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In the movie Interstellar, Miller's planet is an ocean planet orbiting extremely close to a black hole. The ridiculous tidal effects caused by the black hole cause the planet's water to concentrate into mile-high super tsunamis.
Is something like this possible in real life? Is the passage of time slowed, the distance Miller's Planet is to such a large black hole, the height of the waves, and the amount of light the planet receives in the movie all potentially possible?
Kip Thorne thinks so. He was the scientific adviser for the movie Interstellar.
About the planets orbiting Gargantua he said the following:
This business of the enormous time differential between one of the planets orbiting very close to Gargantua and the flow of time back on Earth – the problem seemed to be that no planet could endure the resulting gravitational forces. This was something that even I thought was impossible, intuitively, until I went and slept on it and did a few hours of calculations. I came to the conclusion that in fact it is possible. The black hole needs to be spinning very fast, but is possible for the spin to be fast enough for a planet in the necessarily close, stable, circular orbit to not be ripped apart. I can’t fault anyone for saying, “Hey, that’s not possible,” without having first having the benefit of my book! Unless it’s someone who is very deep into general relativity and who I would’ve expected to go do the calculations!
Source: Parsing the Science of Interstellar with physicist Kip thorne
Thorne also wrote the book, The Science of Interstellar (2014). Copies available in all good bookstores and libraries. There is also a documentary about the movie's science which can be found here. I believe it is also an extra on the DVD.
Yes the science of Miller's Planet is plausible and possible. Kip Thorne is one of the top physicists working in the area of general relativity. You don't get better than that.
The presence of the tidal waves suggests the planet is smooth without mountains or valleys to break up these never ending tidal super tsunamis.
The largest mountains, oceans, and chasms on earth are caused by plate tectonics which are also caused by our molten core. This is the same molten core that gives us our magnetic field which protects us and allows our atmosphere to retain our oceans. The absence of any topographical mega features to break up the tsunamis on Miller's planet suggests that this planet doesn't experience plate tectonics which also suggests no molten core. Without the molten core, there would be no magnetic field to protect the planet's waters from being stripped away by solar winds. So at the very least the watery surface shouldn't exist.
