusions about the movie.

First thing, I am so SICK of hearing about blackholes "Not even light can esc" references. I cant help it. The other one that made me cringe was the old and over used stabbing a pencil through a piece of paper demonstration. I know both are very valid, but I leave it there.

My Questions outside of the Hollywood science was about the main character and his Daughter. They were longing the whole movie to be together. Yet, he makes it back to her and spent only a couple minutes with her. She (in my eyes) basically said she moved on, he needed to go on with what he was doing, goodbye. It seemed... Odd. What do you think about it? or did you even care at that point given how the movie panned out?

The other one was communications and TIME. They could receive Vmail, but yet could not inexplicably reply. Time on the planet of 1 hr equals 7 years. Outside of the obvious amount of CRUSHING gravity needed... At the end of the movie, he hops on a space plane to presumably go back to meet Anne's Character for some freaky love. Would the time they spent apart have a severe impact upon that whole idea? I want to say no. It would have only been a few days her time, even if she was close to the 1hr/7yrs principle?


Outside of the bad science I did like the movie. The ending could have been handled better. The science went from taking an idea and running away with it turned into a few minutes of "wow this stupid". Think the entering the black hole. But then again, I did not go into this movie with Scientific accuracy at mind... I wanted to be entertained. However, there were members present who watched the movie that believed some of the hollywood science.

Anyways, discuss.

 

[jedidia]

Just saw it myself a few weeks ago. I was very pleasantly surprised.

The other one that made me cringe was the old and over used stabbing a pencil through a piece of paper demonstration.

I found it a funny shoutout to event horizon, really :lol:

Yet, he makes it back to her and spent only a couple minutes with her. She (in my eyes) basically said she moved on, he needed to go on with what he was doing, goodbye. It seemed... Odd. What do you think about it?

On the one hand, there's the fact that they had to wrap up the movie. On the other, there is the fact that she was on her deathbed... and didn't want her father to see her die. I think that is kind of a relatable motivation.

They could receive Vmail, but yet could not inexplicably reply.

They could, and they did, but the messages themselves would have been underway for at least months, presumably years, depending on their distance to the wormhole. The movie is somewhat vague about the distances involved in the Gargantua system, so I can't really tell. This is a point where I'd have appreciated some more clarity.

Time on the planet of 1 hr equals 7 years. Outside of the obvious amount of CRUSHING gravity needed...

Not necessarily. The time dilation stemed from the proximity of the planet to the black hole, not from the planet itself. As such, there doesn't need to be crushing gravity. The gravity gradient, however, is another matter. I haven't done the math, but I'd imagine it to be problematic for a human organism.
The other question would be whether that planet is still outside the Roche limit, and of course why the hell it isn't at least tidally locked. But that kinda goes into nitpicking territory (and, to be fair, there is the unspecified rotation of the black hole that could play a significant influence on both...)

It would have only been a few days her time, even if she was close to the 1hr/7yrs principle?

The time dilation on the planet she's on is nowhere nearly that strong. They've made that pretty clear. How strong it is exactly isn't said (I think), so yeah, it might be that she's a bit older. Then again, she was significantly younger than coop to begin with.

The science went from taking an idea and running away with it turned into a few minutes of "wow this stupid".

I don't think so. Sure, there's some glaring questions, but you have to dig a lot deeper to get to them than your default hollywood scifi film. I found it a lot better than gravity (which had good drama and good kinematics, but when it came to orbital mechanics and debris behavior and impact, it was bloody Armageddon all over again... :facepalm: )

 

[Pipcard]

Gravity had unrealistic orbital mechanics for the sake of plot, but I loved the detailed depictions of spacecraft.

I also loved Interstellar; it's my favorite movie right now (although I don't watch a lot of movies). I'm wondering if The Martian (never read the book) will be the space movie of 2015, like Interstellar for 2014 and Gravity for 2013.

Not necessarily. The time dilation stemed from the proximity of the planet to the black hole, not from the planet itself.

My question about that is, why did the time dilation occur only on the planet's surface and not in the spacecraft waiting in orbit?

 

[Prowler901]

My question about that is, why did the time dilation occur only on the planet's surface and not in the spacecraft waiting in orbit?

I don't think that the Endurance was ever in orbit of the planet. My understanding was that the Ranger traveled to the planet surface and then back to the Endurance who was some safe distance away in order to maintain timely contact with Earth.

 

[Frilock]

My question about that is, why did the time dilation occur only on the planet's surface and not in the spacecraft waiting in orbit?

I don't think that the Endurance was ever in orbit of the planet. My understanding was that the Ranger traveled to the planet surface and then back to the Endurance who was some safe distance away in order to maintain timely contact with Earth.

Its actually stated in the movie the Endurance would orbit parallel to the planet, but outside of the dilation zone. They then took just the Ranger down. They were trying to to do it so they wouldn't be in the Dilation area as long and thus would lose less time.

As close to a quote as I can remember, "Get down, get back up, uses more fuel but saves us a lot of time."

 

[jroly]

In the system all the planets looked like they received the same amount of light, but Millers world (water world) should have been much dimmer because of the time dilation, 7 years to 1 hour of normal time means the planet would only receive 1 hour of sunlight every 7 years, it would have been too cold to have liquid water.

 

[jedidia]

In the system all the planets looked like they received the same amount of light

It was never really mentioned where exactly that light came from anyways... :shifty:

it would have been too cold to have liquid water.

It has an atmosphere of appreciable density and presumably a lot of tidal heating, so it might still be possible.
Also, I really can't say anything about the relativistic implications here without digging some hours into the topic (which I don't have). The speed of light is the same in both reference frames, so I'm not at all sure how exactly that effect would play out. It's a rather interesting question really that I never asked myself before...

But as I said, if a layman with a keen interest in the subject matter has to go digging that deep to make sure whether something was actually an error or not, that's a staggering accuracy on the Hollywood scale.

 

[jroly]

I think I had it backwards, millers world would have received 7 years of light per hour. So the planet would have been too hot.

 

[Anroalh12]

Pantagruel is the name of a neutron star that orbits the black hole Gargantua.

Pantagruel & Gargantua is a binary-system containing a black hole orbited by Miller, Mann, and a neutron star - which is orbited by Edmunds, located within a few months flight from the wormhole.

So the light comes from Pantagruel.

---------- Post added at 12:09 ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 ----------

And...why there are those huge waves in Miller?!

 

[statickid]

I was under the impression that the light came from Gargantua's accretion disc.

I feel this image shows that pretty clearly

 

[Prowler901]

And...why there are those huge waves in Miller?!

They are really more of a tidal effect. The gravity of the black hole pulling on the water on the surface. The same as here on Earth, but on a more massive scale.

 

[Kyle]

I was under the impression that the light came from Gargantua's accretion disc.

I feel this image shows that pretty clearly

Pretty cool to see the light from the accretion disc being warped by the black hole's gravity. They nailed gravitational lensing in this movie.

 

[Hielor]

They are really more of a tidal effect. The gravity of the black hole pulling on the water on the surface. The same as here on Earth, but on a more massive scale.

Except that the change in gravity in order to result in such huge waves would've completely torn apart anything on the surface...

 

[OrbitalConfusion]

After re-reading my post.. I seemed very negative, especially towards the end. No, not at all. I have been salivating over this movie for a very long time. This was 'my movie. I need to see it again clearly. I intend to do it soon. Part of the problem was seeing it on an 80inch lcd tv complete with super awesome 5.1 surround. I was in jaw dropping awe. it made me dumb...

Gravitational lensing, I love love love how they showed it. It looks as how I would imagine actually seeing it. As for the specifics I should have stayed away and kept to the "its for entertainment". although, regard their science... It wasnt nearly as bad as the airline cocaine fueled pilot with Denzel Washington. The visuals were top notch and really lowered my IQ as I was utterly stunned.

Matt Damon, as soon as they opened his sleep chamber and awoke him... I knew something wasnt right... I knew something instantly bad was going to happen. Especially when he started talking about his planet and how oxygen had been found at lower levels... Red flags start popping up. you just knew something was afoot.

2001,2010,Interstellar and Event Horizon are my favorites. We dont get much and when we do get one I am overly appreciative of it. It seems space, and the physics behind it all bores an overwhelming number of people. We are the minority I feel....

I do think when they mentioned "they" as in possible Aliens that it turned out to be humans themselves sending the messages. I hope Interstellar 2 becomes a real thing. I think there is a lot of great stories that can be told from this universe.

 

[Pipcard]

Not every movie needs a sequel.

 

[Kyle]

Agreed, the best we can hope for is more hard science-fiction movies like this that don't just portray space as a place with big explosions but something both marvelous and dangerous. I look forward to the movie adaption of Andy Weir's "The Martian" in November. The book was amazing.