An astronomer weighs in on the real science behind Don't Look Up and whether an extinction-level comet is likely to hit Earth anytime soon.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Don't Look Up
An astronomer weighs in on whether an Earth-shattering scenario as depicted in Don't Look Up is actually possible. Featuring a host of Academy-Award-winning actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep, the latest film from director Adam McKay hit Netflix on Christmas Eve. The film has received mixed reviews from audiences and critics but has dominated Netflix's Top Ten list since its release.
Don't Look Up follows two astronomers as they navigate America's fraught political and media landscape in an attempt to raise awareness of an extinction-level comet headed straight for Earth. As has been surmised by audiences and critics (and since confirmed by McKay), the movie is a thinly veiled allegory for climate change and the destructive consequences it will bring should world leaders not act swiftly and decisively. To reinforce the message, McKay ends the movie with humanity's efforts to stop the comet failing miserably, and all of humankind is wiped out (except, seemingly, for Jonah Hill's character).
In a new interview with Yahoo, astronomer Dr. Amy Mainzer, who also acted as an advisor on Don't Look Up, weighs in on the likelihood of a comet impacting Earth and wiping out humanity. Fortunately, it seems like while an extinction-level event as depicted in the movie is theoretically possible, it's not likely to happen any time soon. Check out Mainzer's full comment below:
"The good news is a really major event like what's portrayed in the movie, we know that, that can't happen very regularly...because we're here. If that sort of thing happened on a regular basis in our time span, compared to the span that humans have been on the planet, well we wouldn't be here...The last such major event was the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. So we know that this is a very infrequent event, that said, smaller events can happen more frequently. So that's why we go out and we look for the objects and try to figure out where they are."
Although history has proven that extinction-level events are incredibly rare occurrences, Mainzer suggests that smaller comets impacting Earth are much more likely. While these comets may not wipe out humanity as happens in Don't Look Up, they can still be cause for concern, which is why Mainzer and other astronomers scour the galaxy to find them and study them. While Mainzer suggests that humanity probably won't be seeing an extinction-level comet anytime soon, she also doesn't entirely rule it out.
If humanity is ever faced with an extinction-level comet, hopefully efforts to stop it don't fail as catastrophically as they do in Don't Look Up. The film features a tech billionaire, played to wonderful effect by Mark Rylance, who has enough influence over the American president to hijack efforts to stop the comet in order to attempt to mine it for valuable resources first. Unfortunately for everyone, those selfish efforts fail and the literal end of the world occurs. Mainzer's comments reaffirm that an extinction-level comet is very unlikely to actually impact Earth (at least for a few million years), but, to director Adam McKay, the real threat is clearly greedy businesses practices and inactive world leaders allowing climate change to continue unchecked. Don't Look Up is now streaming on Netflix.
More: What Don't Look Up Really Means
Source: Yahoo
