​Interstellar: A Space Revolution
Interstellar is considered one of the best Sci-fi movies and, in my opinion, the best astronomical film ever made. But its fame is not only due to its emotional story or how well it was received by the audience, it also holds a very important place in the astronomical community. This 2014 classic, directed by Christopher Nolan, tells a story set in a dystopian future where humanity struggles to survive in an uninhabitable world. It tells the journey of a group of astronauts in search of a new home. It is in this journey that we find space scenarios that go beyond our screen.
This scientific accuracy begins thanks to the theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who with the help of Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, starts working on the movie, as a project that would demonstrate his life's work. For this, Kip defined two fundamental rules that he wanted to be implemented throughout the film and that were later responsible for turning Interstellar into a representation of reality.
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Nothing in the film could go against the laws of physics or knowledge about the universe.
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Speculation about poorly understood laws or theories has to come from real science and be qualified as possible.
This may seem strange since we are used to science playing a minor role, which in the end does not limit the possibility of theories far from reality. But this is what makes Interstellar a cinematic phenomenon, as it not only tells an entertaining story, but also shows what science could become in the future.
Thanks to these rules, several astronomical phenomena were represented so accurately that some of them contributed to scientific research. Of these, I want to highlight two of the most impressive ones: traveling in a wormhole and Gargantua, a supermassive black hole.
In the movie, a wormhole is used to travel from the solar system to a distant galaxy, in which new life could begin. At the time of implementing this idea, Kip was told that although wormholes could exist, they would not remain open long enough for astronauts to reach them. To this problem, Kip decided to face it and after studying equations and models, he discovered a way to make these wormholes last a long time open, in order to implement them accurately in the movie. This solution was one of the things for which this physicist received the Nobel Prize in physics, showing how this movie revolutionized science off the screen.
After passing through the wormhole they encounter Gargantua, a black hole, which is the source of light for the planets they are visiting. This phenomenon presented a major challenge, since at the time of the film's production, no photos of black holes were available, so they had to rely entirely on theory. In addition, to render such a large and highly detailed object, the production team had to create their own software to recreate it with physics alone. This rendering became so good, that three scientific studies used it to increase their knowledge about black holes and contributed a lot of information to their research.
It is true that some scenes were exaggerated to create more excitement, but the implementation of these phenomenons was faithful to science and helped us to understand them better. It shows us how through entertainment and technology, we can transcend the barriers of what we do not know and want to know. In this way, we can turn fictional stories into reality and enjoy the unknown.