Science fiction?
Troy Walsh
It is a bit of a lark That the best way to discover Dark matter Lurking everywhere Is by the flicker When it hits ordinary matter In a radiation resistant chamber Deep underground In Stawell, Victoria Does it mean anything To think To act Like a troglodyte Jules Verne would agree Subterranean adventures Can loosen the grasp We have on our surface existence Our orbit A halo that glitters Less in December More in June Calibrated by Wielding a SABRE Carefully In a kilometre-deep hole Downunder
The science inspiring the piece:
Standing under the brilliant night skies of Central Australia as a startalker in the 2000s left more questions than I could ever give to the well-dressed diners sharing the glittering view. The dark spaces between were difficult to explain and maybe only slightly less over the decades since watching the moon rise over Uluru.
I remember reading something like this back in 2022, 'Laboratory to study dark matter opens 1km under Australian town – with no bananas allowed' via The Guardian, and being intrigued at how scientists seemed to be going conversely into the centre of our small rock of existence searching for this "cosmic ghost".
