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- Written by: Lake County News reports
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County officials announced effective on Monday, Sept. 17, Mount Konocti County Park will reopen to the public for hiking and the temporary suspension of hunting permits for the Highland Springs area will be lifted.
As of Friday evening, Cal Fire reported 100 percent containment of the Scotts Fire, which began the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 7, at the northern end of Cow Mountain, west of Scotts Valley Road and east of Ukiah.
On Saturday, Sept. 8, during the early stages of the Scotts Fire when fire resources were committed in Lake and surrounding counties, Lake County officials took precautionary measures by issuing a temporary closure of Mount Konocti County Park and temporarily suspending hunting permits previously issued for the Highland Springs area.
The Bureau of Land Management also plans to reopen access to South Cow Mountain effective on Monday, Sept. 17; access to North Cow Mountain will remain closed.
For specific information regarding the Cow Mountain Recreation Area, contact the BLM at 707-468-4000.
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- Written by: Dr. Tony Phillips
News flash: The Milky Way galaxy just got a little weirder.
Back in 2011 astronomers were amazed when NASA's Kepler spacecraft discovered a planet orbiting a double star system. Such a world, they realized, would have double sunsets and sunrises just like the fictional planet Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. Yet this planet was real.
Now Kepler has discovered a whole system of planets orbiting a double star.
The star system, known as Kepler-47, is located 4,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
Two stars orbit one another at the center of the system: One is similar to the sun in size, but only 84 percent as bright.
The second star is smaller, only one-third the size of the sun and less than 1 percent as bright. Kepler found two planets orbiting this mismatched pair.
“The presence of a full-fledged planetary system orbiting Kepler-47 is an amazing discovery,” said Greg Laughlin, professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science at the University of California in Santa Cruz. “This is going to change the way we think about the formation of planets.”
The inner planet, Kepler-47b, closely circles the pair of stars, completing each orbit in less than 50 days. Astronomers think it is a sweltering world, where the destruction of methane in its super-heated atmosphere might lead to a thick global haze. Kepler-47b is about three times the size of Earth.
The outer planet, Kepler-47c, orbits every 303 days. This puts it in the system's habitable zone, a band of orbits that are “just right” for liquid water to exist on the surface of a planet. But does this planet even have a surface? Possibly not. The astronomers think it is a gas giant slightly larger than Neptune.
The discovery of planets orbiting double stars means that planetary systems are even weirder and more abundant than previously thought.
“Many stars are part of multiple-star systems where two or more stars orbit one another. The question always has been – do they have planets and planetary systems?” said William Borucki, Kepler mission principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center. “This Kepler discovery proves that they do.”
Our own sun is a single, isolated star, with a relatively simple gravitational field that rules the motions of the planets orbiting it.
But, as Borucki points out, not all stars are single.
Astronomers estimate that more than half of the stars in the galaxy have companions. There are double, triple and even quadruple star systems.
Any planets in such systems would have to navigate a complex gravitational field, tugged in multiple directions by multiple stars. In fact, for many years, astronomers doubted that planets could even form in such an environment.
Kepler-47 erases those doubts – and poses a conundrum: “These planets are very difficult to form using the currently accepted paradigm,” said Laughlin. “I believe that theorists, myself included, will be going back to the drawing board to try to improve our understanding of how planets are assembled in the dusty gaseous disks that surround many young stars.”
The Kepler spacecraft is on a mission to find Earth-like planets that might support life.
Said Borucki: “In our search for habitable worlds, we have just found more opportunities for life to exist.”
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Professional truck drivers are among the best trained and safest drivers on the road. Many of these commercial drivers make personal sacrifices to deliver freight safely and on time.
The California Highway Patrol joins the trucking industry in saluting these drivers for their hard work and commitment during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 16-22.
“There are millions of commercial drivers who safely travel on California’s highways each day,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate what the trucking industry does for us. One way for fellow motorists to show appreciation is to remember that trucks accelerate and stop at a slower rate than passenger vehicles, and the truck driver’s ability to see other vehicles is limited.”
According to CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), commercial vehicles are involved in approximately five percent of the collisions that occur in California every year.
The same SWITRS data also shows a 30 percent decrease in the number of truck-involved collisions from 2006-2010. Additionally, there has been a 33 percent decrease in truck-at-fault collisions during that same time period.
The CHP manages safety oversight of approximately 7.4 million commercial vehicles, which travel approximately 30 million miles on 105,000 miles of roadway in California each year.
The CHP works with industry advocates and commercial vehicle operators to ensure the safe operations of commercial vehicles on California’s highways.
The CHP extends its appreciation to the trucking industry for their tireless efforts in promoting highway safety.
In doing so, the CHP facilitates Trucker Appreciation Days periodically during the year at its commercial enforcement facilities throughout the state.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Lake County Sheriff’s patrol deputies responded to a report of found munitions, located inside a residence in Kelseyville on Wednesday.
At approximately 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, deputies responded to a residence on Pine Drive on a report of found munitions and other devices, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks.
Employees of the Public Administrator’s Office had been in the process of cleaning out a residence, which had been occupied by a veteran who had recently passed away, Brooks said. As they were removing items from the residence they located some assorted ammunition and a device they could not identify.
A patrol sergeant responded to the residence in an attempt to identify the device. Believing it was some type of military ordnance, the patrol sergeant contacted the Napa County Sheriff’s Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit, according to Brooks.
Brooks said the deputy took several pictures of the device and e-mailed them to the Napa County EOD Unit for identification.
Shortly after receiving the photographs, the Napa County EOD Unit contacted the patrol sergeant and verified it was a live explosive device. Brooks said they identified the device as a Japanese mortar from World War II. The Napa County EOD Unit advised they were responding to the residence to dispose of the mortar.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies evacuated the area and set a 300 foot perimeter around the residence, Brooks said. They also obtained supplies requested by the Napa County EOD Unit, so the mortar could be safely detonated. Kelseyville Fire Department personnel responded to the area as a safety precaution.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., the Napa County EOD Unit arrived at the residence. Brooks said they inspected the mortar with a remote controlled robot and prepared it for detonation.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., the mortar was safely detonated without causing any damage to nearby structures, Brooks said.