A Sea of Spinning Clouds - NASA Science (.gov)

The generation of artificial gravity via a spinning spacecraft is a popular trope in science fiction, but how possible would it be to make this science fact? The cornerstone of Einstein’s general theory of relativity is his observation that gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable.

This visible light wide-field view shows the rich star clouds in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) in the direction of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is anchored by a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A*, that has a mass over four million times greater than the sun. While Sagittarius A* exerts an influence on everything inside its cosmic neighborhood, astronomers have detected one particular cosmic thrall that may offer a glimpse into some of the universe’s most profound and puzzling concepts. As researchers detail in a study published today in the journal Nature, a star dubbed S301 exists so close to Sagittarius A*, that it races around the black hole at over 15,500 miles per second. S301’s circumstances are so unique that astrophysicists described the stellar object as “unprecedented.”