The Contrarian

First up in the Spacetime continuum…

*Look at this fucking picture of the surface of Mars.

*Once every billion years or so, heat deep with the Saturnian moon of Enceladus causes ice volcanoes to erupt like crazy. It turns out this once-in-a-billion-years event is happening right now as Cassini watches.

*Speaking of volcanos, the first “Earth like” (by which scientists mean rocky as opposed to gaseous) extrasolar planet that’s been discovered is in all liklihood a volcanic hellscape with surface temperatures reaching 4000 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s so close to its star that basically, unless its orbit draws a nearly perfect circle, tidal forces must be warping the planet’s mass all over the place and wreaking geological havoc. Deathklok is no doubt planning a music video shoot there soon.