The bladed terrain of Pluto’s Tartarus Dorsa region, that were photographed by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its epic flyby in July 2015, as ice ridges 1,650 feet or so tall.  On Earth, these structures rise just a few feet above the ground in cold, mountainous regions of Earth.

The gargantuan size is predicted by the same theory that explains the formation of these features on Earth. 

On Earth however the structures are made up of snow or water ice, whereas Pluto's ridges are mostly methane and nitrogen ices. 

Researchers say that Pluto's structures probably formed within the past few tens of millions of years.

NASA Releases New High Rez New Horizon Pics

NASA's New Horizon probe was launched January 2006 and after nine and a half years and 3 billion miles, has sent back the clearest photos of Pluto. These pics are 10 times the resolution of previous pictures, and shows, Pluto's moon Charon as well as its other satellites.

 New Horizon began its historic pass in July of 2015 and began transmitting data almost immediately. However due to its distance and small, low power transmitter, New Horizon will be sending data well into 2016 before the thousands of picture that were taken are transmitted back to Earth.

Click HERE for more photos and info

New Horizon Probe Arrives at Pluto

It is easy to be amazed at the newest photo of Pluto.  Just the Herculean effort to get NASA's New Horizons probe 3 billion miles in 9 years, and then to take the clearest photos mankind has ever seen.  The photos it is now beaming back to Earth will be nothing short of stunning.

The spacecraft has made it closer to Pluto than any other in history, coming within 7,800 miles from the surface of the dwarf planet, snapping high-res photos in the process.  The photo above was taken July 13, I for one can not wait until the photos that New Horizon is beaming our way, are made available.

New Horizon is on a high speed pass and as such will not be sticking around long (a few hours at most), then it is off into the deep black of the Kuiper belt then deeper towards the Ort cloud.

BMU #444 online Now

Hi, welcome to episode 444 of Beam Me Up

After opening, I play a fairly smooth and quiet piece of anime music
leading up to the 25th anniversary of Hubble with just a few discussion
points concerning Hubble as one of the single greatest research tool of the 20th century.

From the blog a  short film on the paradoxes of time travel which proves very funny, New Horizons nears to it flyby of Pluto, I comment on the ultimate failure of Alton Musk's Falcon booster, Carole sent me an article on electric space craft engine.

Kallimus sends in an article about a new cable program hosted by Neal DeGrasse which sounds fascinating!

There are a few more articles..

Lastly is The English Dead by Vaughn Stanger part two.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.