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July's night skies feature Mars opposition on the 27th, when Mars, Earth and the Sun all line up, and Mars' closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the 31st.
That means great Mars viewing, though the planet-wide Martian dust storm will make seeing details more difficult.
If you've been skywatching for 15 years or more, then you'll remember August 2003, when Mars approached closer to Earth than it had for thousands of years.
It was a very small percentage closer, but not so much that it was as Mars was an awesome sight: in binoculars, where some large features could be seen, and especially through telescopes.
Astronomy clubs everywhere had long lines of people looking through their telescopes at the red planet, and they will again this month!
If you are new to stargazing, this month and next will be a great time to check out Mars. Through a telescope, you should be able to make out some of the light and dark features, and sometimes polar ice. Right now, though, a huge Martian dust storm is obscuring many features, and less planetary detail is visible.
July 27 is Mars opposition, when Mars, Earth, and the Sun all line up, with Earth directly in the middle.
A few days later on July 31 is Mars' closest approach. That's when Mars and Earth are nearest to each other in their orbits around the Sun. Although there will be a lot of news focusing on one or the other of these two dates, Mars will be visible for many months.
By the end of July, Mars will be visible at sunset. But the best time to view it is several hours after sunset, when Mars will appear higher in the sky. Mars will still be visible after July and August, but each month it will shrink in apparent size as it travels farther from Earth in its orbit around the Sun.
On July 27 a total lunar eclipse will be visible in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. For those viewers, Mars will be right next to the eclipsing moon.
Next month will feature August's summer Perseids. It's not too soon to plan a dark sky getaway for the most popular meteor shower of the year!
You can catch up on NASA's missions to Mars and all of NASA's missions at: www.nasa.gov.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – While Northern California is experiencing cooler temperatures, fire conditions remain serious around the region, where a new fire is growing rapidly and firefighters are working to contain two others.
Northern California’s newest incident is the Klamathon fire in Siskiyou County, which began Thursday afternoon.
Cal Fire said it has burned 8,000 acres and is 5 percent contained, with evacuations remaining in place for the community of Hornbrook.
Media reports have so far attributed one death and at least a dozen burned structures to the Klamathon fire.
The fire had reportedly jumped Interstate 5 at one point, which led to a temporary closure on Thursday, but on Friday Cal Fire said the interstate had been reopened in both directions.
The governor issued a state of emergency due to the Klamathon fire on Thursday.
On Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the temporary closure of three public facilities and properties in Siskiyou County because of the Klamathon fire, including the Iron Gate Hatchery along the Klamath River, the Klamathon Road fishing access below Iron Gate Hatchery and the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area north of Yreka between Interstate 5 and Iron Gate Reservoir. Although closed to the public, CDFW's Iron Gate Hatchery remains staffed and operational for the time being.
In Lake County, work continues on the Pawnee fire, which has burned 15,000 acres since beginning on June 23. The last estimate of containment on Thursday was 92 percent; Cal Fire said it won’t issue an update on the Pawnee fire until Friday evening.
The region’s biggest fire, the County incident in Yolo and Napa, continues to burn actively. The size grew slightly to 88,375 acres, with containment up to 37 percent, Cal Fire said.
So far, damage inspection teams have confirmed that it’s burned nine structures, with 110 remaining threatened, Cal Fire.
No injuries have been reported on the incident to date.
A dozer was reported to have rolled over on the line at around 1:15 p.m. Friday but the driver was not hurt.
While the region is experiencing cooler temperatures and cloudy conditions on Friday, Cal Fire said higher temperatures, lower humidities and winds are expected to return over the weekend.
The change in weather raised other concerns. Shortly after 1:30 p.m. there was a report of a lightning strike on the north end of the fire, with additional reports of lightning over the fire area.
The fire’s activity has kept mandatory evacuations in effect west of State Highway 16 to Berryessa Knoxville Road, south of Old County Road 40, and North of County Road 53, west of State Highway 16 to the Yolo/Lake County Line, north of County Road 40 and south of the Yolo County line, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said Berryessa Knoxville Road, from the Pope Creek Bridge to the Napa/Lake County line, remains closed, as does Highway 16 between State Highway 20 and Rumsey Hall.
With need rising elsewhere around the state, resources on the County fire began to be rolled back.
The assigned resources on Friday included 3,831 personnel, 307 engines, 53 water tenders, 19 helicopters, 86 hand crews and 72 dozers.
Cal Fire expect the County incident to be fully contained on July 12.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
070618 County fire progression map by LakeCoNews on Scribd
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lenore Clark Research Library, a treasure-trove of historic and local family information is in the process of being temporarily closed and archived.
Faithfully gathered since 1977 by the members of the Lake County Genealogical Society, this resource has helped many learn about their Lake County ancestors.
"It just breaks my heart," said the society's president, Rose Davidson. "This is the third time we've been moved for no fault of our own; each move subject to its toll and losses, but this time there is nowhere acceptable to go."
Originally housed in the Courthouse Museum in downtown Lakeport, the Genealogical Society was easily accessed by researchers. But after 23 years, changes within the county departments forced the society to seek a new home for their collection of historic documents.
Eventually space was found in the Lucerne Visitor's Center. The space was adequate, but the location, so far from the county seat, made it a daunting journey for out-of-town researchers and volunteers alike.
Upon the closure of the visitor center, a space was found for the library in Upper Lake. Senior Support Services, housed in the old Justice Court building there, was gracious enough to provide access to half of the building.
Sadly for the Genealogical Society, the need to expand support for seniors has created a need for the space currently occupied by the research library.
"We would love to be back in Lakeport again," said Ms. Davidson. "It would be the most logical location for any genealogy researcher to include with visits to the County Courthouse, the Courthouse Museum's collection and the County Library's microfilmed newspapers."
Unfortunately the only space offered at this time is in Clearlake Oaks, a distance too great for our volunteers and most researchers with limited time in the area.
So Davidson said that, with heavy heart, the decision has been made to break up the collection among the membership and select county entities until such time that a suitable location becomes available.
While this makes access to the records more difficult and increases their vulnerability, volunteers from the Lake County Genealogical Society will continue to assist with family history queries via email or by post.
Inquiries may be made to Anita Crabtree atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Rose Davidson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the Lake County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 1323, Lakeport 95453.
Another opportunity would be to join the genealogists during their weekly discussions; sharing insights into family history research.
The group meets Tuesday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. in a room kindly provided by the Family History Center, located within the Latter Day Saints Church, 16th and Hartley Streets, Lakeport.
Faithfully gathered since 1977 by the members of the Lake County Genealogical Society, this resource has helped many learn about their Lake County ancestors.
"It just breaks my heart," said the society's president, Rose Davidson. "This is the third time we've been moved for no fault of our own; each move subject to its toll and losses, but this time there is nowhere acceptable to go."
Originally housed in the Courthouse Museum in downtown Lakeport, the Genealogical Society was easily accessed by researchers. But after 23 years, changes within the county departments forced the society to seek a new home for their collection of historic documents.
Eventually space was found in the Lucerne Visitor's Center. The space was adequate, but the location, so far from the county seat, made it a daunting journey for out-of-town researchers and volunteers alike.
Upon the closure of the visitor center, a space was found for the library in Upper Lake. Senior Support Services, housed in the old Justice Court building there, was gracious enough to provide access to half of the building.
Sadly for the Genealogical Society, the need to expand support for seniors has created a need for the space currently occupied by the research library.
"We would love to be back in Lakeport again," said Ms. Davidson. "It would be the most logical location for any genealogy researcher to include with visits to the County Courthouse, the Courthouse Museum's collection and the County Library's microfilmed newspapers."
Unfortunately the only space offered at this time is in Clearlake Oaks, a distance too great for our volunteers and most researchers with limited time in the area.
So Davidson said that, with heavy heart, the decision has been made to break up the collection among the membership and select county entities until such time that a suitable location becomes available.
While this makes access to the records more difficult and increases their vulnerability, volunteers from the Lake County Genealogical Society will continue to assist with family history queries via email or by post.
Inquiries may be made to Anita Crabtree at
Another opportunity would be to join the genealogists during their weekly discussions; sharing insights into family history research.
The group meets Tuesday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. in a room kindly provided by the Family History Center, located within the Latter Day Saints Church, 16th and Hartley Streets, Lakeport.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters on Thursday continued to battle major wildland fires around Northern California, including a new incident in Siskiyou County that resulted in evacuations.
The Pawnee fire northeast of Clearlake Oaks remained at 15,000 acres and 92 percent containment by nightfall Thursday, according to Cal Fire.
Cal Fire said resources would remain on the fire overnight and throughout the day Friday,
patrolling and maintaining perimeter control.
Assigned resources by Thursday night included 822 personnel, 22 engines, 13 water tenders, one helicopter, 13 hand crews and 12 dozers, Cal Fire said.
To the southeast in Yolo and Napa counties, activity increased on the County fire, which grew by 2,000 more acres during the course of the day to total 88,000 acres by evening, with containment up by 3 percent to 33 percent.
Cal Fire said Thursday night that damage inspections have begun in the fire area, where nine structures have been destroyed, a number that could still grow. The agency said 110 structures remain threatened.
With hotter and drier weather forecast for the weekend, the potential for fire growth remains high, Cal Fire said.
The firefighting force on the County fire grew still larger on Thursday, with 4,041 firefighters, 348 engines, 52 water tenders, 25 helicopters, 86 hand crews and 72 dozers, according to Cal Fire.
To the north, a large new wildland fire began on Thursday afternoon.
The Klamathon, located south of Hornbrook in Siskiyou County, began shortly after 12:30 p.m., Cal Fire reported.
By Thursday night, Cal Fire said the fire had grown to 5,000 acres with no containment reported, and evacuations in progress in the Hornbrook area.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Siskiyou County due to the Klamathon fire Thursday night.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Grass mowing led to a fire on Anderson Island this week, according to the chief of Kelseyville Fire Protection District.
Chief Joe Huggins, who was incident commander on the fire, said a man who was mowing on the island using a Kubota tractor sparked the blaze.
The fire on the 30-acre island began on Tuesday afternoon and ultimately burned approximately 3.4 acres, Huggins said.
While the mowing started it, the man driving the tractor also ended up being a big help in fighting the fire by putting on a scraper box and cutting fire line, according to Huggins.
While the fire burned between structures, none were reported damaged.
“We were fortunate it was an island,” said Huggins.
He said the Lake County Sheriff’s Office offered important assistance by ferrying firefighters out ot the island from Braito’s Marina.
“They shuttled a lot of folks across that water,” he said.
Mowing, said Huggins is “an issue every year,” with people not mowing early in the morning but waiting until the afternoon.
So far this year they’ve had a few small fires started by mowing, but Huggins said there are bound to be more all over the county. “It’s just an inherent issue.”
In other fire-related news, Huggins said a fire off of East Highland Springs Road beyond the Adobe Creek Dam on Sunday remains under investigation by Cal Fire.
The fire burned just under two acres, as Lake County News has reported.
Another small vegetation fire, which burned near the DNA River Rock quarry off of Highway 29 at Doten Road last Friday night started in a slash pile, Huggins said.
A similar fire had begun in slash pile there last year, he said, adding he didn’t know what caused this most recent fire to begin.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NICE, Calif. – Two local men were arrested on drug charges this week after they made a deal to sell drugs to an undercover detective.
Joe Nathan Boggs Jr., 21, of Lucerne and Adrian David Marrufo, 19, of Lakeport were arrested in the case, according to Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Paulich said that on Tuesday detectives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit received information that a man was attempting to trade a controlled substance for a vehicle.
An undercover detective contacted the subject by phone and agreed to meet with him in the parking lot of the Robinson Rancheria Casino to complete the trade. Paulich said the man told the detective he would trade three ounces of heroin for the vehicle.
The undercover detective was approached by two suspects in the parking lot who later were identified as Boggs and Marrufo, Paulich said.
Paulich said Boggs pulled out a clear plastic bag that contained a brown substance. The detective believed the substance was heroin.
Additional detectives approached Boggs and Marrufo to place them under arrest. Paulich said the men were told to get on the ground; Marrufo complied as Boggs ran away from the detectives.
As Boggs ran away, he pulled a large plastic bag containing a brown substance inside from his clothing and threw it on the ground, Paulich said.
Marrufo told the detectives that the substance in the large bag was fake heroin. He also admitted to having a small amount of real heroin in his pocket, according to Paulich.
Paulich said detectives were able to apprehend Boggs and take him into custody. Boggs had a small amount of methamphetamine in his pocket.
Boggs and Marrufo were transported to the Lake County Jail where Paulich said they were booked.
Paulich said Boogs was booked into custody for possession of controlled substance for sale, sell in lieu of controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy and resisting arrest.
Marrufo was booked into custody for possession of controlled substance for sale, sell in lieu of controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and conspiracy, Paulich said.
Both Boggs and Marrufo remain in custody with their bail set at $25,000 each, according to jail records.
