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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Are you interested in science? The Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College offers some exciting classes this Spring 2017 semester.
The spring semester begins Jan. 23.
Some popular classes on the Lake County Campus include astronomy and geology and are still open for registration. These physical science classes are being instructed by highly qualified scientists.
The astronomy class is taught by Christopher Hodges, a physicist, who has created antimatter, hit the speed of light limit, turned mercury into gold and measured the age of the planets.
Historical geology is taught by Montana Hodges, an adventurous scientist who spends much of her free time digging up Jurassic period fossils in Alaska.
Her class covers rocks, minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes, plate tectonics, and how wind and water shapes the Earth’s surface.
Sign up for these, and more, exciting classes today. Contact the campus at 707-995-7900, visit the campus at 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake, or visit the college online at http://lcc.yccd.edu .
It's the big astrophysical whodunnit. Across the Universe, galaxies are being killed and the question scientists want answered is, what's killing them?
New research published this week by a global team of researchers, based at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, or ICRAR, seeks to answer that question.
The study reveals that a phenomenon called ram-pressure stripping is more prevalent than previously thought, driving gas from galaxies and sending them to an early death by depriving them of the material to make new stars.
The study of 11,000 galaxies shows their gas – the lifeblood for star formation – is being violently stripped away on a widespread scale throughout the local Universe.
Toby Brown, leader of the study and PhD candidate at ICRAR and Swinburne University of Technology, said the image we paint as astronomers is that galaxies are embedded in clouds of dark matter that we call dark matter halos.
Dark matter is the mysterious material that despite being invisible accounts for roughly 27 percent of our Universe, while ordinary matter makes up just 5 percent. The remaining 68 percent is dark energy.
“During their lifetimes, galaxies can inhabit halos of different sizes, ranging from masses typical of our own Milky Way to halos thousands of times more massive,” Brown said.
“As galaxies fall through these larger halos, the superheated intergalactic plasma between them removes their gas in a fast-acting process called ram-pressure stripping,” Brown explained. “You can think of it like a giant cosmic broom that comes through and physically sweeps the gas from the galaxies.”
Brown said removing the gas from galaxies leaves them unable to form new stars.
“It dictates the life of the galaxy because the existing stars will cool off and grow old,” he said. “If you remove the fuel for star formation then you effectively kill the galaxy and turn it into a dead object.”
ICRAR researcher Dr. Barbara Catinella, co-author of the study, said astronomers already knew ram-pressure stripping affected galaxies in clusters, which are the most massive halos found in the Universe.
“This paper demonstrates that the same process is operating in much smaller groups of just a few galaxies together with much less dark matter,” said Brown.
“Most galaxies in the Universe live in these groups of between two and a hundred galaxies,” he said. “We've found this removal of gas by stripping is potentially the dominant way galaxies are quenched by their surrounds, meaning their gas is removed and star formation shuts down.”
The study was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It used an innovative technique combining the largest optical galaxy survey ever completed, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with the largest set of radio observations for atomic gas in galaxies, the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey.
Brown said the other main process by which galaxies run out of gas and die is known as strangulation.
“Strangulation occurs when the gas is consumed to make stars faster than it's being replenished, so the galaxy starves to death,” he said.
“It's a slow-acting process,” Brown added. “On the contrary, what ram-pressure stripping does is bop the galaxy on the head and remove its gas very quickly – of the order of tens of millions of years – and astronomically speaking that's very fast.”
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With Clear Lake reaching it's full level on Friday, local officials are warning that the lake could rise further to the flood warning stage.
On Friday, the lake passed 7.56 feet Rumsey, the level at which it's considered full, and by 1:15 a.m. Saturday the lake was at 7.72 feet Rumsey.
On Friday the Lake County Sheriff's Office issued an advisory for county residents who live or have businesses along Clear Lake's shoreline.
The agency said the lake is anticipated to hit the flood warning stage this weekend, and incoming storms could create waves that may inundate shoreline areas.
The Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services encouraged all residents to take time now to check their homes or businesses, and prepare to leave if instructed to do so by the sheriff’s office or police agencies.
Residents in those shoreline areas are urged to have a full tank of gas, vital documents, prescriptions and supplies to support their families and pets if they need to leave their home. If evacuations are necessary, officials said residents should plan on being away from home for several days.
If necessary, the sheriff’s office will coordinate shelter sites with the Lake County Department of Social Services and the American Red Cross.
A series of storms is continuing to feed area creeks and streams, which in turn are contributing to the depth of Clear Lake.
For the 24-hour period ending at 1 a.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service's observation stations reported the following rainfall totals, in inches.
– Bear Canyon (Middletown): 2.28.
– Boggs Mountain: 1.30.
– Cache Creek (near Lower Lake): 1.45.
– Hidden Valley Lake: 1.42.
– Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.83.
– Jerusalem Grade (Middletown): 1.91.
– Kelseyville: 1.45.
– Putah Creek (Middletown): 1.71.
– Soda Creek at Lake Pillsbury): 1.78.
– Upper Lake: 1.40.
– Whispering Pines: 2.0.
The National Weather Service said another Pacific storm front is moving over the region on Saturday and Sunday, bringing with it still more rain and wind.
Lake County's specific forecast calls for rain through Tuesday, with showers expected to be particularly heavy on Saturday night, when between 1 and 2 inches is expected to fall.
Through 10 a.m. Sunday, Lake County also is under a wind advisory, which means that winds of 35 miles per hour or more are expected.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A wanted federal fugitive was taken into custody Thursday evening in Middletown following a vehicle pursuit.
John Antone Beckwith, 32, of Santa Rosa was arrested by detectives from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Investigations Unit and the Sonoma County Multi Agency Gang Enforcement Team, according to a report from Sgt. Shawn Murphy.
Murphy said the detectives came to Lake County on Thursday in an attempt to locate Beckwith after receiving information that he had been seen in the county.
Beckwith has a prior history of evading law enforcement in a vehicle and carrying loaded firearms in Sonoma County, Murphy said.
At approximately 5:15 p.m., detectives observed Beckwith, seated in a vehicle, near the dead end of Saint Stephens Avenue, a single-lane road, in Middletown, according to Murphy's report.
Knowing that Beckwith has previously been arrested for evading law enforcement, Murphy said detectives determined that apprehending Beckwith at this location would minimize the possibility of a vehicle pursuit, which could put the public in danger.
As patrol vehicles approached Beckwith’s vehicle, Beckwith immediately rammed his vehicle into one of the patrol vehicles and continued accelerating his vehicle through a fence into the yard of a private residence, Murphy said.
Murphy said Beckwith continued attempting to evade law enforcement, driving through several more fences of private residences until he emerged on Napa Avenue.
Once on Napa Avenue, Beckwith accelerated his vehicle, ramming it into the front of an unmarked detective vehicle, Murphy said.
After ramming the detective vehicle, Beckwith again attempted to flee the area, but was blocked in by several patrol vehicles, Murphy said. After a short struggle, Beckwith was taken into custody.
Beckwith was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail late Thursday for felony assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, felony evading arrest, misdemeanor hit and run, misdemeanor resisting arrest and his federal no-bail warrant.
Jail records showed that Beckwith remained in the jail on Friday.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Aromatherapist Theresa LeGarie will present an entertaining free two-part program about essential oils at the Lakeport branch of the Lake County Library on Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
The library is located at 1425 N. High St.
On Jan. 28 LeGarie will show “Ancient Secrets of Essential Oils,” a film that explores the fascinating history of essential oils from Biblical times into the 21st century.
The film will examine how uses of essential oils have developed over the centuries and sketch the medical research that has inspired millions of people around the world to use essential oils.
LeGarie will be sharing essential oils during and after the movie.
The Feb. 4 program will feature a demonstration and experience with essential oils.
“Join us on a wondrous journey back in time, to a place of mystery and discovery into essential oils and ancient secrets with expert interviews,” LeGarie said.
The Lake County Library is on the Internet at http://library.lakecountyca.gov and Facebook at www.facebook.com/LakeCountyLibrary .
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Effective Thursday, Feb. 2, Gibson Museum & Cultural Center will be open to the public on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
The revised hours are the latest move in preparing for Gibson’s operation as the third museum operated by the county of Lake.
Curator Tony Pierucci explained that the new hours will put Gibson’s hours of operation more in line with those of the Historic Courthouse Museum in Lakeport and the Historic Schoolhouse Museum in Lower Lake.
For the remainder of this month, Gibson Museum will maintain its former open schedule: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons from 1 to 5 p.m.
Gibson’s popular Fireside Chat living history series will open this year on Saturday, Feb. 28, with Jose “Moke” Simon III as the featured speaker.
Simon is newly elected supervisor of District 1. He is in his fifth term as tribal chairman of the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians.
Fireside Chats begin at 4 p.m. in the museum, across the street from Middletown Square, and last an hour or so. Guests are invited to come a bit early for refreshments and a leisurely look at what’s new in the gallery.