In Star Trek, a spatial vortex is a wormhole-like phenomenon that allows rapid travel over great distances. In the Delta Quadrant, there was a spatial vortex connecting one side of the region known as the Void to the other. In the 2370s, the Malon Controller Emck used the vortex to dump antimatter waste in the Void, far from the Malon home territories. The theta radiation from the waste caused severe radiation poisoning in the Void's native inhabitants.

In 2375, Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager was determined to destroy the vortex to stop the Malon's pollution of the Void. With support from the Void aliens, Voyager destroyed Emck's freighter and fired photon torpedoes as it entered the vortex. As the vortex collapsed, Voyager jumped into high warp and rode the shock wave to the other side. (VOY: "Night").

In physics, a vortex is a spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex. The speed and rate of rotation of the fluid are greatest at the center, and decrease progressively with distance from the center. There are various astrophysical phenomena that are considered vortices, including the accretion disk of a black hole or other massive gravitational source. Spiral galaxies (such as our own Milky Way galaxy) are characterized by a thin, rotating disk. A sunspot - a dark region on the Sun's surface - is also a vortex, marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings, and intense magnetic activity. Hurricane on Earth are vortices marked by a swirling body of clouds and similar, but far greater, vortices are also seen on other planets, such as the permanent Great Red Spot on Jupiter and the intermittent Great Dark Spot on Neptune.