Interstellar Definition and 140 Threads

What speed does a ship traveling through deep space need to travel at for 1 day on the ship to equal 1 day on earth?

How long/what distance would it take a spaceship (with a hypothetical propellant-less engine) to accelerate to near light speed, and secondly, how low long/what distance would it take to decelerate back to zero again?

I'm wondering if a ship orbited a black hole for a year, how large would the black hole be for it to equal 10,000 years on earth?

My physics professor told us something about interstellar travel, which I have a question on. He told us that scientists figured out a way to send objects into space and frequently increase velocities. He said they do this by sending probes and aiming them at planets and large bodies in space...

OK, so I'm right in the middle of watching Interstellar and I've just seen the part where they have docked with the 'mothership' and they fire up their engines to get it to rotate. This is so they can generate a centrifugal force to simulate gravity. My question is - first the ship was not...

I'm trying to find reliable research on the density of interstellar exocomets per cubic lightyear beyond our solar system, particularly in the direction of the Hercules constellation if possible. From this, I want to extrapolate the statistical probability of one being captured by our solar...

I really hate, and also not fully understand it, when people talk about near light travel and they only mention about the stationary observers (people on earth). I forget her name but the relativity expert on the Startalk podcast about the movie interstellar, along with Neil, said that if you...

I know there are many aspects of Interstellar that are true to science and it appears that there are many that aren't. I was confused about one particular aspect but wanted to know if this was actual science or one of the things that wasn't. Ok, so Earth sent some scouts to 12 or 13 possible...

well , i want to build a very simple walking robot . but i would like to have a special walking mechanism . i'd like it to be like Tars robot in interstellar movie . this video shows the movement mechanism of it . the problem i can't figure out how to build such mechanism of movement . any help...

After doing my own research I would like to know if anyone can recommend a good Sci-Fi movies on mankind's first interstellar voyage, besides the movie 'Interstellar', which I have seen?

Open access at CQG.

About: As a project, I'm trying to solve for the approximate radius and mass of a approximately earth-sized planet, Mann, from Interstellar. According to what was provided, g = 7.84m/s2 The solid part of the planet is composed of a honeycomb of rock and ice The space inside the honeycomb is...

(Please feel free to move if I've picked the wrong forum.) I bought and started reading Kip Thorne's book. Chapter 1 is all about the people who met to bring the film and book into being. Chapter 2 is the beginning of the discussion of science. On page 1 (one) of this first (first) science...

I recently saw "Interstellar", a pretty good movie with well done depictions of worm holes and black holes. This inspired me to dig out my book on black holes (thinking it was written by John Wheeler). I've had the book for years and had read the first couple hundred pages about 10 years ago...

I've been turning something over in my head for a bit and I wanted to check some math. It has to do with how long it would take a hypothetical alien civilization to colonize a big chunk of nearby space. Over at the...

Hi, I am writing a piece which involves interstellar travel to nearby stars (Epsilon Indi being the one I will use in the following example.) It will be via a beam/ sail craft accelerated/ decelerated by solar-powered lasers (and lenses along the route). The craft will use constant...

1.Coop lands on coop station at saturn, but why he returned to saturn instead of earth? 2.how Murph is at coop station at saturn, but murph actually stays on earth, but how she present on coop station which is at saturn? 3. how coop send Morse code through wrist watch just by clicking back side...

There's been a lot of polarizing discussion on Interstellar with many people critical of the story, the science and the technology so I felt it would be good to launch a poll in the community. Up front, I have to say I liked the movie and plan to get a copy when it comes out. I know its not the...

So I recently watched the new movie Interstellar, and I've been inspired to do some more general relativity. At one point in the movie they mention that 1 hour on a planet orbiting a black hole is 7 years back on Earth, and so I decided my first project would be to figure out exactly how close...

Referring to all the people who have watched the movie, i got a question. It is about one of the planets where time passes drastically slower (1 hour on the surface is 7 Earth years ) due to gravitational time dilatation. Earth moves together with the sun with speed of circa 500 km/s trough...

Spoilers ahead: In “Interstellar” humanity or at least citizens of the United States have abandoned science and engineering and have seemingly settled down to a simple life of farming. However this “culture” which has given up on science and engineering is still somehow capable of great...

Today's _Out There_ column ( in the New York Times) by David Overby takes a look at the physics of _Interstellar_ and the reception thereof by various audiences. Interesting article. It can be found on page D1 of the print edition. Links- (One is the article's formal permalink, the other...

Just viewed the new flick. I'm guessing the author of the novel upon which the movie was based was a physicist and that the story is consistent with known physics. So, I thought I might get a few details straight. In the movie there is no "them" no other beings other than humans who are helping...

I found a new book on The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393351378/?tag=pfamazon01-20 What caught my attention was a photo of John Wheeler at the black board teaching about black holes. You could see the incredible detail in each pane of the board almost like...

Homework Statement Show that the solution of the form ρ1 = ρ1(x±a0t) satisfy the equation: ∂2ρ1/∂t2 - a02∂2ρ1/∂x2 = 0 and that they correspond to waves propagating in the directions x increasing or decreasing. Homework Equations P = P0 + P1 ρ = ρ0 + ρ1 u = u1 The Attempt at a Solution P1 =...

Hello everyone! I recently watched the new Interstellar movie, and have some questions that I would like answered. Warning: Spolier Alert! My questions will contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, and plan to do so, leave now. Also, if you are going to rant about the movie, do it...

I saw "Interstellar"in IMAX. Fantastic visuals, but lazy dumb writing and very bad basic physics. Kip Thorne should be embarrassed to have is name so prominently associated with the movie.

Hey everyone, relatively new here. Wondering what you think of the trailers for Interstellar. After seeing Gravity, I think I might enjoy this more as it's about exploring vast distances, not a fan of clooney or bullock either. But as far as the effects go, Gravity is going to be "very" tough to...

I know of Project Daedalus, Project Icarus, and Project Orion. These basically utilize pulse propulsion. In Daedalus and Icarus helium 3 and deuterium are combusted by a laser to create thrust. And in Orion nuclear bombs explode behind the craft to get it moving. All of these designs only reach...

While I enjoy space opera (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc) my favorite fictional genre is the rarer hard science fiction, stories that involve science and engineering which doesn’t yet exist, but, unlike soft SF and fantasy, don’t can be rigorously explained as possible by present-day science, making...

This has been bugging me. Several respected propulsion scientists at the 2008 Joint Propulsion Conference claimed that interstellar travel within a human lifetime was impossible. The KE of a rocket traveling at a significant fraction of c would be enormous via KE=0.5 * m * v^2 and that...

Disclaimer: I'm not a physicist I've never quite grasped interstellar gas clouds (i.e. the material for new stars) and how they work. If they were too sparse, then you'd expect them to just dissipate. If they were too dense, then you'd expect them to collapse spontaneously. But yet they seem...

So suppose an astronaut in interstellar space has gas ejecting from her propulsion system. So the gas would cause her to move forward by some distance, d. Then, the F_{thrust} acting on her must be constant (assuming the amount of gas ejected per unit time is constant, and the speed it is...

Suppose there was a ring of some material (steel? future carbon nano tubes?) around the sun. The ring would have a diameter of 2*10^9th meters. If a solar sail were placed attached to the ring with the reflector at a 45 degree angle) then the solar sails velocity would only be limited by the...

Homework Statement An interstellar cloud, made up of an ideal gas, collapses with its radius decreasing as $$R = 10^{13} \left(\frac{-t}{216}\right)^{2/3} \text{m}$$ with ##t## measured in years. The time ##t## is taken to be zero at zero radius so that ##t## is always negative. The cloud...

Yeah, all of those things, multipled by five thousand, and there we have the current cosmic predicament for human beings. Is there any way in which we can do something about this? Or will Schopenhauer have the last laugh?

Homework Statement Calculate the time taken to colonize the galaxy using an interstellar ark, making very rough approximations and broad assumptions. There are two rules: 1) The propulsion system must be something that already exists, no warp drives etc 2) Once the ark reaches a planet, the...

I understand statistical mechanics. I understand that PV=nRT has no lower bound on density. Yet I'm bugged by the thought that the densities in interstellar (or even intergalactic) nebulas are so low that most particles will never experience any collisions at all, thus undermining the premise...

So there have been some theoretical designs for ships in the past that would be used for interstellar missions, i.e. Daedalus, Ramjet, Orion, etc. that may send ships to near relativistic speeds. I think daedalus had a max. speed goal of around .1c. My question is do you think that...

If a probe is sent to the Tau Ceti system and does not accelerate outside the solar system (keeps a constant velocity when passing the heliosphere) will it not experience relitivistic effects? Could it then send a message back to Earth in 50 years for us?

So, I've read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_medium that the Interstellar medium varies greatly throughout space. Of the categories listed; Molecular clouds, Warm Neutral Medium, Clound Neutral Medium, Warm Ionized Medium, H II regions, and Coronal Gas/Hot Ionized Medium...

I'm writing a science fiction story and have a basic understanding of theoretical propulsion systems (ramjets, ion drives, solar sails, etc.). But I'm also trying to make my story plausible. So, that means no faster-than-light travel, infinite energy sources, artificial gravity generators, etc...

Can this be done feasibly (with current/near term emerging technologies and sub-trillion dollar budget)? Assuming that the human race survives the 21st century, I think we'll have the resources for a multi-decade unmanned flyby mission to Alpha Centauri even if technology shows little progress...

I'm trying to understand the entry labeled 1.2.3 on this page - http://setifaq.org/faq.html#1.2.3 The main point of confusion, for me, is what they mean by Tsys. At first, I assumed it referred to the temperature of the telescope, but in the table of results, its value changes depending on...

I am a 17 year old high school student in Alabama, and after my astronomy test today, I decided to calculate the mass of all interstellar gas and dust in our solar system (under the assumption that the solar system extends to 55,000 AU in all directions) and I calculated the mass to be a...

Homework Statement Plans are made to send a spaceship from Earth to a nearby star 10 light-years away and at rest with respect to Earth. The light support systems within the spacecraft will last for a year. (a) what is the minimum speed of the spacecraft relative to the Earth-star system if...

Using information and calculators I found online, I have put together a series of tables illustrating the energy, fuel mass, and time requirements (both Earth and ship time, at 1 g acceleration) for a spacecraft to reach various percentages of light speed...

Homework Statement Interstellar space, far from any stars, is filled with a very low density of hydrogen atoms (H, not H2). The number density is about 1atom / cm3 and the temperature is about 3 K. Estimate the pressure in interstellar space. Give your answer in Pa and in atm. Homework...

Hello! I'm redesigning my never-to-be-finish sci-fi novel, yet another futile to come up with scientifically based interstellar travel propulsion. My latest consideration is based on article[1] and possible extensions of those ideas. Anyway, I'm looking for an independent opinions on the...

Okay I have a really odd question that might be difficult to answer. I have searched for an answer in several physics books and websites and don't think I have come across a specific answer for this question. Suppose I were to send a negative electromagnetic charge through a solenoid and want...