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- Written by: Preston Dyches
What are some skywatching highlights in December 2020? Catch the year's best meteor shower, the Geminids, in the middle of the month. Then witness an extremely close pairing of Jupiter and Saturn that won't be repeated for decades. And mark the shortest day of the year on the northern winter solstice.
December brings one of the most reliable annual meteor showers – and one of the best in 2020: the Geminids. This shower is active from Dec. 4 through the 17, as Earth plows through the trail of dusty debris left behind in the orbit of asteroid 3200 Phaethon – which might actually be a burnt-out comet.
The Geminids produce a good number of meteors most years, but they're made even better this year as the shower's peak coincides with a nearly new moon. (Thus making for darker skies, with no moonlight to interfere with the fainter meteors.)
The Geminids peak overnight on Dec. 13 into the morning of the 14, with some meteor activity visible in the days before and after.
Viewing is good all night for the Northern Hemisphere, with activity peaking around 2 a.m. local time, and after midnight for viewers in the Southern Hemisphere.
For the best viewing, find a safe location away from bright city lights, lie flat on the ground with your feet pointing south and look up. Meteors can appear in any part of the sky, though they'll appear to radiate from near the constellation Gemini. So here's wishing you clear skies to catch some shooting stars.
Jupiter and Saturn have been traveling across the sky together all year, but this month, get ready for them to really put on a show. Over the first three weeks of December, watch each evening as the two planets get closer in the sky than they've appeared in two decades. Look for them low in the southwest in the hour after sunset.
And on Dec. 21, the two giant planets will appear just a tenth of a degree apart – that's about the thickness of a dime held at arm's length. This means the two planets and their moons will be visible in the same field of view through binoculars or a small telescope. In fact, Saturn will appear as close to Jupiter as some of Jupiter's moons.
This event is called a “great conjunction.” These occur every 20 years this century as the orbits of Earth, Jupiter and Saturn periodically align making these two outer planets appear close together in our nighttime sky.
Even so, this is the "greatest" great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn for the next 60 years, with the two planets not appearing this close in the sky until 2080.
The 21st is also the date of the December solstice, which is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. On the December solstice, the sun reaches its southernmost position in the sky, no matter where on Earth you happen to be.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun travels its lowest, shortest path across the sky on that day. Thus, in the north, the winter solstice brings the shortest day of the year, in terms of hours of sunlight.
Now the sun's changing height in the sky throughout the year is caused by Earth's tilt as it orbits our local star. The tilt causes the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives to go up and down in the annual cycle of the seasons.
You can catch up on all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at www.nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
In the Nov. 3 election, David Claffey was elected to his first term and Joyce Overton to her fifth. Their names appeared on the ballot while appointed incumbent Russell Perdock was a write-in candidate. He won another term.
Claffey is taking the seat held for the past four years by businessman Phil Harris, who decided not to run for reelection.
During the council’s Thursday night meeting, Mayor Russ Cremer stepped down from the dais for a farewell presentation in which he thanked Harris for his service. During his term, Harris served a year as vice mayor.
Harris said he appreciated all of the votes he received from the community and the faith that they put in him to help lead the city.
Over the past four years, Harris said they’ve seen an improvement in the community. “We are on a trajectory, a successful trajectory, and we’re headed somewhere great,” he said.
Harris said it was a great opportunity for Claffey to take his seat on the council. He then received a standing ovation from his council colleagues and staff.
Harris returned to the dais briefly so the council could consider the final election results, presented to them by City Clerk/Administrative Services Director Melissa Swanson.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten moved to approve the results, which Harris seconded and the council approved unanimously.
Harris then rose to leave, embracing Cremer and Overton, and shaking the hands of both Slooten and Perdock as he departed.
Swanson then administered the oath of office to Claffey, Overton and Perdock, and Claffey took his seat with the council.
During the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, the council met Inky, a 1-year-old shepherd mix dog available for adoption from Clearlake Animal Control, who made his appearance before the council in a red Christmas sweater.
They also got an update from Retail Strategies, which is working to recruit new business to the city, held a brief discussion in which they decided against signing onto a letter the Board of Supervisors sent to the governor two weeks ago because its concerns about COVID-19 tiers are already out of date, and approved a hiring bonus and referral program for city employees.
After that main business was finished, the council then turned to its leadership for 2021.
Cremer, who has served back-to-back terms as mayor, offered his support for Slooten becoming the next mayor. “Vice Mayor Slooten has been training for this position for a year and eight months now.”
The council voted to appoint Slooten as mayor for 2021, following up with voting for Perdock as vice mayor.
Slooten thanked Cremer for his leadership and for guiding the council through some delicate votes.
Perdock said he’s looking forward to the year ahead. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“A lot of exciting work,” added Slooten.
Cremer agreed that there are exciting but challenging times ahead, but added that he believed they will be up to the task.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
“If we don’t act now, our hospital system will be overwhelmed,” and the death rate will continue to climb, Newsom said.
Statewide, Public Health departments on Thursday reported more than 1,285,900 cases and nearly 19,600 deaths.
In Lake County, Public Health officials reported 995 confirmed cases on Thursday, with 21 deaths. At that time, 12 residents were reported to be hospitalized, a figure that has doubled over the past week.
Newsom said that pursuant to the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, he is pulling an emergency brake meant to address the late fall case surge.
To blunt the surge and save lives, he is planning to issue regional stay home orders that are fundamentally predicated on the need to avoid meeting with people outside of one’s household, to keep most activities outside and to use face coverings, which Newsom is the “most important nonpharmaceutical intervention.”
All nonessential travel is temporarily restricted statewide as well, the governor said.
The regional stay home orders are based on a breakdown of the state into five regions:
– Northern California: Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity.
– Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma.
– Greater Sacramento: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba.
– San Joaquin Valley: Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne.
– Southern California: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura.
Newsom said the regions were considered and constructed based on the preexisting mutual aid system in the state.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California Health and Human Services secretary, said they are using a regional approach in part because that’s how hospitals and health care delivery systems work; when capacity can’t be met within a specific county they lean on neighboring counties and systems for assistance.
The public health order that includes the regional stay at home order framework takes effect at 12:59 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5.
Thereafter, if a region falls to a point that’s less than 15 percent of the intensive care unit threshold, it will have 24 hours to implement the stay at home order. Newsom said it will remain under the order for three weeks.
The counties in those regions will face additional restrictions, with temporary closures to take place for bars, wineries, personal services, and hair salons and barbershops, he said.
He said schools that have received waivers, critical infrastructure, retail (with occupancy at 20 percent capacity to reduce exposure) and restaurants – takeout and delivery – will be allowed to remain open.
The state said hotels and lodging will only be allowed to open for critical infrastructure support in areas under the stay home orders, while entertainment production including professional sports will only be allowed to operate without live audiences and places of worship will have to have outdoor services only.
With the exception of the Bay Area, all of the regions are expected to fall below the 15 percent ICU capacity by early December, with the Bay Area to hit that mark later in the month.
The Northern California region, which includes Lake County, is the area closest to falling below that trigger level.
On Thursday, the state said the Northern California region’s ICU capacity was at 18.6 percent.
The California Department of Public Health reported ICU capacity for the other regions as follows:
– Bay Area: 25.4 percent.
– Greater Sacramento: 22 percent.
– San Joaquin Valley: 19.7 percent.
– Southern California: 20.6 percent.
Newsom encouraged people to stay active and healthy by going outdoors to parks, hiking, biking, fishing, doing yoga and meditation, walking dogs, running with a partner, skiing, snowboarding and sledding.
He said this is a temporary moment. “This is not a permanent state,” but a situation that many had predicted, Newsom said.
Newsom said this is the final surge in the pandemic and that real progress with the vaccine is only a few months away.
“We do not anticipate having to do this once again,” but everyone needs to step up, Newsom said.
The governor said the state is doing everything in its power to help hospitals prepare for the surge while also supporting businesses and workers impacted by COVID-19.
Newsom said 11 facilities outside of the state’s health care system are being prepared to accept patients. Those facilities are located in Contra Costa, Fresno, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo and Tulare counties.
The most notable of the facilities is the Arco/Sleep Train Arena practice facility in Sacramento, which will be able to accept 224 patients, Newsom said.
Newsom also reported that California now has 14,233 ventilators in the state inventory, with 6,996 still available in hospitals.
The governor said the COVID-19 vaccine is also set to arrive this month, with the state anticipating receiving 327,000 doses from Dec. 12 to 15.
He said the plan is to distribute those vaccine doses first to acute care, psychiatric and correctional facilities, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, frontline medical and emergency workers such as paramedics and EMTs, dialysis centers, home health care and in-home support services workers, community health workers and Public Health field staff, primary health care clinics, specialty clinics, laboratory workers, dental and oral health clinics, and pharmacy staff.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The city of Clearlake said it has consulted with the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce, the sponsor of the 2020 Clearlake Christmas Parade, and made the joint determination to cancel the parade due to the impact of the coronavirus on the planning of the parade and the risk of spreading infection among the audience and participants.
The parade is traditionally held on the first Saturday of December and is one of the most anticipated and attended events of the year.
With the increase in COVID-19 cases both statewide and locally, the decision was made to postpone the parade until the event can be staged safely.
“We are sad that we have to cancel this annual community tradition, but we make the health and safety of our volunteers, staff and parade partners a priority,” City Manager Alan Flora stated. “We look forward to 2021 and hopefully a return to holding community events bigger and better than ever.”