The Science of Interstellar

instability of critical orbit, 242

zoom-whirl orbit, relies on critical orbit, 121–122, 121

black-hole binary for interstellar travel uses critical orbit, 121–122, 121

in Interstellar:

Cooper navigates onto, 237–238, 238

Endurance’s near catastrophe on, 242–243

ejection of TARS and Cooper into Gargantua from, 242–244, 243

Endurance launch toward Edmunds’ planet from, 244–245, 244, 245

disks, see accretion disks

Disney movie The Black Hole, 50, 250

Double Negative visual effects, 10, 31, 50, 75, 81, 83, 85, 96, 97, 98, 138, 139, 144, 145, 171, 288, 293

dynamical friction, 70

Earth:

place in universe, Milky Way, and solar system, 19, 21, 21, 71

mapping of by explorers, 27–28, 28

magnetic field of, 23–24, 24

Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), 24–25, 24

gravitational force lines of, 26, 26

gravitational force varies from location to location, 216–217, 217

tidal gravity due to varying density of Earth’s crust, 209–211

tides on Earth’s oceans, 42–43, 42, 43

tidal bores, 166, 167

tsunamis, 166, 167

slowing of time on Earth, 35–37, 36, 224

motion of stars on Earth’s sky, 81

global warming, 108

algae blooms, 108–109

Earth’s atmosphere, 110–114, 293–294

oxygen cycle, 281

carbon cycle, 281–282

ocean overturns, 293–294

in Interstellar:

possible catastrophes to create “Cooper’s world,” 105–111

blight, see blight in crops

gravitational anomalies, see gravitational anomalies on Earth

reducing Earth’s gravity so as to lift colonies off Earth, 274–275

Einstein ring, 79, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 145, 157

electric fields, 25, 92

Endurance:

movie set of, 9, 13–14

images of:

inside the Endurance’s control module, 9

Endurance floating in space before explosion, 180

Endurance in front of Gargantua’s accretion disk, 99

Endurance in front of the wormhole, 145

explosion on the Endurance, 181

Endurance floating in space after explosion, 181

Endurance nearly captured by Gargantua, 243

voyage of:

trip from Earth to Saturn with slingshot around Mars, 68, 74, 117

trip through wormhole, 139, 144–145, 272

parking orbit around Gargantua, 62, 63–64, 67, 69, 72, 161, 176

trip from parking orbit to Mann’s planet, 174–176

Endurance (continued)

explosion above Mann’s planet, 179, 181–182, 181

pried away from Mann’s planet and down toward critical orbit, 237–238; see also critical orbit

near capture by Gargantua, 242–244

on critical orbit, 247

launch toward Edmunds’ planet, 239, 244–245

design to withstand tidal gravity, 180–181

energy, types of:

chemical, 89

nuclear, 89, 118–119

gravitational, 68, 89–90, 120–123

event horizon:

defined, 22

created by the warping of time, 47–48

gravity ultrastrong near horizon, 162

shape of and depiction of, 49, 49, 57, 231, 232, 233, 249

circumference proportional to black hole’s mass, 58–59

radius defined, 59, 295

shape of space near, 62–63

gas carries magnetic field onto, 91–92

magnetic field threads horizon, 91–92

in volcano analogy, 241

in Interstellar:

Romilly hopes for information to leak out of, 172–173

Cooper plunges through horizon: what Cooper and Brand see, 247–248

Cooper’s view upward from inside horizon, 248, 250

Cooper’s view downward from inside horizon, 251

Andrew Hamilton’s black-hole flight simulator, for journey into event horizon, 288

see also black hole; Gargantua, Interstellar’s black hole

exotic matter—holding a wormhole open, 131, 132, 135, 138, 218, 283; see also wormholes

fields, see bulk fields in Interstellar; electric fields; force lines; gravitational field and field lines; magnetic fields; tendex lines; tidal gravity

fifth dimension (out-back), 40, 188, 188, 191, 194–196, 200, 213, 216, 220, 269, 272, 284, 286, 295; see also bulk

Flatland:

Edwin Abbott’s satirical novella, 189

animated film, 285

motivates bulk beings, 190–192

force lines, 22–26, 41–44, 90, 151–152, 165, 194–199, 209–211, 214–216, 221; see also bulk fields in Interstellar; electric fields; gravitational field and field lines, magnetic fields; tendex lines; tidal gravity

fourth dimension, time as, 40, 185–186, 188, 284

galaxies, 18–20

Andromeda, 19, 70

Milky Way, 19, 52–53, 279

Coma cluster of galaxies, 204

Abel 2218 cluster of galaxies, 205

Gargantua’s galaxy, 31, 75, 85, 98, 144, 166

black holes in cores of, 22, 52, 70

quasars in cores of, 93

governed by Newtonian laws, 29

gravitational pulls of galaxies on each other, 206

orbits of galaxies around each other, 204–205

Gargantua, Interstellar’s black hole:

location in our universe, 200

images of, 31, 98, 99, 169, 243, 250

slowing of time near, 36, 162–163

space whirl around, 97, 163–164, 175

tidal gravity of, 163–166, 238

mass and spin deduced from properties of Miller’s planet, 59–62

reduction of spin for visualization, 97–98

anatomy of (horizon, and movie orbits), 62–66

shell of fire, 64–66

singularities inside, 230–234; see also singularities inside black holes