The doomsday parody not only highlights the pitfalls of modern society and the stupidity of the powerful, but the science behind it is pretty solid.
*** THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS ***
Is it possible that a celestial body, such as a comet, collides with the Earth? Perfectly. This happens all the time, although most of the time, the pieces of rock that fall from the sky are the size of grains of sand, which does not prevent them from being visible during entry into the atmosphere, giving rise to shooting stars.
However, every now and then, our planet is visited by a slightly larger stone. 66 million years ago, a 15-kilometer-wide asteroid or comet crashed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico, creating the 180-kilometer-wide Chicxulub crater. The impact caused the great Cretaceous extinction: dust blocked sunlight, plants and plankton died and 75% of the planet’s species, including the mighty dinosaurs, went extinct.
The film “Don’t look up” (don’t look up), produced by Netflix, presents the same scenario today. Kate Dibiasky, a doctoral student at an astronomical observatory (played by Jennifer Lawrence) and its director Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo Dicaprio) discover a 10-kilometer-wide comet heading towards Earth that will make an impact in just over six months.
Faced with the impending catastrophe, which will exterminate humanity and the rest of life on the planet, scientists are trying to alert authorities, specifically the President of the United States, a populist policy magnificently interpreted by Meryl Streep. The reactions of humanity as a whole are aberrant, but as spectators it doesn’t seem surprising: denial of science, politicization of a scientifically proven fact, use of the phenomenon to gain political or economic benefits, and generally, collectively, humanity to disaster.
Photo: Netflix
The film is a comedy with dark humor notes, but it is no less serious in its scientific approach. There are celestial objects close to Earth and astronomers diligently track them. Although the real probability of a comet or asteroid colliding with Earth is very small, it is a real possibility.
An astronomer on the film crew
“Don’t Look Up” director Adam McKay relied on real-world collaboration with astronomer Amy Mainzer of the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Mainzer is dedicated to the study of asteroids and comets, especially those whose orbits can pass close to Earth, and is the principal investigator of the NEOWISE project.
Launched in December 2009 as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), this space telescope was originally designed to study the sky in the infrared and detect asteroids, stars and some of the faintest galaxies in space. In December 2013, the telescope came out of hibernation and was reused for the NEOWISE project as an instrument to also study near-Earth objects, or NEOs (Near Earth Objects), as well as more distant asteroids and comets.

Comet Neowise. Photo: NASA
In March 2020, the NEOWISE telescope captured comet C / 2020 F3, named Neowise after the telescope, the brightest in seven years. These long-period comets come from external parts of the Solar System, such as the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. They appear unannounced because they move at enormous speeds relative to Earth, the same thing that happens in the movie.
Fortunately for us, the space is very large and mostly empty, so most of the time these bodies approach the Son without any possibility of impact. This doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a dinosaur-like disaster, it just makes it unlikely.
no time to react
How long would we have to react if we detect a comet on a collision course with Earth? Everything indicates that it is not enough. In the case of comet Neowise, the telescope saw it for the first time in March 2022, and in July, three months later, it had already made its closest pass to the sun.
If you wanted to build a spaceship to intercept the comet, it would probably take years to develop. The mission ESA Comet Interceptor, which aims to hit a comet, began in 2019 and is slated for launch in 2029. Space shuttles are reused as interception vehicles in the film, but it’s highly unlikely that even those ships could be launched in months.
Does a pump work?
In Hollywood, everything gets fixed with bombs, and “Don’t Look Up” is no exception. The first mission to avert a disaster is to send nuclear warheads to alter the comet’s orbit so that it cannot reach Earth. Interestingly, this is the best solution we have, but with conditions.
In case an asteroid or comet is on a collision course with Earth, if available between two and five years in advance, the best solution is to change the asteroid’s orbit with a nuclear explosion, as detailed in study published this year. The bomb’s detonation vaporizes material on the surface and projects it outward, pushing the asteroid a tiny amount to one side. However, over time, this deviation continues to increase and is sufficient to avoid a collision.

Collision of Deep Impact spacecraft with comet Tempel 1. Photo: NASA
In the movie “Don’t Look Up”, the inept US president, aided by an empathetic business tycoon who wants to profit from the asteroid, plans to detonate it so that smaller parts reach Earth and can be used as a source. of materials, cousins. That idea can’t work, and in the movie, with good reason, it doesn’t either. The detonations would affect the material on the comet’s surface, but would not be enough to shatter it.
Ultimately, with just a few months before impact, the best intentions and the most advanced technology available to us would not save us from destruction. Since the end of the world comes from heaven, it is very likely that we will continue to argue about who is to blame or if the comet is real.
KEY PHOTO: Netflix