Editing 502: Dark Flow

{{comic
| number    = 502
| date      = November 10, 2008
| title     = Dark Flow
| image     = dark_flow.png
| titletext = The Pioneer anomaly is due to the force of my love.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about {{w|astronomy}} and the {{w|Your Mom}} jokes that have become increasingly widespread in urban parlance. [[Beret Guy]] is reading a research paper presumably discussing {{w|Dark Flow}}, an observed anomaly in the motions of the galaxies that some theorize is caused by an unobservable sibling universe or similarly supermassive object beyond the edge of the visible universe. [[Cueball]] sees this as an opportunity to make yet another Your Mom joke, implying that Beret Guy's mother is fat.

But apparently, Beret Guy's mother is dead, or at least missing, and he takes the joke seriously. He looks toward the sky and wishes that his mom pull harder so that he could be with her. The joke has been turned onto itself.

The title text is a continuation of Beret Guy's thoughts and refers to another piece of science phenomenon that has been observed in space, the {{w|Pioneer Anomaly}}. The ''{{w|Pioneer 10}}'' and ''{{w|Pioneer 11}}'' spacecraft had been slowed down by an (at the time) unknown force as they exited the solar system, which he says is caused by the force of his love, probably toward his mom. This force has since been explained entirely in 2012 by the probes being decelerated by thermal radiation.

In [[2310: Great Attractor]], the more local {{w|Great Attractor}} is pulling Beret Guy so hard that he can sleep on vertical surfaces when it is close to the horizon.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is sitting at a computer, and Cueball is sitting in an armchair, reading either a book or a newspaper.]
:Beret Guy: According to this A.S.T. paper, every galaxy is being pulled toward one area of the sky.

:[Only Cueball.]
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: They hypothesize that it may be due to a supermassive object beyond the edge of the visible universe.
:Cueball: Maybe it's your mom. Zing!

:[Only Beret Guy.]
:Beret Guy: Do you think?

:[Outside at night, on a rooftop. Beret Guy is looking up to the sky, next to a telescope.]
:Beret Guy: Pull harder, mom.
:Beret Guy: I Miss you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]