Independance Day - film - error in film# An object with one quarter the mass of the Moon, parked in geostationary orbit, would create tidal forces 25 times greater than the moon, causing earthquakes, flooding of coastal areas, and volcanic eruptions (although presumably, the invaders discovered a way to negate the gravitational pull of their ships, making it possible for them to be constructed in the first place).[5] # In the beginning of the film, when the mothership is shown heading over the Moon towards Earth, it appears to be flying no more than 50 feet from the surface. Later, when Hiller and Levinson fly towards the mothership in the alien fighter, large projections are seen at the bottom of the mother ship. If it was moving that close to the moon, the projections should have damaged the moon but it is possible that the projections could have been lowered later on by the aliens. # The newspaper Constance Spano holds in her hands during an early scene in the White House has a winter-time weather map on the back. However, the events take place in the summer. # Most nuclear weapons do not have a blast radius large enough to destroy even one of the alien destroyers, let alone a ship 1/4 the size of the moon. (Presumably, however, the initiation of a nuclear explosion inside the alien ship would have consumed alien power generators inside the ship and thus caused a chain reaction similar to the destruction of the city-destroyer ships when their primary weapon was damaged.) # When the destroyer arrives over Washington, D.C, the shadow it creates is going northwards, from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol Building. In the next shot, the White House is shown with the shadow going over it from the lawn, even though the lawn is west of the Washington Monument, and the destroyer's shadow had passed the White House already. The shadow should have gone from the East Wing of the White House to the West Wing.