Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Gravity Is Scientifically Inaccurate
It might be the number one movie this weekend, but the Gravity is full of crap. Or so says Neil de Grasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist and Reddit deity.
On Sunday night, in a series of 12 tweets, Tyson explored the “Mysteries of #Gravity,” pointing out that while the premise is realistic, there are many scientific inaccuracies in the film. He asks good questions: why is Sandra Bullock, a medical doctor in the film, servicing the Hubble Space Telescope? And why does Bullock’s hair not float freely on her head in zero gravity scenes?
While he’s not the first person to ask these questions, he’ll certainly get the most attention for doing so.
Here’s the rant in its entirety:
The film #Gravity should be renamed "Zero Gravity"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
The film #Gravity should be renamed "Angular Momentum"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
The film #Gravity depicts a scenario of catastrophic satellite destruction that can actually happen.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Why Bullock, a medical Doctor, is servicing the Hubble Space Telescope.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: How Hubble (350mi up) ISS (230mi up) & a Chinese Space Station are all in sight lines of one another.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: When Clooney releases Bullock's tether, he drifts away. In zero-G a single tug brings them together.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Why anyone is impressed with a zero-G film 45 years after being impressed with "2001:A Space Odyssey"
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Why Bullock's hair, in otherwise convincing zero-G scenes, did not float freely on her head.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Astronaut Clooney informs medical doctor Bullock what happens medically during oxygen depravation.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Nearly all satellites orbit Earth west to east yet all satellite debris portrayed orbited east to west
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Satellite communications were disrupted at 230 mi up, but communications satellites orbit 100x higher.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Why we enjoy a SciFi film set in make-believe space more than we enjoy actual people set in real space
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 6, 2013
Update: He's added more:
My Tweets hardly ever convey opinion. Mostly perspectives on the world. But if you must know, I enjoyed #Gravity very much.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2013
Mysteries of #Gravity: Astronaut Clooney informs medical doctor Bullock what happens medically during oxygen deprivation.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2013
That was three-weeks-worth of Tweets in one evening. Sorry to overload your Twitter streams. Good night universe.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) October 7, 2013
