See you, space cowboy

I can't help big brain-smiles of glee when I see the pictures coming in from Curiosity, the NASA rover that landed on Mars this month. Space always has a way of melting me into doe-eyed wonder, and to see these shots, to know that this is what you would see if you were standing on Mars makes my head blow up BIG BANG STYLE.

I don't care if it's a hunk of red dirt. It's another world that we're seeing like never before.

And think of how much more there is to see out there! What do the Earth-sized storms on Jupiter look like? When do we get a good sight of a black hole? (Or what's around it anyway). How about the unfurling edges of the universe?!

Obviously I'm not expecting any quick answers there, but this stuff has been infecting my dreams since I was a kid, and I'm ecstatic to see even the smallest scrap of it for real.

Patience, my eyeballs—someday I will launch you out there too!