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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Rain fell throughout the day on Friday and into the night, offering the most substantial rainfall in more than a month.
The National Weather Service’s observation stations reported the following 24-hour rainfall totals in inches through 12 a.m. Saturday:
– Bartlett Springs: 0.31.
– Cache Creek near Lower Lake: 0.49.
– County line (at Colusa side): 0.15.
– Hidden Valley Lake: 0.30.
– High Glade Lookout (above Upper Lake): 0.47.
– Kelseyville: 0.60.
– Knoxville Creek: 0.28.
– Soda Creek: 0.44.
– Upper Lake: 0.14.
– Whispering Pines: 0.52.
The forecast called for showers to continue overnight Friday into Saturday. Saturday’s forecast is for slight chances of more rain during the daytime and nighttime hours.
Overnight rain is again forecast from Saturday into Sunday, which is expected to see still more showers, according to the forecast.
Monday through Friday are forecast to be mostly cloudy, with a slight chance of showers on Tuesday night.
Temperatures into next week are forecast to be in the high 30s to low 40s at night and into the low 60s in the daytime, forecasters said.
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- Written by: Vanessa Thomas
The Hubble Space Telescope turned 30 this year, and for the occasion, it’s sharing a present with you.
NASA has just released dozens of newly processed Hubble images featuring 30 dazzling galaxies, sparkling star clusters and ethereal nebulae.
And there’s something extra special about these 30 celestial gems: All of them can be seen through backyard telescopes. Some of them can also be spotted with binoculars or even the naked eye.
All of these celestial objects belong to a collection known to amateur astronomers as the Caldwell catalog.
Compiled by British amateur astronomer and science communicator Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore, the catalog was published by Sky & Telescope magazine 25 years ago, in December 1995.
It was inspired by the Messier catalog, assembled by French comet-hunter Charles Messier, which includes 110 relatively bright but fuzzy objects in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere that could accidentally be mistaken for comets.
Caldwell’s catalog highlights 109 galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae that are not included in Messier’s catalog but are also bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers.
In addition, the Caldwell objects are split between the northern and southern hemisphere skies, providing interesting targets to pursue for amateur astronomers around the world.
This newly released collection of more than 50 Hubble images feature 30 objects in the Caldwell catalog. (Some of these 30 Caldwell objects appear in more than one new Hubble image.)
These images have been taken by Hubble throughout its career and used for scientific research or for engineering tests, but NASA had not fully processed the images for public release until now.
Because of Hubble’s detailed field of view, some of its pictures do not capture the entirety of a Caldwell object, sometimes instead zooming in on clusters of young stars in the arms of a spiral galaxy, stars on the outskirts of a cluster, or the zombie star at the heart of a nebula.
But in other cases, a mosaic of Hubble observations assemble to create a complete or nearly complete portrait of the celestial marvel.
These new images join Hubble’s existing gallery of Caldwell objects, first published in December 2019. Hubble’s collection now includes 87 of the 109 Caldwell objects.
For each listing in Hubble’s Caldwell catalog, a basic star chart shows observers when and where they can find that object in the night sky, and a description suggests what type of observing equipment can be used to view it.
The individual articles also explain Hubble’s images for those who prefer to just enjoy the telescope’s exquisite views.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in April 1990.
After being upgraded five times by crews of spacewalking astronauts, Hubble is today, at 30 years old, even better than when it was launched and continues to make groundbreaking discoveries that challenge and advance our fundamental understanding of the cosmos.
To see all of the new images in Hubble’s Caldwell catalog, click here.
Vanessa Thomas works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MATH opened nominations for three seats in October, with the nominations also open last month and again on Thursday night.
The seats to be filled – which Chair Tom Darms said include two representing Middletown proper and one at-large seat, not the other way around as had been stated on the agenda – currently are held by Darms, Vice Chair Sally Peterson and Secretary Paul Baker.
MATH’s board also includes Rosemary Córdova and Lisa Kaplan, who are at-large members.
MATH, whose members reported having less participation since the meetings have been held virtually and not in person, went into Thursday night’s meeting with no formal nominations having been accepted at its last two meetings.
By the end of the Thursday night discussion, however, a slate of three candidates formed and will be presented to the town hall for acceptance at its January meeting.
The candidates are Ken Gonzales, who previously served on the MATH board; businesswoman Monica Rosenthal; and Baker, who this time agreed to serve but said he didn’t want to continue to be the board secretary.
All three accepted their nominations.
At the November meeting, MATH approved bylaws updates which included making December the month in which nominations close and setting the election in January. While the group has typically held elections in January, the bylaws previously didn’t give a specific time for elections.
The November bylaws updates also include allowing for nominations by proxy for those who can’t attend a meeting in person, which previously hadn’t been allowed.
MATH went over further bylaws changes regarding clarification to the board election procedures which will be presented for acceptance at the January meeting.
Darms said the new board members will be approved in January. At that time, they are expected to discuss having alternates in place for the board in order to ensure they can have a quorum at future meetings.
In other business, the group received a report from Community Development Director Scott De Leon on the granting of a permit to Verizon for the use of an existing cell tower in Middletown.
A previous iteration of the project was denied by the Lake County Planning Commission last year but De Leon said he is allowing this new permit to go forward because it’s his conclusion that the county can’t deny it and comply with federal law.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The grant runs through June of 2023.
The purpose of the grant is to support programs aimed at improving student outcomes by reducing truancy and supporting students who are at risk of dropping out of school.
“Lake County has a high rate of chronic absenteeism. The grant allowed us to create a local solution that will work for us here in Lake County,” said Lake County Deputy Superintendent of Schools Cynthia Lenners.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing two or more days of school, excused or unexcused, a month.
“When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating,” said Lake County Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg.
The Lake County Office of Education has seven job openings for the implementation and operation of this program. There are six attendance liaison positions and one attendance coordinator position.
The Learning Communities for Student Success Program staff will provide extra support and school site services to students and their families related to attendance.
They will be hired through the Lake County Office of Education but will be assigned to one of the local school districts in Lake County.
“Although we would like our attendance liaisons to have an Associated Arts degree, the most important qualification for the job is for a person to have the passion to make things better for our students in Lake County,” Lenners said.
The attendance coordinator position requires a Bachelor’s of Arts degree.
For information on how to apply for these positions, please visit lakecoe.org and click on the “careers” button. Application deadlines are Friday, Dec. 18.