1. Comment #428710 by TIKI AL on November 1, 2009 at 4:23 pm

Spoiler alert: thousands of godbots will claim to see a perfect 8 by 10 glossy of Jesus in the "mysterious haze".

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2. Comment #428722 by SaintStephen on November 1, 2009 at 4:54 pm

Cosmological calculations indicate that it should also be full of dark matter particles, whose clumps form the gravitational scaffolding for the thin film of visible matter in the universe.

Apparently the galactic core is also a muse for this writer. Well done, Dennis.

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3. Comment #428745 by zengardener on November 1, 2009 at 7:37 pm

This is pretty cool. I might be cooler if I could understand it. Back to school...

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4. Comment #428759 by j.mills on November 1, 2009 at 8:38 pm

Limerick Summary News Service!

The galaxy's centre's ablaze!
"We don't know what's happening!" Bloom says.
"Dark force!" says Doc Weiner.
"Works for me!" says Finkbeiner.
But what's it all mean? It's a haze...

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5. Comment #428771 by christianapologetic on November 1, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Sometimes I feel like science is a guy with no pallet wolfing down a gigantic hershey bar and remarking on the texture and squareness and paying no mind to the delightful taste which is the purpose of the whole damn thing. It's starting to get annoying.

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6. Comment #428776 by TuftedPuffin on November 1, 2009 at 9:39 pm

So, christianapologetic, what is the "delightful taste" of nigh-invisible high energy particles at the center of our galaxy?

(Hint, your answer can be one of up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange)

Ed: Not saying they're quarks, but if we're talking flavour...

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7. Comment #428783 by bendigeidfran on November 1, 2009 at 9:56 pm

Pallet?

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8. Comment #428784 by Quetzalcoatl on November 1, 2009 at 9:56 pm

christianapologetic-

I'm not here to debate, I'm here to remark on whichever article I choose to

Well how does your comment 5 have any bearing upon the article in question? You could be talking about anything.

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9. Comment #428790 by Border Collie on November 1, 2009 at 10:40 pm

christianapologetic ... That is a very worn out, inaccurate, uninfomed view of science invented by those who have not one percent of the awe and enjoyment of reality that most scientists have. If science is annoying to you, I'd suggest that you're in for a very long, rough and annoying ride by coming to this site. And, I'm not nearly one of the most intelligent, most educated, most literate or most expressive of the "square" Hershey bar eaters who comment here.

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10. Comment #428794 by Mr DArcy on November 1, 2009 at 10:53 pm

Don't pick on the Christians! It makes them feel justified in self-righteousness. Here we have a real mystery. 25% of the universe appears to be made of dark matter, i.e. we can't "see" it, but its effects are clear. But here, maybe, just maybe, is some evidence of its actual existence.

There is certainly is more evidence of dark matter than there is of the Jewish carpenter who supposedly built the universe no doubt using only wood from recyclable sources.
The "delightful taste" of religion only leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

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11. Comment #428802 by Nunbeliever on November 1, 2009 at 11:41 pm

HEY! They've found GOD!!

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12. Comment #428807 by prolibertas on November 1, 2009 at 11:54 pm

I'm with Mr DArcy. Christians think they're blessed when they're persecuted, remember? Martyrdom puffs them up with their own sense of self-importance. Just counter them from the positive angle of simply reveling in the awe that science can provide, and people like christianapologetic will be rebutted without giving them the masochistic satisfaction they crave.

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13. Comment #428808 by beelzebub on November 1, 2009 at 11:59 pm

Seriously, isn't this way more interesting and exciting than the myths of the proverbial bunch of goat-herders?
I really feel sorry for the likes of 'christianapologetic', do they really want their world-view to be so small and constrained? Where's their imagination? Their breadth of vision? Their sense of wonder and discovery?

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14. Comment #428811 by aoratos philos on November 2, 2009 at 12:10 am

I think christianapologetic is criticising materialism. Presumably he wants emotional or aesthetic appeal to take centre stage over observation and objective descriptions of reality?

You atheists are just too dam cold and soulless I tell you!! ;)
(Opens his copy of Unweaving the Rainbow)

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15. Comment #428818 by NewEnglandBob on November 2, 2009 at 12:28 am

christianapologetic of #5 meant palate in his nonsense comment.

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16. Comment #428823 by j.mills on November 2, 2009 at 12:43 am

aoratos philos said:

I think christianapologetic is criticising materialism. Presumably he wants emotional or aesthetic appeal to take centre stage over observation and objective descriptions of reality?

Might that have anything to do with the fact that *anyone* is capable of an emotional response, whereas actually finding stuff out, and understanding it, takes real work? Theists have evidence-envy.

Seems to me that looking at the sky and not knowing about all the magnificently interesting stuff that the astronomers turn up every day - that is like eating the Hershey bar without tasting it.

(Not that I've ever tasted one. Brit, we don't have 'em. What is it, chocolate or a cakey thing or what?)

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17. Comment #428835 by kyleclements on November 2, 2009 at 1:42 am

christianapologetic, you are begging the question by suggesting that there is a purpose to the universe.

Your comment also misses the true purpose of a Hershey bar. The purpose of a Hershey bar is to generate profit. Being delicious is a side product. Disgusting bars wouldn't sell nearly as well.

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18. Comment #428837 by Anath on November 2, 2009 at 1:50 am

Dove, Ghirardelli > Hershey

And I thought for a second he meant palette, wondered what painting had to do with eating candy. :P

As for OP... very interesting and inspiring stuff. I'm interested to see the final conclusions after more data and analysis.

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19. Comment #428838 by Border Collie on November 2, 2009 at 2:15 am

Yes, it's decent, worker-bee chocolate. I've had much better, though. Pardon me for my persecution ... I just suddenly felt Roman. Oh, wait, is it politically correct to say that Rome existed? I mean, it's always something ... evolution, speed of light, the sphereicity of the Earth, heliocentricity, pi, sex, germ theory ...

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20. Comment #428849 by effymeral on November 2, 2009 at 3:58 am

Comment #428771 by christianapologetic
Sometimes I feel like science is a guy with no pallet wolfing down a gigantic hershey bar and remarking on the texture and squareness and paying no mind to the delightful taste which is the purpose of the whole damn thing. It's starting to get annoying.

isn't it wonderful though that science discovers these things for us to appreciate?

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21. Comment #428868 by Sarmatae1 on November 2, 2009 at 7:16 am

Go no further if you are not amused by mindless dribble, you have been warned, the rest of this post contains less than 100 calories, is only 3% fat and contains little to no useful information.

Once again science fiction is one step ahead of science fact. They already addressed this question of a "haze" around the center of the galaxy in Star Trek V "The Final Frontier" where the Enterprise was hijacked by Spock's half brother Sybock, who embraces emotion and has a spooky mind meld/mind control method. Sybock uses the Enterprise to pierce a haze barrier, which is clearly the "haze" scientist have now verified exists, to get to the center of the galaxy and finally to the planet Shangri-La. Where there exists a judeo christian like god creature trapped, that asks them to bring the ship closer that he might use it. Then tries to strike down Kirk when he questioned why god would need a Starship to leave the planet.

Though clearly god like creatures are not new to Kirk or his crew, having done battle with a few over the decades, as they had with Apollo in episode 33 season 2 "Who Mourns for Adonais?". Where the Enterprise is held by a forcefield in the shape of a human hand. It turns out to be the hand of Apollo.

In Star Trek V Kirk defeats and escapes this god like creature in the center of the galaxy on Shangri-La with the help of Spock's half brother Sybock, who is repentant that he was mistaken about the paradise they would find there.

The movie was not one of the best in the series but was notable for the camaraderie scene with Kirk, Spock and McCoy and with Kirk's foretelling admission in the start of the film, after having nearly been killed in a fall from mountain climbing, that he was not afraid and knew he was not going to die because

Kirk: "Me what did I do?"
McCoy: "You really piss me off Jim. Human life is far too precious to risk on crazy stunts. Maybe it didn't cross that macho mind of yours, but you should have been killed when you fell off that mountain".
Kirk: "It crossed my mind".
McCoy: "And?"
Kirk: "And, even as I fell, I knew I wouldn't die".
McCoy: Nodding to Spock; "I thought he was the only one that was immortal".
Kirk: "I knew I wouldn't die because the two of you were with me".
Spock: " I do not understand".
Kirk: "I've always known, I'll die alone".

Scene eventually concluding with singing of row row row the boat.

The camping setting was the best part of the movie and the camaraderie between the actors and the characters captured in this scene was not to be seen again with TOS leading character crew in any further movies.

On a side note, the special effects in this movie were marginally good as Paramount had most of their special effects crews tied up in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade and Ghostbusters 2. Since the usual special effects crews with tried and true formats for constructing sets and special effects were largely unavailable, the film ran over budget and was forced to make many changes to the ending, where Kirk is chased by an amorphous cloud god creature shooting lightning bolts, instead of the rock creatures intended in the script. Which would have been better in my opinion.

Now aincha glad you wasted your time reading the whole post?

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22. Comment #428875 by Mr DArcy on November 2, 2009 at 8:27 am

christianapologetic had better appreciate his Hershey bars in the here and now. There certainly won't be any pie in the sky! (Unless , of course, we all end up in Vallhalla!)

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23. Comment #428907 by William Carlton on November 2, 2009 at 1:19 pm

Do you guys really have to get so worked up over a sock puppet? You're making us look bad.

Never break character, c!

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24. Comment #428924 by TIKI AL on November 2, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Consuming chocolate and having an orgasm are merely 2 ways of satisfying the never ending needs of the reward center of the brain.

Depending on the technique used, both can be quite messy.

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25. Comment #428937 by Lucas on November 2, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Could be anything; thanks for noticing it's existence, no thanks on the speculation as to what it is. Keep working on those warp drives so we can go collect some of it.

Sarmatae1 - My inner Trekkie thanks you.

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26. Comment #429070 by Mr DArcy on November 2, 2009 at 9:49 pm

Keep working on those warp drives so we can go collect some of it.

Warp drives eh? Is that what priests use in their brains?

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27. Comment #429074 by Lucas on November 2, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Never seen the inside of a priest brain. Hmm...

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28. Comment #429081 by j.mills on November 2, 2009 at 10:14 pm

I find that the ideal precision tool for examining clerical neurology is the machete. You can try banging them on the head with razor-sharp arguments, but somehow they don't penetrate... :)

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29. Comment #429090 by Mr DArcy on November 2, 2009 at 10:34 pm

I find that the ideal precision tool for examining clerical neurology is the machete.

But surely such an insensitive instrument will sever the hot-line to (name deity)? Is this where warp drives prove handy?

Hell isn't theology fun!

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30. Comment #429232 by jaf on November 3, 2009 at 1:23 pm

". . .the dark side of creation. . ."

???
How did that sneak in?

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31. Comment #429334 by alaskansee on November 3, 2009 at 10:05 pm

@ 5. Comment #428771 by christianapologetic on November 1, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Clearly there is a vast chasm in CA's understanding of the known universe.

As Hitchens would say - "hersheys poisons everything"

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32. Comment #429493 by Mr DArcy on November 4, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Have you tried Death By Chocolate?

Instant coronary!

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