astronomy

Harold Reitsema

Harold Reitsema is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Harold Reitsema rather than just read about it. In short: Harold James Reitsema (born January 19, 1948) is an American astronomer who was part of the teams that discovered Larissa, the fifth of Neptune's known moons, and Telesto, Saturn's thirteenth moon. Reitsema and his colleaguez discovered the moons through ground-based telescopic observations.

Key takeaways

Harold Reitsema belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Harold Reitsema to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Harold Reitsema from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harold James Reitsema (born January 19, 1948) is an American astronomer who was part of the teams that discovered Larissa, the fifth of Neptune's known moons, and Telesto, Saturn's thirteenth moon. Reitsema and his colleaguez discovered the moons through ground-based telescopic observations. Using a coronagraphic imaging system with one of the first charge-coupled devices available for astronomical use, they first observed Telesto on April 8, 1980, just two months after being one of the first groups to observe Janus, also a moon of Saturn. Reitsema, as part of a different team of astronomers, observed Larissa on May 24, 1981, by watching the occultation of a star by the Neptune system. Reitsema is also responsible for several advances in the use of false-color techniques as applied to astronomical images. He was a member of the Halley Multicolour Camera team on the ESA Giotto spacecraft that took close-up images of Comet Halley in 1986. Reitsema received a B.A. in physics from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1972 and a Ph.D. in astronomy from New Mexico State University in 1977. His dissertation was titled "Quantitative Spectral Classification of Solar-Type Stars and the Sun" with advisor Reta Beebe. He has been involved in many of NASA's space science missions including the Spitzer Space Telescope, Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kepler Space Observatory project searching for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars similar to the Sun. Reitsema participated in the ground-based observations of Deep Impact mission in 2005. He observed the impact on the Tempel 1 comet from the telescopes of the San Pedro Martir Observatory (Mexico) with Kevin Walsh (U. Maryland), Ashley Zauderer (U. Maryland), and Roberto Vazquez (UNAM). Reitsema retired in 2008 from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado. He is a consultant to NASA and the aerospace industry in mission design and Near-Earth Objects. He is the Mission Director for the B612 Foundation's Sentinel program that will find Near Earth Asteroids and identify potential Earth impact threats. He is listed in Who's Who in America. Asteroid 13327 Reitsema was named in recognition of his achievements. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 24 July 2002 (M.P.C. 46110).

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harold Reitsema

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harold Reitsema claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Harold Reitsema before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Harold Reitsema ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Harold Reitsema

In research: Harold Reitsema appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Harold Reitsema in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Harold Reitsema is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1948 births, American astronomers, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harold Reitsema outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Harold Reitsema in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Harold Reitsema means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Harold Reitsema out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Harold Reitsema in simple terms?

Why does Harold Reitsema matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Harold Reitsema?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Harold Reitsema.