In the relatively new science of astronomy the doors are wide open for new theories and principles regarding black holes, supernovas, extrasolar planets, and other astronomical phenomenon's. The fact is that these phenomenon's are so mysterious that even with the new technology and advancements astronomers can only infer and suggest their countless theories. It is only the lack of more complete evidence enables these speculative theories to survive. These exploratory theories compose the majority of the field of astronomy and without the astronomers inferences the science would be a dull and uninteresting science. It is evident that much of the interest in astronomy is created by the element of uncertainty. The mystery behind these phenomenon's and the curiosity of discovering the answers to the age-old questions fuel astronomers and average individuals to investigate the realm of astronomy.
In the article "Heart of Darkness" by Robert Zimmerman it was apparent that many of the theories where based on inferences rather than concrete evidence. The article itself is about the black hole phenomenon and center of the Milky Way. The reason that inferences are used rather than facts is that in the realm of astronomy very few things can be certain. Astronomy is an observational science rather than an experimental. In addition, we can hardly fathom the distances, masses, and speeds of the phenomenon's. For instance, Zimmerman proceeds to state that the black hole contains a mass of 2.6 million times that of the sun. This number if actually written out would fill this line entire line with zeros. .
Nevertheless, if astrologers could fathom these amounts, they would still be limited from actually seeing these phenomenon's. In the case of black hole's it is actually impossible to observe the phenomenon, since no matter or light can escape the hole. Therefore, astrologers based their theories of black holes not on actually proof, but on inferences made by the observations of the surrounding areas of the black holes.