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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have identified a body that is very probably a planet wandering through space without a parent star.
This is the most exciting free-floating planet candidate so far and the closest such object to the Solar System at a distance of about 100 light-years.
Its comparative proximity, and the absence of a bright star very close to it, has allowed the team to study its atmosphere in great detail.
This object also gives astronomers a preview of the exoplanets that future instruments aim to image around stars other than the Sun.
Free-floating planets are planetary-mass objects that roam through space without any ties to a star. Possible examples of such objects have been found before, but without knowing their ages, it was not possible for astronomers to know whether they were really planets or brown dwarfs – “failed” stars that lack the bulk to trigger the reactions that make stars shine.
But astronomers have now discovered an object, labeled CFBDSIR2149, that seems to be part of a nearby stream of young stars known as the AB Doradus Moving Group.
The researchers found the object in observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and harnessed the power of ESO’s Very Large Telescope to examine its properties.
The AB Doradus Moving Group is the closest such group to the Solar System. Its stars drift through space together and are thought to have formed at the same time.
If the object is associated with this moving group – and hence it is a young object – it is possible to deduce much more about it, including its temperature, mass, and what its atmosphere is made of. There remains a small probability that the association with the moving group is by chance.
The link between the new object and the moving group is the vital clue that allows astronomers to find the age of the newly discovered object.
This is the first isolated planetary mass object ever identified in a moving group, and the association with this group makes it the most interesting free-floating planet candidate identified so far.
“Looking for planets around their stars is akin to studying a firefly sitting one centimeter away from a distant, powerful car headlight,” said Philippe Delorme, Institut de planetologie et d’astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Universite Joseph Fourier, France, lead author of the new study. “This nearby free-floating object offered the opportunity to study the firefly in detail without the dazzling lights of the car messing everything up.”
Free-floating objects like CFBDSIR2149 are thought to form either as normal planets that have been booted out of their home systems, or as lone objects like the smallest stars or brown dwarfs.
In either case these objects are intriguing – either as planets without stars, or as the tiniest possible objects in a range spanning from the most massive stars to the smallest brown dwarfs.
“These objects are important, as they can either help us understand more about how planets may be ejected from planetary systems, or how very light objects can arise from the star formation process,” said Delorme. “If this little object is a planet that has been ejected from its native system, it conjures up the striking image of orphaned worlds, drifting in the emptiness of space.”
These worlds could be common – perhaps as numerous as normal stars [6]. If CFBDSIR2149 is not associated with the AB Doradus Moving Group it is trickier to be sure of its nature and properties, and it may instead be characterised as a small brown dwarf. Both scenarios represent important questions about how planets and stars form and behave.
“Further work should confirm CFBDSIR2149 as a free-floating planet,” concluded Delorme. “This object could be used as a benchmark for understanding the physics of any similar exoplanets that are discovered by future special high-contrast imaging systems, including the SPHERE instrument that will be installed on the VLT.”
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday, several more witnesses testified in the trial of an East Coast man accused of shooting to death a Maine couple in early 2010.
Robby Alan Beasley, 32, is on trial for the January 22, 2010, murders of Frank and Yvette Maddox, who had come from Augusta, Maine, to work with Beasley in growing marijuana.
The Maddoxes’ bodies were dumped alongside Morgan Valley Road, not far from where Beasley is alleged to have shot them, believing they had stolen marijuana from his Lower Lake apartment.
His friend, Elijah Bae McKay, 30, whose testimony wrapped up on Thursday, is Beasley’s alleged accomplice, and has admitted to loaning Beasley the 9 millimeter handgun used to kill the couple and helping him get rid of evidence after the shootings.
First on the stand Friday was Lake County Jail Correctional Officer James Dunlap, who testified to finding the words “Elijah McKay is a rat punk bit snitch New England” scratched on the painted metal door of a jail holding cell on the night of May 18, 2010.
Dunlap said graffiti that included the words “New England” was found in several of the cells in the jail where Beasley had been housed.
Heather Tomchick, a DNA analyst with the Department of Justice’s Sacramento crime lab, briefly testified to testing multiple items for the case.
Elvin Sikes testified to taking the Maddoxes in mid-December 2009 after Beasley had kicked them out.
He said the couple were planning to return to Maine in early January and already had their bags packed.
When Sikes first met the couple, he wasn’t aware that they were drug users, otherwise he said he wouldn’t have let them stay in his spare room. He said he later learned they were doing pain pills.
When they disappeared Jan. 22, 2010, and didn’t return, “I thought it was kind of weird,” Sikes said.
Sikes said Frank Maddox admitted to him that he took part in thefts, and had stolen marijuana. Maddox told Sikes he had ripped off his friend – the only person he called his friend was Beasley – and had taken marijuana Beasley was holding for someone else.
Shortly before the couple disappeared, Frank Maddox asked to wash his Toyota pickup in Sikes’ driveway. He told Sikes that he needed to take his friend to the airport; Beasley had told McKay that he planned to lure the couple into giving him a ride to the airport on the pretense that he needed to return to Maine due to a death in the family.
Testimony on Friday also was given by Roderick Hilliard, the code enforcement officer who had red-tagged the Maddoxes’ pickup, which Beasley and McKay had left on Jerusalem Grade Road.
Art Trety, who lives near where the pickup was abandoned, testified to seeing it parked there for several weeks before it was moved farther down the road.
Wade Holley, who lives on Jerusalem Grade, said he first saw the pickup parked in the Jerusalem Grade Road area in late January. The following month it had been moved to Noble Ranch Road. By that time in was in very bad condition, and had been vandalized and stripped.
He inquired with a tow company about the truck, and they said it would be crushed if they took it, so they advised him to take it if he wanted.
Holley said he and a friend “went and got it and we shouldn’t have.”
He towed it to his house, where it was dismantled. Later, after they saw pictures of the pickup in the newspaper, Holley and his father called the sheriff’s office, which was seeking information on the vehicle.
When the sheriff’s office came to his home, they took photos and the remains of the vehicle, and also took a statement from Holley and his father. Neither were prosecuted.
With the courts on furlough next week, testimony in the case won’t continue until 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Friday Gov. Jerry Brown appointed three members to the 49th District Agricultural Association, Lake County Fair Board.
The appointments went to Paul Marchand and Doug Rhoades, both of Kelseyville, and Meyokeeskow Marrufo of Upper Lake.
The fair board positions do not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation.
Marrufo was reappointed, and has served on the fair board since 2007. Both Marchand and Rhoades are new appointees.
Marrufo, 41 has been environmental protection agency director of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians since 2011. She held multiple positions at the Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians from 1999 to 2010, including interim environmental director, energy coordinator and cultural resource manager.
From 2004 to 2006 Marrufo was owner of the Native Ways Gift Shop. She held multiple positions at the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act from 1999 to 2004, including director and project assistant. She is a Democrat.
Marchand, 64, has been an independent emergency physician and contractor since 1985 and owner of Highland Springs Equestrian Center since 2005. He is a founding member of the Lake County Horse Council and Lake County Dressage Society.
Marchand also is a member of the Castle Air Museum, Antique Automobile Club of America and Sierra Club. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is registered decline-to-state.
Rhoades, 59, has been a private practice attorney since 1997. He held multiple positions with the Lake County Sheriff's Office from 1976 to 1997, including sergeant and deputy sheriff.
Rhoades was a member of the Kelseyville Unified School District Board of Trustees, the Lake County Peace Officers Association, the Northern California Training Officers Association and the California Association of Police Training Officers. He earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Empire College School of Law. Rhoades is a Democrat.
The Lake County Fair Board of Directors will hold its next regular meeting beginning at 4:45 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, at the fair administration office, 401 Martin St., Lakeport.
Action items include board officer nominations and elections.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The American Red Cross continues to provide food, shelter, relief supplies and comfort to many people still struggling in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Given the extensive scope of the damage, this is likely to be the most massive Red Cross response in the U.S. in the past five years, Red Cross officials said.
More than 5,800 Red Cross workers from all 50 states are supporting shelters, providing food and water, and driving through neighborhoods to distribute meals and supplies.
About 90 percent of these workers are volunteers. Residents’ needs are far from over, as discouraged and frustrated people clean out their homes and struggle with housing and emotional issues.
Locally, the Red Cross has deployed 33 volunteers so far, including Regional CEO Tim Miller. Some volunteers are extending their standard two-week volunteer period, because it is so important to them to ease the suffering of those affected by the storm.
In partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Red Cross has served 5.6 million meals and snacks from kitchens and feeding sites in New York and New Jersey. Last night, the Red Cross and other organizations housed about 1,800 people in 16 shelters.
The Red Cross has distributed water, food and relief supplies in more than 300 Red Cross feeding trucks as well as rental cars, trucks and other vehicles. This includes two emergency response vehicles from Sonoma and Lake counties.
The organization also has provided more than 57,000 health services and emotional support contacts, handed out more than 1.7 million relief items, helped people in 10 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and worked with more than 50 national partner organizations and more than 1,300 partner volunteers.
The Red Cross needs the public’s help now. To donate, the public can:
- Visit www.redcross.org or (local site) www.arcsm.org ;
- Call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767);
- Text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation;
- Send or hand-deliver financial donation to American Red Cross, Sonoma, Mendocino, & Lake Counties, 5297 Aero Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403;
- Send to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
The Red Cross is unable to accept items such as diapers, blankets, or food. Goodwill or The Salvation Army may be able to accept such items.
If someone needs to find a shelter, they can download the Red Cross Hurricane app, visit the Red Cross Web site, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), or check local media outlets.
People can let their loved ones know how they are by using the “I’m Safe” button on the Red Cross Hurricane App which can be found in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for Android by searching for American Red Cross.
People can also register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website to let loved ones know they are OK.
To register, visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).