Astrophysicist Explains Critical 'Gravity' Twitter Posts via Facebook

Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson wants you to know that he really did like the movie "Gravity." The host of TV's "Cosmos" reboot took to Facebook on Oct. 9 to add a little context to the somewhat critical series of updates about "Gravity" he posted to Twitter Sunday (Oct. 6).

Tyson explained that "Gravity" has actually earned the right to be criticized because of its scientific merits. The movie strives for accuracy by portraying a "physical reality," but its missteps shouldn't necessarily discount what it does right, and Tyson regrets not explaining his opinion of the movie more fully via Twitter.

"I came to regret not first tweeting the hundred things the movie got right," Tyson wrote on Facebok. "1) the 90 minute orbital time for objects at that altitude; 2) the re-entry trails of disintegrated satellites, hauntingly reminiscent of the Columbia Shuttle tragedy; 3) Clooney's calm-under-stress character (I know dozens of astronauts like that); 4) the stunning images from orbit transitioning from day to twilight to nighttime; 5) the Aurorae (northern lights) visible in the distance over the polar regions; 6) the thinness of Earth's atmosphere relative to Earth's size."

Read Tyson's full Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/neil-degrasse-tyson/on-the-critique-of-science-in-film/10151673927570869 Read more of Tyson's tweets here: https://twitter.com/neiltyson

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