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Our solar system seems like a neat and orderly place, with small, rocky worlds near the Sun and big, gaseous worlds farther out, all eight planets following orbital paths unchanged since they formed.

However, the true history of the solar system is more riotous. Giant planets migrated in and out, tossing interplanetary flotsam and jetsam far and wide. New clues to this tumultuous past come from the asteroid belt.

“We found that the giant planets shook up the asteroids like flakes in a snow globe,” said lead author Francesca DeMeo, a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Millions of asteroids circle the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in a region known as the main asteroid belt.

Traditionally, they were viewed as the pieces of a failed planet that was prevented from forming by the influence of Jupiter's powerful gravity. Their compositions seemed to vary methodically from drier to wetter, due to the drop in temperature as you move away from the Sun.

That traditional view changed as astronomers recognized that the current residents of the main asteroid belt weren't all there from the start.

In the early history of our solar system the giant planets ran amok, migrating inward and outward substantially.

Jupiter may have moved as close to the Sun as Mars is now. In the process, it swept the asteroid belt nearly clean, leaving only a tenth of one percent of its original population.

As the planets migrated, they stirred the contents of the solar system. Objects from as close to the Sun as Mercury, and as far out as Neptune, all collected in the main asteroid belt.

“The asteroid belt is a melting pot of objects arriving from diverse locations and backgrounds,” explained DeMeo.

Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, DeMeo and co-author Benoit Carry (Paris Observatory) examined the compositions of thousands of asteroids within the main belt.

They found that the asteroid belt is more diverse than previously realized, especially when you look at the smaller asteroids.

This finding has interesting implications for the history of Earth. Astronomers have theorized that long-ago asteroid impacts delivered much of the water now filling Earth's oceans.

If true, the stirring provided by migrating planets may have been essential to bringing those asteroids.

This raises the question of whether an Earth-like exoplanet would also require a rain of asteroids to bring water and make it habitable. If so, then Earth-like worlds might be rarer than we thought.

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CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A single-vehicle crash early Saturday morning east of Clearlake Oaks claimed a woman's life.

The crash occurred at 5:50 a.m. on Highway 20 just east of Walker Ridge Road, according to a report from the California Highway Patrol's Clear Lake Area office.

The name of the woman and her age were not released pending notification of family, the CHP report said. Additionally, the report said her city of residence was unknown.

The CHP said the woman was driving a 2003 Ford Expedition eastbound on Highway 20 at an unknown speed when she allowed the vehicle's right-side tires to drift off the south roadway edge and onto the dirt shoulder.

The driver turned the wheel abruptly in an attempt to return the SUV to the eastbound lane, but the CHP said the abrupt turning movement caused the Ford to overturn in the roadway.

The SUV traveled in an easterly direction and came to rest on its right side against an uphill embankment that borders the south side of Highway 20, the CHP said.

The woman was trapped in the driver's seat and died at the scene, according to the report.

The CHP said the woman was wearing her seat belt. Alcohol is not considered a factor in the crash.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada (D-Davis), chair of the Assembly Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, will join the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee for a joint oversight hearing regarding the affordability of water.

The hearing, “Keeping Water Rates Affordable,” is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, in Room 437 of the State Capitol.

“Ensuring clean and reliable water is important, but it’s time to examine what the State can do to ensure that all populations have fair access to this fundamental resource,” said Yamada. “Seniors and others on fixed incomes continue to pay more for basic necessities, but unlike food and medication, there are few programs providing relief for large water rate increases.”

In recent years, California’s investor-owned water utilities have submitted requests to the California Public Utilities Commission to approve water rate increases ranging from 7 percent to 45 percent in order to improve water infrastructure and reliability.

However, these requests require closer inspection to ensure that the increases do not disproportionately affect low-income or fixed income populations such as seniors, Yamada's office reported.

For example, in Lucerne, Cal Water filed a request for a water increase of 77 percent over three years after the company had already raised their rates in prior years. Although this case has reached a pending settlement agreement, there is no guarantee against future rate hikes.

Panelists include representatives from the California Public Utilities Commission, Cal Water, Sacramento Suburban Water District and Lake County Supervisor Denise Rushing, whose district includes the Lucerne area.

Discussion will focus on meeting the needs of an aging and diversifying population as well as finding solutions to balance water rates and low-income affordability for both consumers and industry.

For more information, contact the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee at 916-319-3990.

Yamada represents all or parts of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Quilt Trail is accepting applications for its fifth phase.

The project began when Marilyn Holdenried, founder and chairperson of the Kelseyville Pear Festival, visited an International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., and discovered the quilt trail concept.

The Lake County Quilt Trail now has 49 quilt blocks on barns, wineries, farm stands and other businesses.

The quilt blocks are designed and painted by an all-volunteer team of quilters, graphic artists, painters, writers, carpenters and a videographer.

Quilt blocks are selected to connect with family, community and history.

The final block of phase four recently was installed on the Red Hills Vineyard site of Boatique Winery.

Owners Madeleine and Robert Mount will open their tasting room in the spring of 2015. Meanwhile, the quilt block Mariner’s Compass can be viewed on the tasting room structure on 8255 Red Hills Road, Kelseyville.

The prices are $500 for an 8-foot block and $300 for a 4-foot block. Painting of the quilt blocks will begin in May.

Applications may be found at www.lakecountyquilttrail.com or at Kerrie's Quilting, 1853 N. High Street in Lakeport, telephone 707-263-8555.

Brochures are available at Kerrie's Quilting and the Wildhurst Tasting Room, 3855 Main St. in Kelseyville.

Groups interested in Lake County Quilt Trail Tours should contact Marilyn Holdenried at 707-279-4456.

Responding to record dry conditions and diminishing water supplies in the state’s major rivers and reservoirs, the State Water Resources Control Board announced two key actions to protect public health and safety from more severe water shortages should extreme drought conditions continue.

State Water Board Executive Director Tom Howard is approving a petition to adjust water quality requirements in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, allowing the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project to conserve water supplies in upstream reservoirs and more effectively operate their facilities in response to ongoing drought conditions.

In addition, the State Water Board announced that notices will be issued beginning next week to “junior priority” water-right holders to curtail their diversions of water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems.

Both of these actions, which are included in Gov. Jerry Brown's recent state of emergency declaration, reflect extraordinary circumstances brought on by the state’s record drought.

After two dry years, storage in key reservoirs is lower than at this time in 1977, one of the driest years on record. And 2014 is shaping up as the driest year in state history, with the water content of the statewide snowpack just 12 percent of normal for this time of year.

“Persistent drought conditions have resulted in a rapidly deteriorating situation, prompting the executive director to take this temporary immediate action today,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Board. “These are the first of some very tough decisions that will have to be made and adjusted if conditions continue to worsen. In the coming days, the Board will be meeting to hear feedback on these measures, as well as other strategies for dealing with persistent extreme drought conditions.”

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta provides drinking water to two-thirds of the state’s population, supplies some of California’s most productive agricultural areas, and is one of the largest ecosystems for fish and wildlife habitat and production in the United States.

Water from Clear Lake flows into the delta through Cache Creek.

In a petition submitted Jan. 29, the Department of Water Resources and the federal Bureau of Reclamation requested a change to water quality requirements that govern outflows in the delta and operation of the Delta Cross Channel gates.

These requirements, in place since 1995, help control salinity in the delta and protect water quality for municipal and industrial, agricultural, and fish and wildlife uses.

The State Water Board’s order approving the petition makes temporary urgency changes in the required amount of outflows into the delta, enabling water to be conserved in reservoirs in case of continued drought.

The petition submitted to the water board also requests flexible operation of the Delta Cross Channel gates, which will enable greater protection against salt water intrusion to the interior portion of the delta while protecting fish populations.

These gates typically remain closed during the late winter and spring, which protects fish from straying into the central delta. However, due to low water flows, keeping gates closed prevents high quality fresh water to flow through the central delta, reducing saltwater intrusion.

The State Water Board’s order approving the petition provides flexibility to operate the gates based on evolving water quality conditions and fish migration information.

As a result of the order, the state and federal water projects will save approximately 150,000 acre feet of water in upstream reservoirs in February. The saved water will be available later in the year for uses in the public interest.

If dry conditions persist, and this order is amended, an additional 150,000 acre feet of water will be preserved in March and an even greater amount in April. Additional water savings can be achieved through a reduction in water deliveries.

An acre foot of water is generally the amount of water that two California households will use in one year.

The temporary order by the State Water Board’s executive director recognizes the extraordinary circumstances that Californians are facing. It provides flexibility for the water projects and regulatory agencies to make real-time decisions reflecting either improving or deteriorating conditions based on the most current information.

Due to the severity of the current situation, State Water Board staff expedited its determination on the petition to preserve diminishing reservoir storage.

The order, while in effect for six months, will be updated on an as-needed basis as conditions evolve.

California water law allows the approval of urgent changes to water rights permits and licenses in advance of public noticing.

Although the order is effective immediately, the State Water Board will hold a workshop Feb. 18 to 19 to hear from the public and interested parties on the order or other actions that the Board should be taking.

Even with the actions by the State Water Board and the Department of Water Resources, there is insufficient water to meet the needs of all water-right holders in the delta watershed.

The State Water Board, acting on instructions in the governor’s drought state of emergency proclamation, notified water rights holders on Jan. 17 that they may be ordered to halt or reduce water diversions if drought conditions worsen.

Next week, the State Water Board will begin issuing formal curtailment notices. The first notices will be sent to junior water-right holders in the Sacramento-San Joaquin watershed.

The Super Bowl is one of America’s most highly anticipated sports events when friends and family often gather in homes, bars, and restaurants to watch the game.

Whether attending the game, watching at a bar or hosting a party, the California Highway Patrol joins with the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Football League, and TEAM (Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management) to remind everyone that Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk.

Before choosing to drink, choose your team’s most valuable player – a sober designated driver.

“We want everyone to enjoy the game this year, but most importantly, we want everyone to get home safely,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Be sure to designate your sober driver before you head to your destination.”

Saving the telephone numbers for your local taxi services on your mobile device ahead of time is highly recommended.

“If you plan on drinking alcohol during the big game, we encourage you to designate a sober driver or plan for alternative modes of transportation such as a taxi cab to get you home safely,” said Office of Traffic Safety Acting Director Russia Chavis. “A taxi cab may cost you $30, but that’s nothing compared to the $10,000 or more in fees, fines, and the stigma that can stem from getting a DUI.”

In a continued effort to keep the roads safe, the CHP is reminding motorists to be extra vigilant this weekend. Any motorist who sees a suspected drunk driver is asked to call 9-1-1 and provide the vehicle’s description, license plate number, location, and direction of travel.

Preliminary figures from Super Bowl Sunday in 2012 indicated there were 221 alcohol-involved collisions statewide, which resulted in five people killed and at least 114 people injured.

If the number of collisions is not enough to deter drivers who may be impaired, consider that last year (2013) on Super Bowl Sunday, a total of 390 drivers were arrested statewide for DUI by the CHP.

The mission of the California Highway Patrol is to provide the highest level of safety, service, and security to the people of California.