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The Daily Insight

Why is it 7 years per hour in interstellar

Author

Ava Robinson

Updated on April 12, 2026

The first planet they land on is close to a supermassive black hole, dubbed Gargantuan, whose gravitational pull causes massive waves on the planet that toss their spacecraft about. Its proximity to the black hole also causes an extreme time dilation, where one hour on the distant planet equals 7 years on Earth.

Why did time pass so fast in interstellar?

In general, time on our side of the wormhole moves faster than time in the uncharted side. Due to close proximity with gravitational anomalies from a nearby black hole (Gargantua), time on the other side is exponentially slower – relative to the distance between an object and the black hole’s gravitational pull.

Do you think that is possible that one hour on the Miller planet are 7 years on Earth?

Romilly calculated that a single hour on Miller’s Planet would equate to seven years back on Earth. Because of the planet’s proximity to Gargantua, the immense gravity of the black hole causes the planet to be roiled by massive tidal waves as tall as 4,000 feet.

Why did they age slower in interstellar?

In movie Interstellar Cooper does not age as fast as the humans on earth and time moves slower when gravity is much stronger. So the time spent near black hole was much slower.

How many years is each tick in interstellar?

For every 60 seconds of the track there are 48 ticks of the second hand sound. So, each ‘tick’ interval is 1.25 seconds. According to the movie, every hour on the water planet equals about 7 years on Earth.

How realistic is interstellar?

Overall, Nolan’s Interstellar stays remarkably true to Einstein’s theory. Although he does indulge in some “timey wimey stuff” at the end of the film, the director manages to keep the plot from devolving into complete science fiction using science from over 100 years ago.

How long is 1 hour in space?

The story is that 1 hour on that particular planet is equivalent to 7 years in space. Time dilation is real, but it’s completely unrealistic that it would have an effect anywhere near that in any realistic scenario. In practice, it’s a tiny fraction of a second, not many years.

How old is Murph at the end of interstellar?

And the end of the film the doctor says he’s 124 Earth years old. The doc also said Murph was in cryosleep for 2 years. So if you disregard the cryosleep Murph was 10 + 2 + 23 + 51 = about 86 years old.

Why is Murph so old in interstellar?

Murph was 10 years old when Cooper left. Cooper traveled for 2 years to the wormhole and subsequently lost 23 years in gravitational time dilation on Miller’s planet. When he returns to the Endurance he receives Murph’s message that she is now the same age as Cooper when he departed.

Is interstellar time dilation possible?

Time dilation is real! … In Interstellar, the major plot points surrounding time dilation are the difference between time passing in two different locations, where the astronauts sitting near the black hole felt time passing at a slower rate than their families back home on Earth.

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Are interstellar waves possible?

Originally Answered: How did such gigantic waves get generated in such shallow water in the movie Interstellar? The huge waves in “Interstellar” were the one serious physics blunder in that movie. No, you cannot generate large waves in shallow water! There isn’t enough water present.

How long is 1 second in space?

The light-second is a unit of length useful in astronomy, telecommunications and relativistic physics. It is defined as the distance that light travels in free space in one second, and is equal to exactly 299,792,458 metres (983,571,056 ft).

Is interstellar possible?

The truth is that interstellar travel and exploration is technically possible. There’s no law of physics that outright forbids it. But that doesn’t necessarily make it easy, and it certainly doesn’t mean we’ll achieve it in our lifetimes, let alone this century.

Is Miller's planet real?

Originally Answered: Is the Miller’s planet shown in the movie Interstellar for real? No. There are no records of such planets.

What did the professor say to Murph in Interstellar?

On his deathbed, Professor Brand finally admitted to Murph that Plan A was a ruse. This prompted Murph to send a message to her father, accusing him of being aware of the lie and abandoning her to die on Earth. … TARS was ultimately unable to transmit to Earth due to the black hole’s immense gravity.

What year does Interstellar take place?

This post from Bustle.com gives some good reasoning for Interstellar being set around the 2070s. In summary: the descriptions of halcyon days gone by from Cooper’s live-in father-in-law Donald sound very much like our present day.

What happens if you spend 5 years in space?

Long-term exposure causes multiple health problems, one of the most significant being loss of bone and muscle mass. Over time these deconditioning effects can impair astronauts’ performance, increase their risk of injury, reduce their aerobic capacity, and slow down their cardiovascular system.

How long is 24 hours on the moon?

The short answer is this: A day is the length of time between two noons or sunsets. That’s 24 hours on Earth, 708.7 hours (29.53 Earth days) on the Moon.

How long is 24 hours in space?

A sol is slightly longer than an Earth day. It is approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds long. A Martian year is approximately 668 sols, equivalent to approximately 687 Earth days or 1.88 Earth years.

How far is Gargantua from Earth?

The spaceship Endurance’s destination is Gargantua, a fictional supermassive black hole with a mass 100 million times that of the sun. It lies 10 billion light-years from Earth and is orbited by several planets. Gargantua rotates at an astounding 99.8 percent of the speed of light.

Is Gargantua a real black hole?

Extra details from ‘The Science of Interstellar’ By calculations of Kip Thorne, Gargantua is about 100 million solar masses, placing it firmly as a supermassive black hole.

Is Interstellar scary?

There are scenes of intense, edge-of-your seat action, explosions, and characters in life-threatening situations. There are also some emotionally intense scenes that young or sensitive kids may find troubling. The film’s PG-13 rating seems suitable, and kids much younger than that are unlikely to enjoy it anyway.

How old was Cooper in interstellar when he left?

The robots were rad. 13. So at the end of the movie, Cooper is 124 years old in Earth-time.

What did the Morse code say in interstellar?

Before Cooper departs on his mission to the wormhole, Murph tells him that she has decoded more morse code communicated via her magic bookshelf by Mr. Mxyzptlk. The message reads: “STAY.” Cooper assures Murph that ghosts aren’t real, even if fifth dimensional beings are definitely real, and leaves.

How long was Joseph Cooper in space?

2 years for the journey till the wormhole and after that he barely spends time near to Earth’s time as he is very near to Gargantuan (the black hole) and his time moves very slowly.

Why did Murph burn the corn?

Murph sets the corn fields on fire in a desperate attempt to distract Tom, so that she (and her friend) can to take Tom’s family to safety.

How did Murph solve the equation?

Without solving the gravitational equation, humanity is simply too big to lift off Earth, and is doomed to a slow death on a dying planet. However, Murph does wind up solving the equation after Brand’s death, thanks to the data she receives from her father, her “ghost,” through the tesseract.

How long is 1 day in space?

There aren’t really ‘days’ in space unless you are on another planet. However, a good analog on the International Space Station would be the time it takes to make one complete orbit. An ISS day is 90 minutes, which means astronauts get to see about 16 “sunsets” per 24 hour period.

Does time stop in a black hole?

Near a black hole, the slowing of time is extreme. From the viewpoint of an observer outside the black hole, time stops. … Inside the black hole, the flow of time itself draws falling objects into the center of the black hole. No force in the universe can stop this fall, any more than we can stop the flow of time.

How does gravity affect time interstellar?

The effect seen in interstellar is known as gravitational time dilation. According to the theory of relativity :”The faster you go, the slower your time gets“. In the movie interstellar, Miller’s planet is close to the black hole which has enormous gravity which speeds up the planet and causes time dilation.

Why is Millers planet so shallow?

It looked shallow because of those big waves. Since the waves are so gigantic and consumed a lot of water, the ocean appeared to be shallow which let them to walk without drowning. Besides the entire planet is made up of water (no land), so the waves never settle like on earth.