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As we all know the Death Star is spherical. I don't know if it generates gravity on its own or has a gravity generator, but that's not important. I think we have basically two scenarios:

  1. Gravity works the same way as Earth. If you are in the lower hemisphere, you are upside down, but that's normal for you.

    If that's the case, when would the gravity shift? What if you're taking an elevator, would it be same as in the Total Recall remake?

  2. Everyone has the same gravity. Same as if you were in one big house.

    Now what if the trench ran in the lower hemisphere. Would the stormtroopers in the turrets be upside down?

I accept any sort of canon.

Möoz
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Zikato
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    Not to mention spaceships. I mean, how does gravity work on the Millennium Falcon? And what about the gravity on that tiny asteroid where they landed in ESB. – Mr Lister Jan 15 '16 at 12:32
  • MF is not moon-sized and can rotate. – Zikato Jan 15 '16 at 12:45
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    Realistic gravity seems to be ignored in the Star Wars universe, e.g. everything is pulled down from the camera perspective. It seems even centrifugal force gets neglected in spaceships like the MF or even smaller vessels like A/Y/X-Wings. – Thomas Jan 15 '16 at 12:55
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    How does the Death Star gravity work? Very well, thank you. – Paul D. Waite Jan 15 '16 at 13:39
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    “when would the gravity shift? What if you're taking an elevator” — an elevator through the centre of the Death Star? They probably don’t have such a thing, given that it’s the size of a small moon. – Paul D. Waite Jan 15 '16 at 13:41
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    A sidenote - the Total Recall remake example is fairly unrealistic. The way the elevator was designed, they would have been in freefall the whole duration, rather than just for a few seconds at the core. It's a common misunderstanding of gravity and inertia, though... – Luaan Jan 15 '16 at 16:02
  • @Thomas Blasters work the same way--their speed is based on the distance across the frame as the viewer perceives it. Maybe the Star Wars universe canonically takes place inside some great cosmic movie. – Milo P Jan 15 '16 at 17:11
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    Define "lower hemisphere". – chepner Jan 15 '16 at 19:12
  • If you're on the inside of a (hollow or mostly hollow) sphere, gravity emphatically does not work the same way as it does on the surface of Earth. The math to demonstrate this is kind of tricky, but the upshot is that at any point inside of the sphere, you'd be in 0G because the gravitic pulls from the various directions all around you cancel each other out. So artificial gravity has to be involved. – Mason Wheeler Jan 15 '16 at 21:00
  • @MasonWheeler But the Death Star is no hollow sphere. Sure it has a lot of empty corridors and shafts, but on average its mass is fairly evenly distributed through and through. So (in the absence of any artificial gravity machines) it does work like a solid sphere, albeit of a low density. – Mr Lister Jan 15 '16 at 21:21
  • "If that's the case, when would the gravity shift?" When does the gravity shift as you travel on the surface of Earth? – fluffy Jan 15 '16 at 21:57
  • @fluffy That's not an accurate analogy because we only travel around the surface of the Earth; in the Death Star there are likely pathways directly through the middle of the sphere, or at least very close to that.

    My guess is either some sort of exotic matter or it spins. The center likely doesn't have some kind of massive object because traveling too closely to it would likely kill humans due to pressure. But maybe there is something there and different species are restricted to different parts of the station for this reason? Interesting thought...

     – TylerH Jan 16 '16 at 02:52
  • @fluffy - we'd have to ask someone who has traveled through the core, I guess. – PoloHoleSet Aug 08 '16 at 19:08

2 Answers2

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From the old West End Games D6 Roleplaying Game (Second Edition) supplement Death Star Technical Companion, Chapter Two: Technical Specifications, p. 16, right column:

Gravity within the battle station was handled by omni-directional gravity boosters built into the decks, walls and ceilings. These gravity boosters changed orientation as easily as flipping a switch, and they were designed to allow the gravity orientation to be altered from sector to sector, or even from corridor to corridor. While hangar bays imposed gravity perpendicular to the Death Star's core, adjoining corridors shifted the gravity orientation to coreward. In a situation where the gravity orientation changed from one section to the next, there were numerous warning signs. However, most gravity orientation transitions were accomplished by turbolifts, which employ gravity compensators oriented to the lift's floor. While the lift was in transit, it would rotate to match the orientation of the destination deck, while the compensators would keep the occupants perfectly comfortable and completely unaware that the gravity orientation had changed at all.

To go into the specifics of the question:

  1. Gravity does -- for the most part -- work as on Earth (or any other celestial body), and you are upside down in the lower hemisphere, or rather, Space is always above you (which is a good thing while, for instance, manning a turbolaser battery).

    • The gravtiy changes are carefully marked wherever they occur (near a hangar, probably also near the core or the superlaser maintenance ducts - otherwise those poor guys would have to climb a 120km (or 160km in DS-2) long ladder). Elevators (i.e. turbolifts) have their own gravity, so the capsule rotates but noone inside feels it, you just get on and off and maybe in between the gravity has changed orientation a few times, but you wouldn't even know.

  2. Only within a specific area do the people experience the same gravity.

BMWurm
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    This is why I love this site; what a beautifully obscure source! – VapedCrusader Jan 15 '16 at 14:04
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    @VapedCrusader Fortunately I knew the info was in there, because I had asked myself the same question back in the day when I read it the first time, but it stlil took me a bit to dig up the book from the correct box in the attic... :P – BMWurm Jan 15 '16 at 14:11
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    is this technical companion part of the canon? – njzk2 Jan 15 '16 at 15:51
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    @njzk2 Legends at best, but possibly only canon for WEG's games themselves (some WEG material is part of Legends canon, some was excluded). Fortunately the asker accepts "any sort of canon" :3 – recognizer Jan 15 '16 at 16:23
  • The problem we have then, is that while the Millennium Falcon seems to have gravity oriented towards the bottom even while in space and not rotating, we have seen that the gravity orients to the top when the ship is flying upside-down in TFA - the scene where we see BB-8 rolling around on the ceiling before deploying grappling hooks. They were in an atmosphere, though. It's possible the artificial graivty boosters only operate while in space? – Darrel Hoffman Jan 15 '16 at 16:34
  • @DarrelHoffman Speculation: It's possible that BB-8's rolling around wasn't due solely to gravity. Other factors could be at play, like inertia. Additionally, it's possible that the Falcon's gravity systems weren't working properly at the time and that some kind of interplay with the planet's gravity had an effect. It had been stolen 3 or 4 times at that point, and we have no idea what its state of repair was. (It was generally falling apart at the seems even with Han and Chewy giving it all their TLC.) – jpmc26 Jan 15 '16 at 17:31
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    "so the capsule rotates but no one inside feels it, you just get on and off and maybe in between the gravity has changed orientation a few times, but you wouldn't even know." That's not how physics works. Even if passengers always felt a gravity-like force towards the bottom of the capsule they would absolutely notice the rotation. – Turn Jan 15 '16 at 18:45
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    @Turn Perhaps there are also physics compensation devices? – cyberbit Jan 15 '16 at 18:49
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    To be fair, that is just some technobabbling to cover up that they really did not even remotely care or knew about actual physics when filming the movie. I mean, I am ok with SW being scientifically unrealistic, couldn't we just live with it instead of making up bizarre explanation that are equally unrealistic? – SJuan76 Jan 15 '16 at 20:39
  • Just watched A New Hope with the kids for the first time the other day, and there was a part where they are manning the guns on the Falcon. One gunner climbs up, one gunner climbs down, but after a good shot they look at each other down the shaft and it just really seemed like the gravity was oriented differently compared to the rest of the ship since one would be hanging in his straps otherwise. It struck me at the time that they must have different gravity in the gun area. It was right after escaping the Death Star. I'd double check my impressions, but I am at work. – AndyD273 Jan 15 '16 at 21:07
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    @Turn: Artificial gravity isn't how physics works. Anyhow, people don't feel gravity or acceleration. What they feel is compression or expansion from acceleration. If a person were spinning really quickly, you could apply differential agrav to different portions of their bodies so centrifugal forces weren't felt (although they're still there). This applies extra loads on the turbolift, but that's fine. Also, slowly-rotating turbolifts wouldn't be noticeable -- they already use this fact in some motion simulators. – MichaelS Jan 15 '16 at 21:12
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This is an excerpt from the excellent Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy: The Ultimate Guide to the Incredible Locations of Episodes IV, V, and VI factbook. As you can see, gravity on the Death Star is generated locally. On the outermost layers of the vessel, the orientation is toward the centre. Once you go more than a few layer inside, the gravity is then stacked top to bottom.

enter image description here

Valorum
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