Astronomer Analyzes Star Trek’s Space Accuracy

Astronomer Philip ‘Bad Astronomy’ Plait has taken it upon himself to review the accuracy of J.J. Abrams portrayal of space in Star Trek. Plait analyzes a number of scenarios, breaks them down, and separates science from fiction.

Plait states he was a huge Star Trek fan growing up, claiming he watched reruns of the original series, ‘a bazillion times.’ He was a bit concerned with the new film’s revision though, and expected disappointment. However, after seeing the new Star Trek, Plait states he ‘loved it.’ He even thought the film successfully resembled the original, ‘grasping its heart and bringing it up-to-date.’

Plait may have loved the movie, but did he think Star Trek’s portrayal of space and the events that occurred were accurate? The following analysis contains many spoilers. If you have not yet seen Star Trek, I would suggest stopping here.

Plait starts with the beginning of the movie, by analyzing a scene in which the USS Kelvin falls under attack. The ship is struck and crewmembers are sucked out of the ship’s haul in total silence.

Total silence? Well according to Plait, this was the most accurate event in the movie. Considering there is no air in space, sound cannot be properly transmitted. Plait applauds J.J. Abrams for this, and even goes as far as to say he’d like to, ‘kiss him on the mouth.’ I appreciate the excitement Plait, but on the mouth? Really?

Staying on track with haul breaches, Plait also takes into consideration Leonard McCoy’s comment that if the haul were to crack, ‘our blood would boil in 12 seconds.’ That seems pretty extreme to me, but I have heard this associated with concerns on astronauts going to Mars.

According to Plait however, this statement is entirely untrue. He claims that the sudden vacuuming might cause your body to completely decompress, or due to direct exposure of intense UV light from the Sun, it may also cause hypoxia. Hypoxia is the dehydration of the skin cells, which would kill you within minutes. However, as far as having your blood boil? Not going to happen.

What about the giant Romulan mining drill, which blasts a hole to the center of Vulcan? Could you really drill a hole to the center of a planet?

Plait gives this scenario the plausible stamp. He claims that while drilling through a planets crust, the outer edges of the hole would constantly be collapsing onto itself. This would make drilling incredibly difficult, not too mention extremely time consuming. Once you got through the crust, you would essentially be drilling through liquid plastic. The mantle is made up of thick liquid rock, which would also constantly be filling in the hole; rendering the drill practically useless. The only way this scenario would be possible is if the planet Vulcan was extremely old and had completely solidified. Even then, you’d still have to drill through a constantly collapsing hole. Possible or not though, you have to admit that drill is pretty badass.

Once the hole is completed, or at least mostly completed, the Romulans drop what they call ‘ red matter,’ into the planet Vulcan. When the red matter reacts with the heat of the planet’s core, it instantly creates a black hole. Obviously the thought of a tiny liquid substance creating a gigantic mass-consuming black hole is ridiculous, but could a black hole consume an entire planet?

Plait doesn’t make the argument of whether a giant black hole could consume a planet, because after taking sixth grade science class, we all know it could. Plait instead makes his argument within the possible size of the black hole. In order to create a black hole, you need mass, a shit-load of it. If the black hole created itself from the mass of the planet Vulcan, Plait states the black hole would only be the size of a marble. The gravitational force from something this small would be insignificant, and could not consume an entire planet.

The movie’s villain, Nero, creates all this chaos. Nero is motivated by revenge, by the need to avenge his home planet Romulus. A supernova destroyed Romulus, when the older Spock failed to save it. Spock had promised Nero that he would stop the supernova and save Romulus by creating a black hole between the planet and the blast. Nero survives the accident and ultimately captures Spock, which is how he obtains the red matter. Is a supernova of this magnitude possible?

Essentially yes, but Plait points out one specific flaw of the movie. The Sun they used to create the supernova is a yellow Sun. Plait says that all known supernovas were created by supergiants, which are always red or a blue-white color. He says that it may be possible for a yellow Sun to create a supernova, but as far as science is concerned, it hasn’t happened.

To read Plait’s article in its entirety, you can visit TrekMovie.com!