May 2, 2015 9:00 pm

On StarTalk Radio this Sunday: Making Sense out of the Science of Interstellar

There’s so much theoretical science in the movie Interstellar that we’ve got not just one but two astrophysicists on the show this week to help us figure it out.

Of course, there’s our host, your own personal astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium.

We’ve also got Dr. Janna Levin, a theoretical cosmologist and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College.

Between the two of them, you’ll get plenty of help understanding the wormholes, black holes, time dilation and time travel that director Christopher Nolan brought to the screen in a movie where astrophysics permeates every frame, and the scientists are the heroes.

You’ll also get an insight into how Christopher worked with another astrophysicist, Kip Thorne, to balance Interstellar’s science with the unique narrative structures that Nolan is famous for in his movies.

And if you’re a fan of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, you’re in for a treat, or, as Neil says, “An orgy of relativity.”

In between discussions of time, the fabric of space, and warp drive, you’ll learn about neutron stars and pulsars, the importance of hydrogen to the creation of magnetic fields on the planet Jupiter, and the search for exoplanets.

This week’s show is co-hosted by Eugene Mirman, and Bill Nye stops by to “rant” about why we can’t mess up the Earth, because nowhere else will be better or easier to live than right here at home.

Oh, and did we mention that Neil recites a poem he wrote about falling into a black hole?

Join us for The Science of Interstellar with Christopher Nolan this Sunday, May 3 at 7:00 PM EDT on our website, iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and SoundCloud.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons