How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The city of Lakeport Economic Development Advisory Committee will meet on Wednesday, Jan. 9.
The meeting will take place from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the conference room at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The committee advocates for a strong and positive Lakeport business community and acts as a conduit between the city and the community for communicating the goals, activities and progress of Lakeport’s economic and business programs.
Members do not have to be Lakeport residents. Current members include Alan Flora, Melissa Fulton, Carol Hays, Barbara Johnson, George Linn, Nina Marino, Wilda Shock and Taira St. John. City staffers Andrew Britton and Margaret Silveira are ex-officio committee members.
Agenda items for Wednesday include election of the chair, vice chair and secretary for 2013, and committee member reports and business outreach activities.
Also up for discussion will be the Lakeport branding workshop and next steps.
There will be the opportunity for citizen’s input.
The committee is next scheduled to meet from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, at Lakeport City Hall.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The board of directors of the Lake County Wine Alliance invites nonprofit organizations, agencies and programs in Lake County to apply for a share of the proceeds from the 2013 Lake County Wine Auction.
The 14th annual benefit will be held in September with the exact date and location soon to be announced.
Applications must be postmarked or submitted via email by March 1, 2013.
Applications for funding may be obtained from the Wine Alliance Web site, www.winealliance.org . A downloadable application can be found under the “beneficiaries” tab.
Applicants may also contact Judy Luchsinger, chair of the beneficiaries committee, at 707-263-3280, or
The Lake County Wine Alliance may be contacted by phone, 866-279-9463, or by mail to P.O. Box 530, Kelseyville, CA 95451.
Fifteen nonprofit organizations, including agencies, programs, senior centers and high schools, received $96,000 from the proceeds of the 2012 wine auction held last September at Brassfield Estate Vineyard and Winery.
Awards are made in the fields of the arts, health services, and the community.
The Wine Alliance has contributed $991,302 in proceeds to Lake County groups since the inception of the annual charity event in 2000.
Proceeds include ticket sales, donations from sponsorships, live and silent auction income, purchases of reserve wines at the event, and sales of special edition, commemorative fine art posters by Lake County artist John R. Clarke.
Local wineries, wine grape growers, restaurants, and other businesses and individuals are generous supporters through their donations to the live and silent auctions and to the food and beverages served at the gala affair. Lake County and regional businesses provide support through sponsorships.
The charter of the Wine Alliance directs its efforts to foster the arts, benefit health services, and support the community, while promoting Lake County as a premier grape growing and fine wine region.
The Wine Alliance is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization of Lake County wineries, winegrape growers, and business and community supporters that annually presents the wine auction as a fundraising charity benefit.
Members of the Wine Alliance board are Kaj Ahlmann, Lower Lake, president; Judy Luchsinger, Lakeport, vice president; Sharron Zoller, Kelseyville, secretary; Rob Roumiguiere, Kelseyville, treasurer; and Marie Beery, Kelseyville, and Bill Groody, Kelseyville, directors.
Honorary chairman of the 2012 event was Jerry Brassfield, proprietor of Brassfield Estate Winery and Vineyard, High Valley.
The organization’s success over the years would not have been possible without the help of valued sponsors.
For their support in 2012, the Wine Alliance thanked Mendo Lake Credit Union, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Brassfield Estate Winery, Calpine, Six Sigma Ranch, Bella Vista Farming, St. Helena Hospital, Kathy Fowler Chevrolet, Shannon Ridge Winery, TricorBraun Packaging, Kelseyville Pharmacy and the Lake County Winegrape Commission.
In the midst of winter’s dormancy, certain hardy herbs survive, providing flavor for warming foods that carry us through the cold and rain.
Herbs with strength to brave the season’s chill carry particularly pungent flavor, perfect for the hearty foods that we crave this time of year: stews of meats and root vegetables; thick, steaming soups; pots of simmering beans.
There are others than those highlighted below that can (either naturally or with care) survive the winter months. (Bay laurel, mint, flat-leaf parsley, oregano, and marjoram come to mind, for example.) We’ll consider them our “honorable mentions.” For now, be inspired by the giants of year-round flavor: winter savory, thyme, rosemary, and sage.
Perhaps you’re lucky enough to have pots of these hardy plants on your deck or peeking through the mulch in your garden. If so, enjoy them.
If not, join me in gratitude that fresh herbs are in abundance at our local grocers year-round.
Today’s recipe is for a pot of hearty soup featuring two of winter’s staple veggies, cabbage and kale, and flavored with a couple of the featured goliaths of flavor. It should keep you nourished and warm in the midst of winter.
Bon appétit!
Winter savory
This pungent herb once held a place of dominance in the cooking of Europe, so much so that its name refers not only to the herb, but to an entire segment of cooking.
Winter savory and its cousin, summer savory, are known jointly as “the savories.”
Native to a swath of southern Europe from Spain to Turkey, the two savories were the strongest herbs available to Europeans for cooking until world exploration and trade brought such spices as black pepper to the table.
A perennial herb (the summer variety is an annual), winter savory will return each season from the same root. Where winters are mild, it’s an evergreen plant, providing pungent leaves for cooking year-round.
Winter savory is more intensely flavored than its summer counterpart (a tablespoon of chopped fresh summer savory translates to a teaspoon of winter), with notes of pepper, dill, mint, and pine. Its strong taste marries well with hearty winter dishes.
The herb is particularly favored for flavoring beans, prompting one of its nicknames: “the bean herb.” Its German moniker, bohnenkraut, means just that, and in Italy savory is a stable in bean dishes.
The tough leaves of winter savory hold up well in the pot, making them perfect for the long, slow cooking required for beans.
Other foods with mild tastes benefit from savory’s pungency. Potatoes, for example, are enhanced when given a rub of fresh savory, salt, pepper, and olive oil prior to roasting.
Savory works well in tomato-based dishes (pastas, soups, and the like), and is often used to flavor sausages, particularly in Eastern Europe.
Winter savory’s small, needle-like leaves grow on stems woody enough to be used in hedgerows and the plant was popular in the intricate knot gardens of Tudor England.
And here’s a relatively local connection: a relative of savory native to the Pacific coast inspired the original name of San Francisco, Yerba Buena, which means “good herb.” Early settlers there dried the abundant herb and drank it like tea to cure a variety of ailments.
Thyme
Thyme is such a nimble herb in the kitchen, lending its flavor well to so many dishes, that some have said, “When in doubt, use thyme.”
More than one gardening guru has advised that if you have only one pot to use for an herb planting, plant thyme.
In other words, thyme is a cooking staple, welcome year-round in the kitchen. Thankfully, some varieties, such as English, silver, and creeping, seem to do well in winter gardens.
Thyme is one of the herbs central to the cooking of Provence, France and is featured in the popular “herbs de Provence” dried herb mixture, along with lavender, fennel and a variety of other herbs.
It’s also commonly used in the traditional French “bouquet garni,” a bundle of fresh herbs tied with kitchen spring or enclosed in cheesecloth and dropped into a pot of soup or stew to flavor it.
Thyme is so versatile that it might be easier to list what thyme doesn’t complement, rather than what it does.
It goes with almost all meats, including fish, beef, chicken, lamb, and pork. Even some game animals, such as venison or rabbit, benefit from its flavor.
It pairs well with sweet vegetables, such as carrots; meaty vegetables, such as mushrooms and eggplant; and with vegetable staples onions and tomatoes.
It even has a place in sweet cuisine, working beautifully with fruits such as figs, peaches, and strawberries.
While thyme is wonderful with lighter summer fare, it’s also in its element seasoning hearty winter stews, soups, and ragouts.
Thyme is a companionable herb; it lends flavor but doesn’t overpower, making it blend well with a variety of herbs and spices.
Flavors as diverse as mint, lemon, rosemary, cloves, paprika, mustard, and coriander marry well with thyme. And that’s the short list.
Even its name displays its multifaceted character. The word “thyme” may be traced to ancient Greek, where it was derived from either a word meaning “courage,” appropriate for its invigorating quality, or from one meaning “to fumigate,” since the burning of thyme was used to chase stinging insects from ancient Greek homes.
Rosemary
Rosemary is native to the Mediterranean region, particularly along the coastal hills of Spain and Portugal.
Its name derives from the Latin word “rosmarinus,” which translates to “dew of the sea,” a reference to its needing no more water than the humidity from the sea to survive in many areas.
And it’s true that rosemary thrives in dry conditions. It does well in California’s Mediterranean-like climate, even in times of drought.
An evergreen, rosemary’s pine needle-like foliage, gray-green in color, grows abundantly on woody stalks. Its hardiness and its ability to hang in pots, crawl along the ground, and be used in a hedgerow, make it a favorite landscaping plant.
Rosemary has a strong flavor, so is best used with a bit of caution in culinary applications, since it doesn’t take much to overpower a dish with its flavor.
While it’s a favorite for summer grilling, it also lends aromatic flavor to comforting winter dishes like sherry-braised pork, baked chicken, and dishes with hearty tomato-based sauces, such as those made with anchovies and garlic.
Rosemary has a special affinity for beans, particularly white beans, and throwing several sprigs of fresh rosemary into the pot will infuse such mild beans with deeply aromatic flavor.
In addition to beans, rosemary romances potatoes with its flavor. Adding rosemary, along with its friend, garlic, to potatoes before oven roasting makes for a flavorful dish, and creamy potato soup benefits from its addition.
The already heavenly smell and taste of freshly baked bread is enhanced by the addition of rosemary, whether sprinkled over the top or added to the dough. Rosemary is especially good with hearty whole grain breads.
In addition to its culinary and aromatic properties, rosemary has long been thought to improve the memory. Students in ancient Greece believed this, so wore rosemary garlands while studying for exams.
As it turns out, modern science has shown that rosemary increases the blood flow to the head and brain, thereby improving concentration.
It might not be a bad idea to tuck a rosemary sprig behind your ear the next time you take a test!
Sage
Sage’s Latin name, salvia, is derived from salvare, meaning to save, a reference to the many perceived healing properties of the herb. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Arabs attributed sage to long life, even immortality.
Sage has a strong, spicy flavor, with hints of musk and camphor, and is best enjoyed cooked, rather than raw. It holds up well to heat and should be added at the beginning of the cooking process, unlike some herbs which quickly lose their flavor. Sage becomes even stronger when dried.
It marries well with beans, particularly white beans, and a bundle of sage tied with cooking string can be thrown into the pot as they cook. Lentils are another good match, as is split pea soup.
Other favorites with sage are some Italian dishes, such as gnocchi and ravioli. It has an affinity for fatty meats, and is often used in the making of sausage. Pork is particularly good with it.
Onions and sage go hand-in-hand, as do some cheeses, particularly mild ones, and all manner of poultry. Sage flavors most stuffings for fowl.
Sage marries well with the beautiful array of winter squashes available now. Nearly all benefit from the addition of sage, and butter is a wonderful vehicle for the impartation of its flavor.
Sage butter is easily made by combining finely chopped fresh sage to room temperature butter. It stores well in the fridge or may be frozen.
This deeply flavored compound butter is especially enticing on a warm piece of cornbread. When used for this purpose, a little honey is a nice addition.
Another way to impart sage’s flavor is via crispy sage, made by tossing fresh sage leaves in simmering olive oil a handful at a time. Allow the leaves to cook until dark green and just crisp.
These crispy leaves may be crumbled over or added to a variety of dishes, including polenta, soups, or stews. A dish of roasted butternut squash, apples, and onions is my favorite place to use them.
The oil used to crisp them may be used to add sage flavor to dishes, as well, such as drizzling atop soup. Since olive oil solidifies after a few days in the fridge, the oil in semi-solid form may be used in much the same way as sage butter.
Sage butter is used as a component in today’s recipe, a hearty bread soup with cabbage and kale.
Bread soup with cabbage and kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled, 2 of the cloves chopped
3 quarts good-quality vegetable stock
Small head (or ½ medium head) green cabbage, roughly chopped Small bunch kale, stalks removed, leaves roughly chopped 8 – 16 slices (2 per person) thick rustic or sourdough bread 7 ounces Fontina cheese
2 ounces freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cube butter, soft and at room temperature
1 small bunch fresh sage, finely chopped
Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add the onions and sauté until softened. Add the rosemary, then the 2 cloves of chopped garlic, and sauté a minute or so longer. (Be careful not to burn the garlic.)
Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped cabbage and kale to the stock and simmer on low heat until both are quite tender.
Taste soup and add salt and pepper as needed.
Meanwhile, toast the bread slices in the oven or on a griddle until golden. Set aside. When cool, lightly rub each slice with the whole pieces of garlic.
Combine the chopped sage and butter in a small bowl, blending well. Generously spread over toasted bread slices.
To assemble soup, put two slices of toasted bread in each bowl. Generously sprinkle Fontina cheese over bread slices. Ladle warm soup into the bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Note: If Fontina cheese is unavailable, Gruyere or white cheddar is a good substitute. Bread that’s a bit stale is fine for this recipe.
Esther Oertel, a freelance writer, cooking teacher, and speaker, is passionate about local produce and all foods in the vegetable kingdom. She welcomes your questions and comments and may be reached at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The local theater and radio production of Lake County Live! wrapped up its first season on Sunday, Dec. 30, with its 12th performance at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre and on KPFZ 88.1 FM.
The show included performances by Lucas Swafford and Gypsy Vayous, along with Clovice Lewis and Friends, and rounding out the show was a repeat performance by Majide!
Show creator and host Doug Rhoades told the audience that even though the show debuted in January of 2012, with 12 shows under their belt, this was the first anniversary show, and a new year’s celebration as well, albeit a day early.
The show opened with Lucas Swafford, joined by Rama Deva, Christian Clark and Sarah Lyne performing all original music.
They were followed by Clovice Lewis, on keyboard and cello, together with Eleanor Cook on violin and vocals by Heather Thompson. Rounding out the show was Majide!, which includes Paul Kemp on piano, Jim Leonardis on sax and vocals by Machiko.
Along the way, guests were treated to an interview by show director Nick Reid with the outgoing year, portrayed by Mitchell Hauptman, and the incoming baby new year voiced by Doug Rhoades.
Ladies of the Lake returned for their year-end finale, with the vocal talents of Kris Andre, Suna Flores, Pamela Bradley, Vicky Parish Smith and Richard Smith.
The final show of the year saw an attendance in the theater of more than 130 guests, who laughed, applauded and cheered along the way.
“I’m always so grateful for the reaction of the audience in the theater, and the acceptance we’ve had for our show,” said Rhoades. “It seems each show we exceed the expectations we had for the previous show, and with the unlimited talent here in Lake County, I see us continuing for quite some time.”
Lake County Live! returns for the second season at 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, live in the Soper-Reese Community Theatre and on the air on KPFZ 88.1 FM, Lake County Community Radio.
The show also can be seen on Lake County PEG-TV, cable Channel 8.
The show is repeated on the Saturday following each broadcast at 7 a.m. on KPFZ.
Tickets for the next show are available at the theater box office, 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport, on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at the Travel Center in Lakeport or online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .
LAKEPORT, Calif. – With the arrival of the new year there is a big bunch of dogs available for adoption at the county’s animal shelter.
Canines of many breeds, types and sizes are available for those wanting to begin 2013 with a new addition to their family.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).
Jack Russell Terrier mix
This male Jack Russell Terrier mix is 3 years old.
He weighs 11 pounds, has a long white and brindle coat, and has not yet been spayed.
Find him in kennel No. 7, ID No. 35192.
‘Meghan’
“Meghan” is a 1-year-old pit bull terrier mix.
She has a short blue and white coat, weighs 46 pounds and has not yet been spayed.
Meghan is in kennel No. 10, ID No. 35197.
Catahoula Leopard mix
This female Catahoula Leopard mix is 3 years old.
She has a short brown and black coat. It was not reported if she was altered.
Find her in kennel No. 15, ID No. 35199.
Female pit bull terrier mix
This female pit bull terrier mix is 10 months old.
She has a short white and brown coat, and is not yet altered.
She’s in kennel No. 16, ID No. 35170.
Mini poodle mix
This miniature poodle mix is 9 months old.
She has a long white and apricot coat, and has been altered.
She’s in kennel No. 22, ID No. 35143.
Male Chihuahua mix puppy
This little male Chihuahua mix puppy is 8 weeks old.
He has a short tan coat and a docked tail, weighs 3 pounds and has been neutered.
Find him in kennel No. 23b, ID No. 35169.
‘Chocolate’
“Chocolate” is a 2-year-old female Chihuahua mix.
She has a short tricolor coat, weighs 9 pounds and has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 23c, ID No. 35166.
‘Zsa Zsa’
“Zsa Zsa” is an 8 year old female Chihuahua mix.
She has a short tan coat, weighs 8 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 24, ID No. 35168.
Male Labrador Retriever mix
This male Labrador Retriever mix is 1 year old.
He has a short black coat and weighs 62 pounds. It’s unknown if he is altered.
He can be found in kennel No. 27, ID No. 35165.
Beagle-hound mix
This female beagle-hound mix is 6 months old.
She has a short tan coat, weighs 27 pounds and has been spayed.
You can find her in kennel No. 29, ID No. 35118.
Male hound mix
This male hound mix is 1 year old.
He has a short tricolor coat. It was not reported if he was altered.
He’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 35200.
Female terrier mix
This female terrier mix is 1 year old.
She has a short black coat and weighs 10 pounds. It was not reported if she was altered.
Find her in kennel No. 32, ID No. 35195.
Jack Russell Terrier mix
This female Jack Russell Terrier mix is a year and a half old.
She has a short black and white coat, weighs 18 pounds and has been spayed.
She’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 34766.
Male Rottweiler mix
This male Rottweiler mix is 5 months old.
He has a short black and tan coat, and is of medium size. It was not reported if he was altered.
Find him in kennel No. 34, ID No. 35136.
Please note: Dogs listed at the shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.
To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .
Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.
Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
Look up at the night sky and you’ll see stars, sure. But you’re also seeing planets – billions and billions of them. At least.
That’s the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm.
The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 – planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.
“There’s at least 100 billion planets in the galaxy – just our galaxy,” said John Johnson, assistant professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech and coauthor of the study, which was recently accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. “That’s mind-boggling.”
“It’s a staggering number, if you think about it,” added Jonathan Swift, a postdoc at Caltech and lead author of the paper. “Basically there’s one of these planets per star.”
The planetary system in question, which was detected by the Kepler space telescope, contains five planets. The existence of two of those planets have already been confirmed by other astronomers.
The Caltech team confirmed the remaining three, then analyzed the five-planet system and compared it to other systems found by the Kepler mission.
The planets orbit a star that is an M dwarf – a type that accounts for about three-quarters of all stars in the Milky Way.
The five planets, which are similar in size to Earth and orbit close to their star, are also typical of the class of planets that the telescope has discovered orbiting other M dwarfs, Swift says.
Therefore, the majority of planets in the galaxy probably have characteristics comparable to those of the five planets.
While this particular system may not be unique, what does set it apart is its coincidental orientation: the orbits of the planets lie in a plane that’s positioned such that Kepler views the system edge-on.
Due to this rare orientation, each planet blocks Kepler -32’s starlight as it passes between the star and the Kepler telescope.
By analyzing changes in the star’s brightness, the astronomers were able to determine the planets’ characteristics, such as their sizes and orbital periods.
This orientation therefore provides an opportunity to study the system in great detail – and because the planets represent the vast majority of planets that are thought to populate the galaxy, the team says, the system also can help astronomers better understand planet formation in general.
“I usually try not to call things ‘Rosetta stones,’ but this is as close to a Rosetta stone as anything I’ve seen,” Johnson said. “It’s like unlocking a language that we’re trying to understand—the language of planet formation.”
One of the fundamental questions regarding the origin of planets is how many of them there are. Like the Caltech group, other teams of astronomers have estimated that there is roughly one planet per star, but this is the first time researchers have made such an estimate by studying M-dwarf systems, the most numerous population of planets known.
To do that calculation, the Caltech team determined the probability that an M-dwarf system would provide Kepler-32’s edge-on orientation.
Combining that probability with the number of planetary systems Kepler is able to detect, the astronomers calculated that there is, on average, one planet for every one of the approximately 100 billion stars in the galaxy.
But their analysis only considers planets that are in close orbits around M dwarfs – not the outer planets of an M-dwarf system, or those orbiting other kinds of stars.
As a result, they say, their estimate is conservative. In fact, says Swift, a more accurate estimate that includes data from other analyses could lead to an average of two planets per star.
M-dwarf systems like Kepler-32’s are quite different from our own solar system. For one, M dwarfs are cooler and much smaller than the sun.
Kepler-32, for example, has half the mass of the sun and half its radius. The radii of its five planets range from 0.8 to 2.7 times that of Earth, and those planets orbit extremely close to their star.
The whole system fits within just over a tenth of an astronomical unit (the average distance between Earth and the sun) – a distance that is about a third of the radius of Mercury’s orbit around the sun.
The fact that M-dwarf systems vastly outnumber other kinds of systems carries a profound implication, according to Johnson, which is that our solar system is extremely rare.
“It’s just a weirdo,” he said.
The fact that the planets in M-dwarf systems are so close to their stars doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re fiery, hellish worlds unsuitable for life, the astronomers say. Indeed, because M dwarfs are small and cool, their temperate zone – also known as the “habitable zone,” the region where liquid water might exist – is also further inward.
Even though only the outermost of Kepler-32’s five planets lies in its temperate zone, many other M dwarf systems have more planets that sit right in their temperate zones.
As for how the Kepler-32 system formed, no one knows yet. But the team says its analysis places constraints on possible mechanisms.
For example, the results suggest that the planets all formed farther away from the star than they are now, and migrated inward over time.
Like all planets, the ones around Kepler-32 formed from a proto-planetary disk – a disk of dust and gas that clumped up into planets around the star.
The astronomers estimated that the mass of the disk within the region of the five planets was about as much as that of three Jupiters.
But other studies of proto-planetary disks have shown that three Jupiter masses can’t be squeezed into such a tiny area so close to a star, suggesting to the Caltech team that the planets around Kepler-32 initially formed farther out.
Another line of evidence relates to the fact that M dwarfs shine brighter and hotter when they are young, when planets would be forming.
Kepler-32 would have been too hot for dust – a key planet-building ingredient – to even exist in such close proximity to the star.
Previously, other astronomers had determined that the third and fourth planets from the star are not very dense, meaning that they are likely made of volatile compounds such as carbon dioxide, methane, or other ices and gases, the Caltech team said.
However, those volatile compounds could not have existed in the hotter zones close to the star.
Finally, the Caltech astronomers discovered that three of the planets have orbits that are related to one another in a very specific way.
One planet’s orbital period lasts twice as long as another’s, and the third planet’s lasts three times as long as the latter’s.
Planets don’t fall into this kind of arrangement immediately upon forming, Johnson said. Instead, the planets must have started their orbits farther away from the star before moving inward over time and settling into their current configuration.
“You look in detail at the architecture of this very special planetary system, and you’re forced into saying these planets formed farther out and moved in,” Johnson explained.
The implications of a galaxy chock full of planets are far-reaching, the researchers say. “It’s really fundamental from an origins standpoint,” said Swift, who notes that because M dwarfs shine mainly in infrared light, the stars are invisible to the naked eye. “Kepler has enabled us to look up at the sky and know that there are more planets out there than stars we can see.”
Marcus Woo writes for Caltech's news service.