This is the correct take. Game devs have been creating game-optimized models using the same tools as other 3d artists for decades.

I’m not so sure… At those speeds, it would’ve taken under 10 seconds to completely clear the atmosphere. Even with intense compressional heating, I don’t think it would’ve been in contact with the atmosphere long enough to completely vaporize — although it probably didn’t look much like a manhole cover anymore by the time it escaped.

I think the self-censoring was moreso out of concern for upsetting the Reddit admins than it was for companies like Nintendo.

Daughter, I think?

Uday, Qusay and Hitsune.

It actually is water.

The existence of water on Mars has been completely uncontroversial for decades now — it exists in trace amounts in the Martian atmosphere and in large amounts as permafrost under the top layer of Mars’ soil. This particular cloud forms when sunlight causes that permafrost to sublimate into water vapor. As it rises higher into the atmosphere, the temperature drops and that vapor flash freezes back into tiny ice crystals to create the cloud.

What has been speculated for decades is whether or not any liquid water exists on Mars (which we now believe it does, but only in very short-lived seasonal flows that evaporate almost immediately in the extremely low-pressure environment).

Arsia Mons! One of Mars’ largest volcanos, and part of an arc of three known collectively as the Tharsis Montes. The volcano to the top right is Pavonis Mons, and further beyond (past the visible horizon) is Ascraeus Mons. The much more famous Olympus Mons is also found in the same region, to the northeast of the Tharsis Montes (which would be towards the bottom right in this particular image).

Interestingly, that massive cloud formation is a yearly phenomenon that happens right before the start of winter. The size of the cloud trail varies from year to year, but it’s not uncommon for it to stretch more than 1000 kilometers.

Hey, I’ve had this as my desktop background for almost a decade now! Easily my favorite picture of anything “space”.

As for your question, it looks like Pluto has an atmosphere in the picture because, well, it does. Although it’s very thin, Pluto’s atmosphere is primarily nitrogen, so if you stood on the surface during daytime the sky would appear a very familiar blue color.

Here’s another shot taken by New Horizons where you can see it much more clearly: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Blue_hazes_over_backlit_Pluto.jpg

Hey, if you wanna feel really old, look up how long it’s been since Pluto was demoted from being a planet.

spoiler alert: its been 18 freaking years

Again! Again!

Rad. Do Microsoft next.

This myth is probably prevalent because corporations have spent the last 40 years squeezing every cheat and every advantage they can out of the system — to the point where anything that even smells like a “good gesture” is rightfully met with suspicion and contempt from the people they’ve been so blissfully exploring.

It’s a marketing thing. Stuff like this creates the illusion that they’re good corporate citizens.

Of course, they could donate a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of their own profits and make a much bigger impact, but that would set a bad precedent! Giving away your money is only for the working class!

It’s entirely possible these aren’t real players, but are actually some kind of automated testing scripts or service monitors that someone forgot (or just never cared) to turn off before getting sacked, running on a forgotten QA box somewhere deep in the bowels of Sony.

This honestly wouldn’t surprise me.

Musk has the ear of the president, and it’s not like Trump gives a shit about space. He’ll rubber stamp whatever Elon wants when it comes to the launch industry, and I didn’t think I have to explain to anyone why cancelling SLS would be good for SpaceX’s bottom line.

Frankly, I think 50/50 odds are way too generous. More like 80/20 in favor of SLS being scraped and access to space being fully privatized for a generation.

I saw one the other day painted neon yellow. Believe it or not, it actually seemed like an improvement.

that’s why it’s not that big

Bro, what do you consider big??

It’s only fine until those sulfates react with water vapor in the atmosphere to form sulphuric acid. That stuff rains back down and contributes to ocean acidification which is causing serious harm to all sorts of marine ecosystems.

“And then it got worse.”

It does!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc4pxTjii9c

To be fair, that is a pretty funny prank.

“Oh, you wanted comedy? Here, have this harrowing tale about genocide and the great depths of human suffering instead!”