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- Written by: European Southern Observatory
Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star.
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, or VLT, they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral.
“We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” said Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this study, published this month in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The potential planet-in-the-making was detected around the star HD 135344B, within a disc of gas and dust around it called a protoplanetary disc.
The budding planet is estimated to be twice the size of Jupiter and as far from its host star as Neptune is from the Sun. It has been observed shaping its surroundings within the protoplanetary disc as it grows into a fully formed planet.
Protoplanetary discs have been observed around other young stars, and they often display intricate patterns, such as rings, gaps or spirals.
Astronomers have long predicted that these structures are caused by baby planets, which sweep up material as they orbit around their parent star. But, until now, they had not caught one of these planetary sculptors in the act.
In the case of HD 135344B’s disc, swirling spiral arms had previously been detected by another team of astronomers using Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch, or SPHERE, an instrument on ESO’s VLT. However, none of the previous observations of this system found proof of a planet forming within the disc.
Now, with observations from the new VLT’s Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph, or ERIS, instrument, the researchers say they may have found their prime suspect.
The team spotted the planet candidate right at the base of one of the disc’s spiral arms, exactly where theory had predicted they might find the planet responsible for carving such a pattern.
“What makes this detection potentially a turning point is that, unlike many previous observations, we are able to directly detect the signal of the protoplanet, which is still highly embedded in the disc,” said Maio, who is based at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, a centre of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, or INAF. “This gives us a much higher level of confidence in the planet’s existence, as we’re observing the planet’s own light.”
A star’s companion is born
A different team of astronomers have also recently used the ERIS instrument to observe another star, V960 Mon, one that is still in the very early stages of its life. In a study published on 18 July in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the team report that they have found a companion object to this young star. The exact nature of this object remains a mystery.
The new study, led by Anuroop Dasgupta, a doctoral researcher at ESO and at the Diego Portales University in Chile, follows up observations of V960 Mon made a couple of years ago.
Those observations, made with both SPHERE and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, revealed that the material orbiting V960 Mon is shaped into a series of intricate spiral arms.
They also showed that the material is fragmenting, in a process known as “gravitational instability,” when large clumps of the material around a star contract and collapse, each with the potential to form a planet or a larger object.
“That work revealed unstable material but left open the question of what happens next. With ERIS, we set out to find any compact, luminous fragments signalling the presence of a companion in the disc — and we did,” said Dasgupta. The team found a potential companion object very near to one of the spiral arms observed with SPHERE and ALMA. The team say that this object could either be a planet in formation, or a ‘brown dwarf’ — an object bigger than a planet that didn’t gain enough mass to shine as a star.
If confirmed, this companion object may be the first clear detection of a planet or brown dwarf forming by gravitational instability.
The European Southern Observatory enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all.
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- Written by: LINGZI CHEN
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The question of whether Lake County should move forward with the Guenoc Valley project — a large-scale, mixed-use resort and residential community outside of Middletown — returned to the Lake County Planning Commission this week with a new environmental impact report.
After four hours of discussion, the commission on Thursday postponed making a decision on the project’s new environmental impact report, or EIR, along with requests for various permits and amendments, including zoning changes to create a new district for mixed-use development.
The commission voted unanimously to continue the item to a special meeting scheduled for Friday, Aug. 8.
The project proposes to span approximately 16,000 acres located in southeastern Lake County near Middletown, encompassing 82 existing parcels.
Staff’s report explains that, at full buildout, throughout multiple phases, the resort project would allow for the development of up to 400 hotel rooms, 450 resort residential units, 1,400 residential estates, and 500 workforce co-housing units within the zoning district.
Phase one would include the phased subdivision to allow up to 385 residential villas, 141 resort residential units, 147 hotel units, accessory resorts and commercial uses; a subdivision and rezoning of an off-site parcel to accommodate 21 single family residences with optional accessory dwelling units, 29 duplex units in 15 structures, and a community clubhouse and associated infrastructure, a proposed water supply well on an off-site parcel and pipeline located adjacent to and within Butts Canyon Road, along with intersection and electrical transmission line improvements.
The project applicant, San Francisco-based Lotusland Investment Holdings, has owned the property since 2016. The company is owned by Chinese developer Yiming Xu who immigrated to Canada from China in 1996. Since the early 2000s, he has been involved in various real estate and luxury resort developments in China.
Commissioners seek more time to consider the project
One major reason for the delay is the commission’s concerns over inadequate infrastructure and evacuation plans.
“The problem is not necessarily the project itself, but our infrastructure in the county — how can we build the roads to allow for this capacity so that is not a problem for this project and for any future projects that come forward,” said Planning Commission Chair Everardo Chavez Perez, referencing members of the public who spoke up as Valley Fire survivors who personally experienced that disaster’s trauma 10 years ago.
“What I’ve seen so far doesn’t satisfy me unless there's some more routes out and greater road structure,” Commissioner Maile Field said during the discussion on wildfire risks and a countywide evacuation plan.
Community Development Department Director Mireya Turner said that the countywide evacuation plan is still in progress. She also mentioned that the project has gone through “years of changes in design, changes in road standards, detailed analysis with the transportation experts” which resulted in the California attorney general withdrawing from a lawsuit against the county over the project.
The time limit also played a part in a delayed decision, the commissioners said.
The project has 34 documents attached to the meeting agenda packet, ranging from environmental reports and government planning documents to ordinance drafts and tribal comments.
Commissioners said that they only received the documents last Friday evening and the time they had for review was not enough.
“The project is huge,” said Commissioner Monica Rosenthal, who said she has been involved with the project for several years. "I’ve got to tell you, the onslaught of papers and materials we have to click through and read is quite overwhelming.”
“It is a lot of documents that we have to read and a lot of things taken into consideration and at the time as it is right now, I can’t vote on it as it is until we have a little bit more time to think about it and assess,” said Chavez Perez.
Toward the end of the meeting, Kevin Case, a development partner for the project spoke up: “If I could tell you the time and the experts and the resumes of the people that have gone into putting these documents together, it's disheartening when they haven't been read.”
Case asked the commissioners to read the wildfire protection plan and the wildfire risk assessment, among the 34 documents, regarding the fire-safety designs and mitigation plans for the project, conducted by Cal Fire and U.C. Berkeley experts.
“There's not another project in California that I'm aware of that has this many mitigation measures and design measures implemented into it,” Case said.
The Guenoc Valley project returns after litigation
This isn’t the project’s first EIR.
The original EIR for the project was approved by the Board of Supervisors in July, 2020. Two months later, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society sued the county over the project, with the California Attorney General’s Office intervening in support of them.
In January, 2022, Lake County Superior Court Judge J. David Markham ruled that the EIR was inadequate in its community evacuation analysis.
The Center for Biological Diversity appealed the case, and in October 2024, the California First District Appellate Court ruled that a new EIR must be prepared as the previous document didn’t disclose the project’s wildfire ignition risks.
The new EIR and various zoning and permit requests under review this week, if approved by the Planning Commission at its Aug. 8 special meeting, will be moved forward to the Board of Supervisors for their final approval.
Despite the new document, key concerns remain.
The concerns raised by commissioners and the members of the public on Thursday surrounded wildfire risks and evacuation plans, as well as infrastructure, workforce housing and impact on farmland.
A presentation during the meeting outlined some of the wildfire mitigation and prevention plans.
These measures include designing an emergency access road called the Grange Road connector; removing development from some of the remote, fire-prone areas and consolidating it in the center of the property — which slightly increased density; and ensuring that no dead-end roads exist, in compliance with the state’s new fire-safe regulations.
Annalee Sanborn of Acorn Environmental, the presenter, also concluded that the project has “significant and unavoidable impact” on various environmental aspects: aesthetics, agricultural and forestry resources, greenhouse gas emissions, noise and transportation/traffic.
“There is quite a bit of prime, unique or locally important farmland on the Guenoc Valley site,” said Sanborn of the impact on agriculture, adding that up to 325 acres of farmland across the 16,000 acre site could potentially be impacted.
Sanborn said she is hired by Lotusland but works under the direction of county staff.
Concerns versus support
The meeting chambers were more than half full, with members of the public and developer representatives in attendance.
During public comment, opposition against the project focused on fire safety, workforce housing for hundreds of workers, and long-term impact on the community.
Some referenced their first-hand memories from the Valley Fire, which 10 years ago took four lives, destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, burned 76,067 acres and did an estimated $1.5 billion in overall damage.
For the survivors and witnesses, “No matter how many mitigations you put in and with all due respect to all of the effort put in — we need wider roads near Hidden Valley,” said Middletown Art Center Director Lisa Kaplan, who is also a Valley Fire survivor.
“I'm telling you, getting out of Hidden Valley was terrible during the Valley Fire. So imagine adding the Valley Oaks [project], adding workforce in Middletown, adding all of Guenoc pouring out into the Grange. How are we going to get out?” said Kaplan. “It's frightening, and there's many more people who were traumatized by that event than me. But you can take my tears and you can put them in your bucket of compassion, and you can say this is something to consider more than what is written so far.”
“Is Lake County ready for this? Look at all the infrastructure changes that are going to have to be made, needed and supported in order to be able to bring all of this to fruition within our county,” said long-time Hidden Valley Lake resident Bill Waite. “I know our roads are not ready for this. I know our health organizations are not ready for this. Our retail is not ready for this.”
Rev. Julia Bono of Rainbow Church in Middletown voiced strong community concerns about the worker co-housing site proposed for Santa Clara Avenue as part of the project, citing reasons such as flood and wildfire risks and lack of infrastructure and community engagement.
“Let me be clear, we are not opposed to the Guenoc Valley development. We are opposed to development that disregards the will, investments and well-being of the Middletowners who were living here first,” Bono said.
Farm Bureau Executive Director Rebecca Harper spoke on Zoom against the project, citing the project’s “significant and unavoidable impact” on agriculture as Sanborn presented.
“Agriculture is not just the land use, it's a way of life, a local economic engine and a cornerstone of our identity in Lake County,” Harper said. “We are also wary of the narrative that this project will usher in broad economic prosperity. The promise of an economic windfall should not come at the expense of irreplaceable farmland. Prime soils once lost cannot be replaced. Open space and rural character cannot be rezoned back into existence once paved over.”
Those who strongly supported the project, cited more jobs and greater economic outlook in the long run.
“There will also be a creation of long term well-paying jobs, which I think is much welcome and needed in the county, and it will also inject millions of dollars into our local budgets. So that's a huge plus to our county,” said Amanda Martin, Lake County Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer.
“I also just want to point out that sometimes this ‘not-in-our-backyard’ mentality, can also prevent growth and prevent opportunity that does seem like a positive opportunity for our county,” she added.
“It is just an amazing project that I was excited to hear about when I first heard about it about seven or eight years ago,” said Greg Folsom, who’s on the board of directors of the commerce chamber and is the former city manager for Clearlake. “Hopefully when we approve this, and what a great improvement this has been to the county, it's going to create jobs, generate huge property tax, transient occupancy tax and sales tax for the county.”
Richard Durham, a Lake County resident who raised two children here, said he was “totally impressed” by the project when he went out on a tour of the project months ago. He said his two children had left Lake County because there were no jobs here for them.
“I've been waiting all these years for projects like this to come along and help the community,” he said.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A forecast of high winds and the potential for thunderstorms has resulted in a red flag warning being issued for the northern portion of Lake County and some other counties around the region.
The National Weather Service’s red flag warning will be in effect from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday.
A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions — which can be a combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures that can contribute to extreme fire behavior — are either occurring now, or will shortly, the National Weather Service said.
There was some rain in parts of Lake County on Thursday night, and the National Weather Service’s forecast said that scattered dry thunderstorms are possible on Friday in northern Lake County, along with Trinity and eastern Mendocino counties.
The forecast said gusty and erratic outflow winds up to 50 miles per hour are possible, along with lightning strikes that may start fires.
Isolated showers are possible starting after 11 a.m. Friday, when temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-80s. Chances of precipitation are 20%.
Daytime temperatures in northern Lake County are expected to hover in the mid-80s, before rising into the 90s by Sunday. Nighttime temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to high-90s. Thunderstorms are possible again Friday afternoon and evening.
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
July is National Vehicle Theft Prevention Month, and the California Highway Patrol is reminding drivers to take simple, effective steps to protect their vehicles.
California saw a drop in vehicle thefts in 2024, the first year-over-year decrease since 2019.
“We are proud to see fewer vehicles being stolen across the state. The CHP and our law enforcement partners are working hard every day to stop these crimes, protect California’s communities and hold criminals responsible,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.
In 2024, thieves stole 176,230 vehicles in California, down from nearly 203,000 in 2023 — a decrease of more than 13%. Of all the vehicles stolen statewide, nearly 85 percent were successfully recovered.
Saturating key areas
With the support of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the CHP expanded its efforts to fight vehicle theft through crime suppression operations in Oakland, Bakersfield and San Bernardino.
These ongoing regional operations have shown positive results throughout the communities in Alameda, Kern and San Bernardino counties.
Working closely with local law enforcement agencies, auto thieves, repeat offenders and organized crime groups have been disrupted, and their activities have been thwarted.
As a result of these public safety collaborations, each of these counties saw a significant drop in vehicle thefts in 2024:
• Alameda County: down 18% from 2023 (19,212 thefts)
• Kern County: down 28% from 2023 (6,210 thefts)
• San Bernardino County: down 11% from 2023 (10,116 thefts)
Automobiles are a vital part of daily life for work, school and family. When a vehicle is stolen, it impacts more than just property — it can take away a person’s freedom and sense of security.
Keeping your vehicle safe
Vehicle theft can happen anywhere and to anyone. The CHP encourages drivers to follow these safety tips to help protect their cars:
• Hide or remove valuables from your car.
• Lock your doors and roll up all the windows.
• Park in well-lit, visible areas.
• Use anti-theft tools like steering wheel locks or alarms.
• Install a GPS tracker or recovery system.
• Always turn off your car and take your keys. NEVER leave it running unattended.
Using more than one safety step is best. Each layer adds more protection against theft.
