Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 13, 2016

14

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 13, 2016 

 
MYSTERIOUS, FLOATING HILLS IN PLUTO’S “HEART”


The nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appear to 
carry an intriguing cargo: numerous, isolated 
hills that may be fragments of water ice from 
Pluto’s surrounding uplands. These hills 
individually measure one to several miles 
across, according to images and data from 
NASA’s New Horizons mission.

 The hills, which are in the vast ice plain 
informally named Sputnik Planum within 
Pluto’s “heart,” are likely miniature versions 
of the larger, jumbled mountains on Sputnik 
Planum’s western border. They are yet 
another example of Pluto’s fascinating and 
abundant geological activity.

 Because water ice is less dense than 
nitrogen-dominated ice, scientists believe 
these water ice hills are floating in a sea of 
frozen nitrogen and move over time like 
icebergs in Earth’s Arctic Ocean. The hills 
are likely fragments of the rugged uplands 
that have broken away and are being carried 
by the nitrogen glaciers into Sputnik Planum. 
“Chains” of the drifting hills are formed 
along the flow paths of the glaciers. When 
the hills enter the cellular terrain of central 
Sputnik Planum, they become subject to the 
convective motions of the nitrogen ice, and 
are pushed to the edges of the cells, where the 
hills cluster in groups reaching up to 12 miles 
across.

 At the northern end of the image, the 
feature informally named Challenger Colles—
honoring the crew of the lost space shuttle 
Challenger—appears to be an especially large 
accumulation of these hills, measuring 37 
by 22 miles. This feature is located near the 
boundary with the uplands, away from the 
cellular terrain, and may represent a location 
where hills have been “beached” due to the 
nitrogen ice being especially shallow.

 The image shows the inset in context next 
to a larger view that covers most of Pluto’s 
encounter hemisphere. The inset was obtained 
by New Horizons’ Multispectral Visible 
Imaging Camera (MVIC) instrument. North 
is up; illumination is from the top-left of the 
image. The image resolution is about 1050 
feet per pixel. The image measures a little 
over 300 miles long and about 210 miles wide. 
It was obtained at a range of approximately 
9,950 miles from Pluto, about 12 minutes 
before New Horizons’ closest approach to 
Pluto on July 14, 2015.

 A VALENTINE FOR CLYDE TOMBAUGH. 
The light-colored heart-shaped region, 
estimated to be 1000 miles across, was one of 
the most prominent features seen when New 
Horizons began sending close-ups of Pluto. 
From three billion miles away, Pluto had 
sent a “love note” back to Earth. Launched 
on January 19, 2006, the spacecraft had 
traveled nearly a decade to receive its summer 
valentine.

 Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a young 
amateur astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh (1906–
1997), a farm boy without college education 
who had taken a job as assistant at the Lowell 
Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was the 
first object to be found in what would later be 
identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of its 
discovery, Pluto was considered to be the Solar 
System’s ninth planet, but it was reclassified 
in 2006 by the International Astronomical 
Union (IAU)—which has the responsibility 
for naming astronomical bodies—as a “dwarf 
planet.”

 Tombaugh spent much of his later life in 
New Mexico, where—after the IAU’s decision 
to downgrade Pluto to a dwarf planet—
the State Legislature honored him with a 
proclamation stating that “in New Mexico, 
Pluto will always be known as a planet.”

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

REVIEWING ONE’S LIFE

WILL THERE BE CELL PHONES IN HEAVEN?

[Nyerges is the author of 
several books, including 
“Extreme Simplicity,” “How 
to Survive Anywhere,” and 
others. He can be reached 
at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, 
CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, 
where you can also view his blogs.]

 Since 1977, I have done something called a 
Birthday Run, taught to me by my mentor as a better 
and more uplifting way to commemorate one’s 
birthday. Originally, I would go to a local track and 
run one lap per year as I recalled the highlights of 
that year. Some years I have run alone, and some 
years I have run with friends who chose to come and 
support the run. I have run in the dark, in the rain, 
in the fog, and on sunny days. One or two years I did 
not run at all because I was sick, and it wasn’t the 
same when I ran a week later. And over the years, 
my “laps” have grown shorter, otherwise I would be 
running those slow laps for several hours and would 
have trouble walking for days after. 

 This year I ran alone – other than an occasional 
hawk and one coyote -- and I found my lap in the 
bottomlands of the Arroyo Seco. It was quiet and 
eerily peaceful as I continued the cycles through 
my life, replaying the mental movie of each year 
after each year, going to school, moving around, 
and my interactions with various people.

 My mind began to look at the financial side of 
my life, and perhaps, more specifically, the non-
financial side to my life. Perhaps this was because 
of the recent PowerBall game where so many were 
talking about nothing else but what they’d do if 
they suddenly had all that money. I realized that I 
too could do so much more, so much more quickly, 
if I had a few spare million in the bank, maybe. 

 As I ran through my years, I realized that I 
operated mostly in financial ignorance, and in a 
financial fairy-land. Yes, money was always an 
element, and yes, money was often the limiting 
factor in so many endeavors. Money was like 
oxygen – you just had to have it. But I think, like 
most people, my school and family discussions 
were wholly insufficient as any sort of real financial 
training for dealing with the real world. I moved 
from activity to activity based on my areas of 
interest, and when money was needed, I got it – 
somehow – or I curtailed the activity. 

 But because of my financial ignorance, I found 
other ways to pursue my goals, ways that seemed 
more difficult at the time, but which were actually 
more wholistic ways to pursue my life’s interests. 
Without a car, I often bicycled, and formed 
friendships so that several of us could travel 
together. If I wanted to attend workshops or field 
trips, I learned that I could convince my friends 
that they’d want to attend also, and invariably, 
someone had a car.

 And I discovered and lived my life utilizing 
so many of the low-cost and free benefits of 
our modern society: buses, public libraries, 
public recreation centers, free hiking in the local 
mountains, free lectures, clubs and organizations 
where people just got together and did things. 
Eventually, somewhat fortuitously and almost by 
accident, I was a squatter for a year and a half on 
an acre property on the edge of Los Angeles. It 
was quite an adventure. I learned how to live well 
cheaply, and I learned how to solicit individual 
investors in my book and other projects. 

 I am sure I would have done a lot of this very 
differently had I been born into wealth, but as I 
looked back, I realized that I learned some very 
important lessons by simply finding solutions to 
life’s problems without being able to just “throw 
money at it.”

 That was one theme that went through my mind 
this year. Another was relationships.

 By my age, one has had many relationships, 
and many types of relationships. In my mind, a 
mental movie played of the various people in my 
life and how I treated them: mother, father, friends, 
teachers, girl friends, wives, business associates. 
When I do this annual run, I am looking for what 
I did right, but mostly what I did wrong so that I 
can do it better next time around. I felt great pain 
at the many things I did wrong as an arrogant 
child talking back to my parents and not obeying. 
It doesn’t matter that others were worse – I was 
evaluating myself only. And no, my parents were 
not perfect either. But I felt great joy that I was 
able to take precious time in my mother’s, and my 
father’s, final days and become their friend and 
speak to them as equals. It was very challenging, 
but very fulfilling. 

 I also spent a lot of time reviewing my 22 married 
years with Dolores – the trips, our animals, our 
self-sufficient home, our accomplishments, our 
fights, our disagreements, our agreements. We had 
our ups and downs, and though I was not perfect, I 
realized I could not have been perfect. I was living 
life, trying to make ends meet, and trying to be a 
good husband with all the challenges of life that 
conspire against us. In the end, when Dolores was 
dying, I was able to experience a rare time of caring 
for her when she could do so little. We became 
inseparable, and best friends, and it was as if all our 
conflicts dissolved. And then she died and I felt 
plunged into darkness. And then there were other 
challenges, and tasks, and relationships. 

 I thought about a few very special people who 
I never see anymore, and still felt so blessed that 
we had the time together that we did, and I wished 
each one the greatest happiness.

 Remember, I tried to recall what was going on in 
my life, year by year as I ran a large lap in the sand 
in the dimming light of the late afternoon. I am 
sure I mixed up some years, but in the end, it is the 
learning that matters. 

 My two lessons were that while money is 
important, and you must earn it, it is a good goal 
to pursue whatever one feels compelled to pursue 
in life without focusing upon money. Yes, it seems 
unrealistic, but it actually can change the quality 
and character of what we do.

 And secondly, I realized that relationships are 
the most important aspect of life, and you have a 
good life when you maintain good relationships, 
however you do that. This does not mean you are 
always laughing and happy. It means that you deal 
with others honestly and with the integrity that the 
close ones in your life deserve. 

 I know I have not been perfect, and I feel blessed 
to have been guided to begin this birthday tradition 
nearly 40 years ago. In just a few hours, I review my 
life and tried to figure out if what I have done was 
worth doing. By honestly assessing my self in that 
way, it helps me to determine what is worth doing 
– and not doing – this year, and into the future.

Last Tuesday started out like any other day except 
for one thing. I overslept.

 Isn’t it strange that when you have a full schedule 
you oversleep? Normally, I am up at the crack of 
dawn. Sometimes I wish the dawn would not crack 
so loud, but then I would never get awake.

 In a strange way, I pride myself with being able to 
get up early in the morning. At my age, I do not need 
that much sleep anymore and so it is my motto, 
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, 
wealthy and wise.”

 I think I have the healthy down, but the other two 
are nowhere to be seen, at least from my bedroom 
window. Maybe I am not going to bed early enough 
and maybe I am not rising early enough. I have to 
think that through a little bit.

 Tuesday I had a very heavy schedule and it started 
out early in the morning with appointments all 
throughout the day. I do not complain about a full 
schedule because it makes the day go faster. As far as 
I am concerned, the faster a day goes the better it is.

 It is not that often that I have a day filled with 
appointments, but it does happen on occasion. Like, 
Tuesday.

 I would like to blame the alarm clock, but then I did 
not set it the night before so that is out of the picture.

 When I did get up and realized how late I was, I 
put full steam forward in motion and got to my first 
appointment. Fortunately, I was on time, but barely.

 It was right after the third appointment that 
something seemed a little strange. I could not put 
my finger on it, but I knew something was wrong 
and I did not quite know what it was. I could not 
give too much thought to it because I had a busy 
schedule.

 It just irked me because I knew something was 
wrong and I could not figure it out.

 By lunchtime I was quite hungry and satisfied that 
all of the appointments went according to schedule. 
I was afraid the way my day started that it would 
affect everything else during the day. As luck would 
have it, and I do not count too much on luck, but the 
day was going quite nicely as planned.

 I just could not get away from something in the 
back of my head that was bothering me. I checked to 
make sure I had the same socks on both feet. I have 
gone out with a blue sock on my left foot and a brown 
one on my right foot. If that isn’t embarrassing.

 That was not the problem. My tie was okay. I 
had the right shirt on and my pants were okay. But 
something was wrong.

 As I was eating lunch, I thought it would be nice 
to call the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. After 
all, it was a busy day and she had just as busy a day as 
I did. I thought I would just touch base and tell her 
hi.

 I reached for my shirt pocket to get my phone 
and discovered, much to my chagrin, that my shirt 
pocket was empty. That’s right. Empty!

 I frantically searched my person and did not 
discover my cell phone anywhere. Then I had one 
of those “aha” moments. I had left the house that 
morning in such a hurry that I forgot to pick up my 
cell phone. How was I going to get through the day 
without my cell phone?

 As I sat there finishing my lunch my fingers began 
to itch and twitch. They were insisting that I text 
somebody. Anybody! But I had nothing upon which 
I could text.

 I cannot remember any day that I did not have my 
cell phone with me. It is just one of those automatic 
things with me wherever I go. I need to be careful 
that I do not take it into the shower because that 
would be a disaster. Wherever I go, I always take my 
cell phone.

 I am old enough to remember back in the day 
when nobody had a cell phone. Texting was not 
even invented at that time. If you wanted to make 
a telephone call, you had to stop at one of those 
telephone booths and hope Superman was not 
ahead of you. Making a telephone call at that time 
was a major business.

 Today, cell phones have made our lives so mobile 
that we can go anywhere, that is as long as there is 
Internet service, and talk to anybody.

 Sitting there munching on my dessert I began 
to think about cell phones in heaven. The thought 
came to me quite suddenly, are there cell phones in 
heaven?

 Here on earth we cannot live without these 
contraptions, but will we need them in heaven?

 As I was musing on the subject, I thought of a 
verse in the Bible. “And call upon me in the day of 
trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify 
me” (Psalms 50:15).

 Long before cell phones were ever thought of, 
God had a plan for us communicating with Him. 
All I need is to “call upon” God and His promises 
that He “will deliver” me. What more does a person 
need?

 The Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of 
God Fellowship, Ocala, FL. Call him at 352-687-4240 
or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site 
is www.whatafellowship.com.


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