Pixar’s Elio: Astronomy Review
While Pixar’s newest release, Elio, is a science fiction adventure (with emphasis on fiction!!), and has a lot of fantastical physics (travel to the Communiverse, for example, where the aliens live, takes mere seconds). However, they DO get some of the astronomy right, and I wanted to share some of the delightful nuances and small details that they did well from an astronomy perspective.
The film starts with a cameo by the Voyager spacecraft, and recordings from the Golden Record (which was launched aboard the Voyager spacecraft in 1977) are played. You hear some of the record’s “Greetings in 55 Languages” including the “Hello from the children of Planet Earth”.
In some of the night sky scenes, the pattern of the stars is accurately represented!!! I gleefully said aloud at one point in the packed movie theater, “It’s Corona Borealis and Hercules!” Of course, the magnitudes (i.e. brightness) of the stars in Corona Borealis were a bit exaggerated. But, on the other hand, that exaggeration allowed me to spot them quickly in a seconds-long shot of the sky.
At one point, Elio suggests using Orion’s belt as a navigational beacon. This reminded me of an evening spent on the water recently with Wanderlust Tours (Bend, OR) on their magical Starlight Canoe Tour in which the naturalist guided us to “head across the lake toward Orion’s belt” where we met up for discussion of the stars.
Next, ham radio enthusiast, Gunther, is seen wearing a T-shirt with the Drake Equation. The Drake Equation is a mathematical expression for estimating the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy which may have developed interstellar communication technology.
The Drake equation (formulated by Frank Drake in 1961 to provoke scientific thought and discussion) is: N = R∗ ⋅ fp ⋅ ne ⋅ fl ⋅ fi ⋅ fc ⋅ L
where N is the number of civilizations in the Milky Way with which communication might be possible,
R∗ = the average rate of star formation in the Milky Way
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life (i.e. are habitable)
fl = the fraction of habitable planets that develop life at some point.
fi = the fraction of planets with life that go on to develop civilization
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop sufficient technology to release detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space
Finally, while the physics of altering the orbits of space debris on a crash course is unrealistic, the film does bring to light some of the issues that humanity must address as we continue into the space age. Namely, there is a LOT of debris in space. In the early days of humanity’s launching of stuff into space, our mindset was that space was basically infinite and there was little risk of collision. But then, in 2009, an Iridium communications satellite collided with a defunct Kosmos military satellite and we realized that when we launch things into space, we also need to think about waste management in space and how to handle de-orbiting things at the end of their mission!
If you’d like us to show you how to find Corona Borealis and Hercules among the stars, or philosophize about the Drake Equation’s result, head to the Reserve Your Spot options for availability in our shared hosted observing programs. We have a few dates available in September, and have just released dates for Spring 2026! Check it out!