Times Interstellar got science all wrong

Last, but certainly not least, it seems there may be a few problems with Interstellar‘s bittersweet ending — the one which posits that, not only did Hathaway’s Brand manage to traverse the orbit of a supermassive black hole, but she actually found a habitable planet in its orbit. Once again, the concepts behind such magnificent narrative twists isn’t all that far-fetched. More succinctly, because we know so little about black holes in general, let alone the spaces surrounding them, any and all depictions of such conditions are purely theoretical. 

Paul Barstow in particular wonders if a planet could really survive near such a large black hole. “There’s no reason why they couldn’t [orbit a black hole], although nobody’s ever detected one,” he explained. “The problem would be how stable a system is. I don’t know enough about the calculations on that. So it’s a bit hard to say for sure if you could have it. But provided anything in orbit is outside the safety limit, it’s perfectly possible. What’s more likely is a star orbiting, and a planetary system around that star. Any planetary system associated just with a black hole would probably be consumed.”

Lee Billings has similar issues. “I think Interstellar is a movie for physicists, not for planetary scientists. And I think you can see that in what they emphasize what’s accurate and true science, and what’s not. There are a lot of problems with the planets,” Billings said. “For example, there’s that planet with huge tides, but the water itself is no shallower than your ankles or your knees. It’s not clear what’s causing those crazy tides, maybe the black hole, but if it’s pulling that hard then it would manifest in other ways beside mile-high waves.”

Frankly, if you’ve got to bend the rules a bit to make that water planet happen in Interstellar, we’re happy to allow it, because it remains one of the most thrilling creations in modern cinematic history. And on that note, we sincerely hope Brand and Cooper are making a go of it out there on that desert planet.

Written by: Looper