Supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* is spinning nearly as fast as it can, dragging the very fabric of space-time with it and shaping the heart of the Milky Way.
Not even remotely close to an educated man on this topic, but could one theoretically “surf” the warping spacetime in a ship? That is move at a fast speed without the need for propulsion? I’m sure there are significant limits on where you can travel to, but just a thought that came to me while reading the article.
We use the gravity of planets to boost some probes like the Voyagers, which works as long as we want to slingshot them in the direction close enough to the direction they are orbiting. A black hole could work the same way as long as we want to move in a direction similar to its path through space.
The issue as to why this would not be helpful is two fold.
First: Light speed is slow. While it is fast when compared to human scale here on earth, in comparison to even just the size of the milky way it is incredibly slow.
For comparison: If you scaled the diameter of the milky way (80,000 L years) to the size of earth’s equator (40.000 Km) light would take 2 years to travel 1km or 3 years to travel 1 mile.
Second: It is at the centre on the galaxy, so we would first have to travel there to make use of the gravity well and then travel back at the higher speed. Also the radiation is so high within several light years of it that we could not build a craft with enough shielding to stop humans from being fried when still years away in travel time.
Should I be worried???
I dunno, it’s kinda nice to be dragged through spacetime.
The ultimate ride!
Don’t worry, because it’s moving at the speed of light it’s nowhere near where we are seeing it now!
… or is thar more worrying?
