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Deep Impact: Deadly and True(ish)
The disaster film screens tonight at Columbia University’s Pupin Hall
Dramatic rendering (Photo: www.hale-bopp.hit.bg)
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The only thing I can remember about the summer of 1998 was that it contained two amazing disaster films, Armageddon and Deep Impact. And while the former made more money and is probably more well known (it did have that awful Aerosmith song, after all), the latter holds up better. And is even almost, kind of, sort of realistic.
According to a 2000 article on Space.com by Phil Plait: “The producers [of Deep Impact] hired real live astronomers to help them with the script, and the amazing thing is they took the advice. A comet, for example, has almost no gravity, so the scientists suggested the rocket moor itself to the surface. That was used in the movie, along with many other suggestions.”
Which is probably why the Columbia Astronomy Public Outreach chose to screen the film (for free!) tonight at Columbia University’s Pupin Hall. Deep Impact, about a seven-mile wide comet hurtling towards Earth, will be screened from 7-9 p.m., followed by a lecture and discussion from 9-9:30 and/or a telescope observation from 9-10 p.m.
More information can be found here, and oh yeah, one more thing: Morgan Freeman is arguably the greatest movie president ever.