Anybody Else Notice it was daylight at midnight?

I think that it's obvious that the light increases as the film goes on towards midnight. I would definitely not say that this is because they started shooting in mornings and stopped around noon. This would be ridiculous to think. The brightness they achieved was not natural light. Anyone who has been outside could attest to this, and I hope most of you reading this have been outside since leaving the womb. So with this obvious fact in mind, which is just a rebuttal to the "easier to film in the day" concept, I would like to posit that it was not the sun going super nova, but a meteor getting closer and closer to the earth. Anyone who has seen live action, or a cartoon representation of a meteor getting closer to the earth, knows that it turns into a giant fireball once it hits our atmosphere. This is just what I felt in the back of my mind as the end came nigh. It could have been the sun going supernova, but if we are really trying to figure out what McKellar was thinking, it would be best to go for the most obvious answer. I mean, our sun isn’t due to go supernova for a few billion years. And no, this message board isn’t here to correct my shotty scientific estimates.

lol seriously people, is this a big question? Why is it light outside at night? And on top of that, we're supposed to figure out on our own how the world ends? How exactly are we supposed to figure out why the world ends when that reason is complete nonsense? How about this for a brain buster....WHY IS THE WORLD ENDING AT EXACTLY 12:00 AM EASTERN TIME! What catastrophic events can happen at precisely 12 am, or whatever the time might be an any given part of the world. It's obviously not a natural disaster; the only natural disaster that can wipe out the whole planet is a meteor. The probability of a meteor hitting earth times the probability of that meteor hitting earth at exactly 12:00:00 eastern time is...well, let's just say I have a better chance of walking through a wall (the probability of which I believe is a bit less then once in the existence of the universe). There is nothing that we could have done that would cause such an instant worldwide catastrophy either. So seriously, there's no Armageddon, it's impossible. So if no Armageddon and in fact no ending, what exactly are we suppose to focus on, the miserable lives of the few people, most of which didn't have the guts to do what they wanted on their last day on earth and those that did, decided to do so in the last 2 seconds or so. Blah, gave this movie a 5 for the pure silliness of it all. But honestly, it might have started out as a good idea, but somewhere between the original idea and the production, the ball was dropped.

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As an amateur astonomer who happens to have a keen interest in meteors and other types of near earth orbiting objects I can tell you all most certainly that object which is responsible for the destruction of all mankind in this movie is a comet.

It is a well know fact in scientific circles that in the days leading up to an impact by a comet, {especialy one that is large enough to cause a mass extinction) the night sky would most certainly become brighter and brighter as the comet made it's final aproach. It most definetley would turn night into day.

Also, the sudden end, which the movie depicted as a flash of seering white light, also is what one might expect if a large comet were to crash into the surface of our planet.

The fact that the time of the demise of planet earth is known also points to an impact with an object from space such as a comet. The arrival date and time of said comet would definetley be predictable.

Any theory which includes the sun is false becuause night time would still occur as the planet completes its 24 hour cycle and in the movie there obviously was no night time period. Also, any predictable earthly disaster concerning the sun would most likely be a slow but steady heating of the planet which would result in humankind dying a more slow and less sudden death than depicted in the movie. Most likely death would occur due to excessive heat and lack of fresh drinking water as the planet slowly dried up.

I thought they handled this by mentioning something about the fact that the sun was getting closer and that's why there was no night anymore...but maybe I'm wrong..it's been a while since I saw it.

I thought it was an excellent movie, a really nice surprise to find on "IFC" one night.

There are more information.

We learned that EVERYBODY became infertile (when Sandra said she carried her husband's embryo or something). Presumably, this is due to the environmental change.

Also, two years ago, after a massive wave of illness killing people, including Pat's wife, the public were told the world will end. The illness is likely a result of the changing sun as well.

Hmm. I always thought it was a nod to one of the better Twilight Zone episodes' "The Midnight Sun". Basically it's the telling of the last couple days of two women while the earth heads closer and closer to the sun.

I thought that a comet was about to hit the earth. I either read it somewhere, or maybe a character in the movie says it.

This theory makes the most sense. If a huge comet was in the night sky it would be very bright, reflecting the sun's rays onto the Earth's dark side. It probably wouldn't be as bright as daylight, but for the sake of the plot you can stretch the truth a little.

Also, everyone knew exactly when the world was going to end. If a comet was on a collision course with Earth, we would know the impact location and time in advance by computing its trajectory in space. We would know about 6 months in advance, just like in the movie.

An impact by a comet is believed to be the cause of the dinosaur's demise.

I don't think the sun getting brighter is a good theory. If the sun were so bright (for months) that there was no night on the dark side of the Earth, the sunward side would be fried. And, they wouldn't be able to tell to the minute when the Sun would finally go Nova.