Richard Leis

Month: July 2005

  • Triple Sunset

    Astronomers using data from the Keck I Observatory on top of Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii have discovered an exoplanet in a triple star system. The planet, only slightly larger than Jupiter, is very close to the central star in the system, completing one orbit in just 3.3 days. The other two stars orbit each…

  • Deep Impact Rewrites the Book on Comets

    When the world’s foremost expert on impact cratering mentions that his preconceived notions about comets have changed at least twice in the past week, it is time to rewrite the book on the subject. Dr. H. Jay Melosh, professor and a member of the Deep Impact science team, spoke before a packed crowd Saturday night,…

  • Spongy Hyperion

    The moons of Saturn are a strange assortment of worlds. When the Cassini spacecraft takes the highest resolution images ever of each new world, it generally captures something that leaves scientists and space buffs scratching their heads. Enter the next head-scratcher: Hyperion. This tiny water ice moon looks like a sponge and may in fact…

  • Technical Diving from Florida to Cyberspace

    Cristian Pittaro is a diver, but if you are picturing a guy with gear on his back diving the sunlit open waters of the ocean, then you have it all wrong. Pittaro is a technical diver, the kind of diver that should inspire awe in us mere humans. His diving destinations include shipwrecks and underwater…

  • Deep Impact Slide 10

    Slide 10 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 9 < Introduction > Slide 11

  • Deep Impact Slide 8

    Slide 8 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 7 < Introduction > Slide 9

  • Deep Impact Slide 11

    Slide 11 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 10 < Introduction

  • Deep Impact Slide 9

    Slide 9 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 8 < Introduction > Slide 10

  • Deep Impact Coverage: RADIO Frontier Channel Episode 09 – Let’s Bomb the Hell out of a Comet

    The Frontier Channel is proud to announce a brand new format for the RADIO Frontier Channel podcast. Because science and technology news is usually better presented visually, I will begin adding a presentation of images and movies you can click through while listening to the podcast. “Episode 09 – Let’s Bomb the Hell out of…

  • Deep Impact Slide 7

    Slide 7 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 6 < Introduction > Slide 8

  • Deep Impact Slide 6

    Slide 6 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 5 < Introduction > Slide 7

  • Deep Impact Slide 5

    Slide 5 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 4 < Introduction > Slide 6

  • Deep Impact Slide 4

    Slide 4 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 3 < Introduction > Slide 5

  • Deep Impact Slide 3

    Slide 3 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 2 < Introduction > Slide 4

  • Deep Impact Slide 2

    Slide 2 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Slide 1 < Introduction > Slide 3

  • Deep Impact Slide 1

    Slide 1 for RADIO Frontier Channel episode 09, “Let’s Bomb the Hell Out of a Comet“ Introduction > Slide 2

  • Deep Impact Coverage: “Um…Sorry?”

    Deep Impact Flyby took a look back at the devastation it wrought on Comet Tempel 1 and snapped a spectacular image of impact ejecta streaming out into space in a column that has grown much larger in dimension than the comet nucleus itself. While images and other data continues to stream to the Earth from…

  • Deep Impact Coverage: First Images and Science Results from Deep Impact

    Members of the Deep Impact team spoke to reporters early this morning about the success of their mission to Comet Tempel 1. About ten percent of the data has been downloaded from Flyby with the remaining portion to be downloaded over the next 24 hours. The team continues to clean up the raw data to…

  • Deep Impact Coverage: Impact!

    In a brilliant explosion, Deep Impact’s impactor spacecraft smashed into Comet Tempel 1 around 10:52 p.m. Pacific Standard Time today. The control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Californa, USA went crazy with gasps, shouts and applause as the first images showing the impact appeared on their projector screen. The image taken by…

  • Deep Impact Coverage: Comet Tempel 1 in X-Rays

    There is not a lot of material in the coma of Comet Tempel 1, according to scientists after studying recent observations made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The space telescope saw a steady stream of X-rays from the interaction of the comet nucleus with the solar wind. However, the X-ray view could change during Tempel…