KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Join the Lake Family Resource Center at the Mt. Konocti Winery Event Center on Saturday, Feb. 1, for its annual “Wine, Chocolate & More” fundraiser.
The event will take place from noon to 4 p.m.
Nineteen notable local wineries and breweries are teaming up with 10-plus local restaurants, bakeries and eateries to offer a delectable experience you won’t soon forget.
Enjoy Mt. Konocti Winery and Event Center and fabulous views of Clear Lake and Mt. Konocti as you treat yourself to an array of chocolates, pastries and delectable savory bites while sampling a variety of wines, sparkling wines, dessert wines and even beer.
Take home a souvenir wine glass; have a chance to win the door prize – a giant wine glass terrarium; participate in an expansive silent auction; purchase your favorite wines to take home; and try your luck in a raffle with the lucky winners receiving a ginormous selection of wine that includes one or more bottles of wine from every single winery present.
All proceeds will benefit the programs and services of Lake Family Resource Center, which since 1995 has been strengthening the Lake County community one family at a time.
LUCERNE, Calif. – The Northshore Fire Protection District officially welcomed two new members to its team of first responders and marked the promotion of another at a special ceremony held Friday afternoon at the district’s Lucerne headquarters.
Daniel Blair and Ralph Mattice, who joined the district late last year, and Randy Newell, a four-year veteran of the district, were celebrated at the event at Lucerne Station 80.
Blair is a firefighter/EMT who came from the Marin County Fire Department and Mattice is a paramedic/firefighter who previously worked for AMR in Contra Costa County, while Newell moved up in the Northshore Fire ranks from firefighter/paramedic to engineer, according to Chief Mike Ciancio.
The three men were joined by their families, colleagues and district board members Jim Burton, John Barnette and Lynn Ringuette.
“This is a special occasion for these guys, to get badged,” Ciancio told the group, adding he hoped all of them will enjoy long careers in the fire service.
“These guys spend a lot of time away from home,” said Ciancio.
Ciancio, who started the introduced the ceremonies, made sure to welcome the families, explaining they are now part of the larger Northshore Fire family.
Ciancio then administered the oath to the three men, after which their family members took turns pinning on their badges.
Mattice’s wife, Bessie, pinned on his badge as their two small children, Jack and Pepper, watched nearby.
Daniel Blair’s father, Kevin, pinned on his badge, then shook his son’s hand.
Newell’s wife Casey, herself a volunteer firefighter, pinned on his badge as Ciancio held their small daughter, Ember.
For Newell, firefighting is a profession for more than one generation of his family. His grandfather, Bill Merriman, who worked for Kelseyville Fire for 32 years as an engineer, was on hand to celebrate the next step in his grandson’s career.
Ciancio told Lake County News that staffing for the district – one of the largest in the state as far as coverage area – includes a total of 19 full-time firefighter positions, one of which is open but is in the process of being filled, along with two battalion chiefs, two officer personnel and Ciancio himself.
In addition, Ciancio said there are about 12 volunteers on the district’s books.
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.
Aurora, also known as the northern lights, are a sight to behold as they dance across the sky when solar winds collide with the Earth’s atmosphere.
However, they also contribute to a process that has an adverse impact on the Earth’s ozone as nitric oxide is created during the auroral light show.
To better understand the abundance of nitric oxide in the polar atmosphere, NASA will launch the Polar Night Nitric Oxide or PolarNOx experiment from the Poker Flat Research Range operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
PolarNOx will fly on a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket between 8:04 and 9:04 a.m. EST (4:04 and 5:04 a.m. AST) on Jan. 26, 2020. The launch window runs through Feb. 8 and opens three to four minutes earlier each day.
Scott Bailey, PolarNOx principal investigator from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, said, “The aurora creates nitric oxide (NO), but in the polar night, unlike the sunlit atmosphere, there is no significant process for destroying the nitric oxide. We believe it builds up to large concentrations. The purpose of our rocket is to measure the abundance and especially the altitude of peak abundance for the nitric oxide. We don’t know the altitude at which the nitric oxide settles.”
“Nitric oxide under appropriate conditions can be transported to the stratosphere where it will catalytically destroy ozone,” Bailey said. “Those changes in ozone can lead to changes in stratospheric temperature and wind and may even impact the circulation near Earth’s surface.”
Nitric oxide in the northern regions exists between 53 and 93 miles altitude. During the rocket flight a star tracker will lock on to the star Gamma Pegasi.
“PolarNOx will observe starlight with a high spectral resolution UV spectrograph operating near 215 nanometers. Attenuation of the starlight by NO is used to obtain an NO altitude profile," said Bill McClintock, co-investigator and lead instrument scientist from the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado in Boulder.
“The payload with the spectrograph is targeted to fly to an altitude of 161 miles. The goal is to get the most time possible observing both the star brightness above the nitric oxide and where the peak NO exists between 62 and 68 miles altitude,” McClintock said.
This is the second flight of PolarNOx from Poker Flat. “In 2017 we experienced an electronics failure during the flight. While we did get the important part of the data, the mission wasn’t a total success. We did upgrade the electronics for this reflight so we look forward to a much more successful mission,” Bailey said.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has established a subscription-based text messaging service for anyone interested in receiving updates and links to launch range communications or stream broadcasts.
Subscribers also will be notified when the count drops below T-10 minutes, at which time a launch is likely to occur. To subscribe to the messaging service text PFRRLAUNCHES to 33222.
PolarNOx is supported through NASA's Sounding Rocket Program at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, which is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA's Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.
Keith Koehler works for NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a smaller group of dogs ready for adoption.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Doberman Pinscher, Labrador Retriever, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback, shepherd and terrier.
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”).
Male Doberman Pinscher
This male Doberman Pinscher has a short red and brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 13459.
Female terrier
This female terrier has a short brown and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. 13456.
Male Labrador Retriever
This male Labrador Retriever has a short chocolate coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. 13465.
‘Oso’
“Oso” is a male shepherd mix with a long black and tan coat.
He has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 3173.
Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short blue and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. 13448.
‘Goofy’
“Goofy” is a young male Rhodesian Ridgeback with a short tan and black coat.
Shelter staff said this boy is great with other dogs, although he is high energy and would benefit from obedience training. He would love to go jogging every day, he is very food motivated and willing to learn new things.
Goofy has been at the shelter since Nov. 5. He was originally taken from someone in Upper Lake and found on the highway in Clearlake. If anyone has any information on his owner please contact the shelter.
He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 13210.
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, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police arrested a Lakeport man on Friday morning after an officer found him on the Terrace Middle School grounds without a reason to be there and in possession of a knife and drugs.
The Lakeport Police Department said Michael Richard King, 34, was arrested on Friday morning.
At 10 a.m. Friday, police said Lakeport Police School Resource Officer Ryan Cooley observed an adult male subject on the Terrace Middle School campus who appeared to have a folding knife hanging from the front of his beltline.
Cooley made contact with the male subject, who police identified as King, to check the status of the knife and the subject’s authorization for being on campus.
During further investigation, the police department said Officer Cooley determined that King was illegally in possession of a knife on campus and had no authorization, nor legitimate purpose, for being there.
Police said King subsequently was arrested for felony possession of a weapon on school grounds and misdemeanors for possession of suspected methamphetamine, possession of approximately half a pound of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
King was booked into the Lake County Jail on the charges and remained in custody late Friday on $15,000 bail.
His booking records show he is set to be arraigned in Lake County Superior Court on Monday.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – City of Clearlake officials are pressing forward with their goal of getting the county of Lake to address the thousands of tax-defaulted properties that need to be put up for auction in order to claim millions of dollars in proceeds owed to local governments.
At Thursday evening’s Clearlake City Council meeting, City Manager Alan Flora gave the councilmembers an update on the discussion regarding the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office at the Board of Supervisors’ Jan. 14 meeting.
Beginning last year, Flora began to raise issue with Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen’s failure to hold regular tax-defaulted property sales.
The problem is particularly serious for Clearlake, where Flora said 25 percent of all properties are at some level of tax delinquency.
In November the Clearlake City Council voted to send letters to the Board of Supervisors, the Lake County Civil Grand Jury, the California State Controller, California State Treasurer, California Board of Equalization and the California Attorney General’s Office asking that Ringen be investigated, as Lake County News has reported.
During the Jan. 14 meeting, the supervisors responded to the city’s November letter, with board members stating they were committed to solutions.
However, on Thursday night, Flora told the council that he found the discussion at the Board of Supervisors “particularly frustrating.”
He said he felt the BOS was giving the matter very little serious consideration and, at the meeting, Ringen didn’t offer any response to the concerns.
Flora also said the county has no adequate plan for addressing the large number of tax-defaulted properties or the need for tax sales. He said there were supposed to be 300 such properties offered for sale in March. Now, that planned sale has been pushed back to May, with 240 properties to be offered.
“It's just the same thing that's happened for years,” he said.
Flora said the county’s civil grand jury, which had issued a report on the matter a few years ago, responded to the city’s November letter asking for an investigation to say that it felt that report was adequate.
However, after corresponding with the grand jury, Flora said it agreed to take more information and possibly do another investigation. He and Mayor Russell Cremer are set to meet with the grand jury next week.
Flora said he’s also received an inquiry from the State Controller's Office in response to a letter from the city.
He’s exchanged some calls with that agency. “They are actively looking at this case,” he said, noting the State Controller's Office is in the determination phase regarding whether to open an official investigation into the treasurer-tax collector.
Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten said he had attended a League of California Cities meeting, where one of the organization’s experts know about the county’s tax-default problem.
“We need to continue to bring this to the forefront,” Slooten said, noting that tax-defaulted properties also are abandoned and neglected, creating blight and all kinds of problems.
Slooten said the city needed to keep the pressure on to keep the county and treasurer-tax collector accountable.
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.
Gina Solomon, University of California, San Francisco
Editor’s note: California, the top U.S. food-producing state, is ending use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide associated with neurodevelopmental problems and impaired brain function in children. Gina Solomon, a principal investigator at the Public Health Institute, clinical professor at the University of California San Francisco and former deputy secretary at the California Environmental Protection Agency, explains the scientific evidence that led California to act.
1. What is chlorpyrifos and how is it used?
Chlorpyrifos is an inexpensive and effective pesticide that has been on the market since 1965. Farmers across the U.S. use millions of pounds of it each year on a wide range of crops, including many different vegetables, corn, soybeans, cotton and fruit and nut trees.
Until 2000, chlorpyrifos was also used in homes for pest control. It was banned for indoor use after passage of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, which required additional protection of children’s health. Residues left after indoor use were quite high, and toddlers who crawled on the floor and put their hands in their mouth were found to be at risk of poisoning.
2. What’s the evidence that chlorpyrifos is harmful?
Researchers published the first study linking chlorpyrifos to potential developmental harm in children in 2003. They found that higher levels of a chlorpyrifos metabolite – a substance that’s produced when the body breaks down the pesticide – in umbilical cord blood were significantly associated with smaller infant birth weight and length.
Subsequent studies published between 2006 and 2014 showed that those same infants had developmental delays that persisted into childhood, with lower scores on standard tests of development and changes that researchers could see on MRI scans of the children’s brains. Scientists also discovered that a genetic subtype of a common metabolic enzyme in pregnant women increased the likelihood that their children would experience neurodevelopmental delays.
These findings touched off a battle to protect children from chlorpyrifos. Some scientists were skeptical of results from epidemiological studies that followed the children of pregnant women with greater or lesser levels of chlorpyrifos in their urine or cord blood and looked for adverse effects.
Epidemiological studies can provide powerful evidence that something is harmful, but results can also be muddled by gaps in information about the timing and level of exposures. They also can be complicated by exposures to other substances through diet, personal habits, homes, communities and workplaces.
3. Why did it take so long to reach a conclusion?
As evidence accumulated that low levels of chlorpyrifos were probably toxic in humans, regulatory scientists at the U.S. EPA and in California reviewed it – but they took very different paths.
At first, both groups focused on the established toxicity mechanism: acetylcholinesterase inhibition. They reasoned that preventing significant disruption of this key enzyme would protect people from other neurological effects.
Scientists working under contract for Dow Chemical, which manufactured chlorpyrifos, published a complex model in 2014 that could estimate how much of the pesticide a person would have to consume or inhale to trigger acetylcholinesterase inhibition. But some of their equations were based on data from as few as six healthy adults who had swallowed capsules of chlorpyrifos during experiments in the 1970s and early 1980s – a method that now would be considered unethical.
California scientists questioned whether risk assessments based on the Dow-funded model adequately accounted for uncertainty and human variability. They also wondered whether acetylcholinesterase inhibition was really the most sensitive biological effect.
In 2016 the U.S. EPA released a reassessment of chlorpyrifos’s potential health effects that took a different approach. It focused on epidemiological studies published from 2003 through 2014 at Columbia University that found developmental impacts in children exposed to chlorpyrifos. The Columbia researchers analyzed chlorpyrifos levels in the mothers’ cord blood at birth, and the EPA attempted to back-calculate how much chlorpyrifos they might have been exposed to throughout pregnancy.
On the basis of this analysis, the Obama administration concluded that chlorpyrifos could not be safely used and should be banned. However, the Trump administration reversed this decision in 2017, arguing that the science was not resolved and more study was needed.
For their part, California regulators struggled to reconcile these disparate results. As they saw it, the epidemiological studies and the acetylcholinesterase model pointed in different directions, and both had significant challenges.
4. What convinced California to impose a ban?
Three new papers on prenatal exposures to chlorpyrifos, published in 2017 and 2018, broke the logjam. These were independent studies, conducted in rats, that evaluated subtle effects on learning and development.
The results were consistent and clear: Chlorpyrifos caused decreased learning, hyperactivity and anxiety in rat pups at doses lower than those that affected acetylcholinesterase. And these studies clearly quantified doses to the rats, so there was no uncertainty about their exposure levels during pregnancy. The results were eerily similar to effects seen in human epidemiological studies, vindicating health concerns about chlorpyrifos.
California reassessed chlorpyrifos using these new studies. Regulators concluded that the pesticide posed significant risks that could not be mitigated – especially among people who lived near agricultural fields where it was used. In October 2019, the state announced that under an enforceable agreement with manufacturers, all sales of chlorpyrifos to California growers would end by Feb. 6, 2020, and growers would not be allowed to possess or use it after Dec. 31, 2020.
In a July 2019 statement, the EPA asserted that “claims regarding neurodevelopmental toxicity must be denied because they are not supported by valid, complete, and reliable evidence.” The agency indicated that it would continue to review the evidence and planned to make a decision by 2021.
EPA did not mention the animal studies published in 2017 and 2018, but it legally must include them in its new assessment. When it does so, I believe EPA leaders will have great difficulty making a case that chlorpyrifos is safe.
In my view, we have consistent scientific evidence that chlorpyrifos threatens children’s neurological development. We know what this pesticide does to people, and it is time to move to safer alternatives.
SACRAMENTO – On Friday, the California Department of Water Resources announced an increase in 2020 State Water Project allocations to 15 percent of requested supplies, up from the year’s initial 10 percent allocation announced on Dec. 2.
Allocations are reviewed monthly based on snowpack and runoff information and are typically finalized by May.
Water from Clear Lake flows into Cache Creek which, in turn, flows into the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a source for the State Water Project.
“California gets most of its annual precipitation from a handful of major and infrequent winter storms,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “After some significant storms in December, January has been relatively quiet and is currently below average. We continue to hope for wetter conditions and must always work to eliminate waste and use water more wisely.”
Precipitation in the Northern Sierra is at 63 percent of average to date. Statewide snowpack is 76 percent of normal for this date. The state gets about 30 percent of its annual water supply from snowpack.
Snow water content is one factor in determining allocation amounts along with reservoir storage and releases necessary to meet water supply and environmental demands.
Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s largest reservoir, is currently at 61 percent of capacity and 94 percent of average for this time of year.
Shasta Lake, the Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir, is at 74 percent of capacity and 112 percent of average.
San Luis Reservoir, the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States where water is stored for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, is at 72 percent of capacity and 95 percent of average.
In Southern California, State Water Project’s Castaic Lake is at 72 percent of capacity and 87 percent of average.
Friday’s 15 percent allocation amounts to 635,434 acre-feet of water.
The State Water Project provides water to 29 contractors who supply water to more than 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Board of Supervisors has given its support to a regional transportation hub proposed for Clearlake and has agreed to sell a portion of county-owned property to Lake Transit for the project.
At its Jan. 14 meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution declaring a county property surplus for land at 7175 South Center Drive and authorizing the sale of a portion of the property to the Lake County Transit Authority, and also agreed to send a letter in support of the project for a grant application.
The current bus depot is located in the parking lot between Big 5 and Walmart and is not a safe or adequate bus depot to meet the needs of Lake Transit Authority, according to a report to the board from Supervisor Bruno Sabatier and Supervisor Moke Simon.
The report said the county has surveyed and split off the portion of the property that Lake Transit Authority for the development of a bus depot. The assessor's office is in the process of creating a new APN number for the parcel.
“This conversation’s been happening for a while,” said Sabatier.
He said Lake Transit was, at that point, working on a grant application, with a Jan. 17 deadline, for funds to begin construction of the bus depot.
The Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program grant would fund a regional transit center as well as expanded infrastructure and services linking Lake Transit to out-of-county urban areas, based on the draft support letter.
Sabatier said that, to have access to the grant, Lake Transit needed a letter of intent for the sale of the property from the county.
He said the grant was to address greenhouse gas emissions, with public transit seen as a solution. Sabatier said the chances of Lake Transit receiving the grant look good.
Not many rural areas are building these types of facilities, said Sabatier, noting that there are plans that would enable trips from Lake County to Shasta County and to San Francisco.
“This is an interregional Northern California transit center, which would be really beneficial for us as a whole,” he said.
The new transit center is in the highest density residential area in the entire county – known as the Chapman Track or the Avenues – where about 5,000 people live. Sabatier said the area has access to the courthouse, schools – including Woodland Community College’s Lake County Campus – and the shopping center.
Sabatier pointed out that, during the county’s emergencies, Lake Transit offered rides for free to evacuees. He said the organization has been a good partner with the city of Clearlake and the county of Lake.
To get the project to that point, Sabatier said it had taken the efforts of several county departments, the city of Clearlake and Lake Transit.
In addition to the bus depot, there will be office space for Lake Transit and park and ride spots, Sabatier said.
Many security measures have been added as Konocti Education Center and Woodland Community College don’t want it to attract nuisances for staff and studies. Sabatier said those measures include lighting and security cameras, and there are talks about having a security guard there at least during the day.
Simon said the project will help ease the traffic that flows in the area and is a “good step forward,” especially as the transit company continues to grow.
Sabatier said plans also include seeking to add electric and hydrogen buses to Lake Transit’s fleet.
The board unanimously approved the resolution declaring surplus property and sending the letter of support. Sabatier asked to get the letter and resolution signed that same day in order to make the Jan. 17 grant deadline.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that the property was city-owned, which of course it is not, because the Board of Supervisors voted to sell a portion of it. The error was inadvertent and has been corrected.
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.
NASA is celebrating the legacy of one of its Great Observatories, the Spitzer Space Telescope, which has studied the universe in infrared light for more than 16 years.
The Spitzer mission will come to a close on Jan. 30.
Launched in 2003, Spitzer revealed previously hidden features of known cosmic objects and led to discoveries and insights spanning from our own solar system to nearly the edge of the universe.
"Spitzer taught us how important infrared light is to understanding our universe, both in our own cosmic neighborhood and as far away as the most distant galaxies," said Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters. "The advances we make across many areas in astrophysics in the future will be because of Spitzer's extraordinary legacy."
Spitzer was designed to study "the cold, the old and the dusty," three things astronomers can observe particularly well in infrared light. Infrared light refers to a range of wavelengths on the infrared spectrum, from those measuring about 700 nanometers (too small to see with the naked eye) to about 1 millimeter (about the size of the head of a pin).
Different infrared wavelengths can reveal different features of the universe. For example, Spitzer can see things too cold to emit much visible light, including exoplanets (planets outside our solar system), brown dwarfs and cold matter found in the space between stars.
As for "the old," Spitzer has studied some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. The light from some of them has traveled for billions of years to reach us, enabling scientists to see those objects as they were long, long ago.
In fact, working together, Spitzer and the Hubble Space Telescope (which observes primarily in visible light and at shorter infrared wavelengths than those detected by Spitzer) identified and studied the most distant galaxy observed to date. The light we see from that galaxy was emitted 13.4 billion years ago, when the universe was less than 5 percent of its current age.
Among other things, the two observatories found that such early galaxies are heavier than scientists expected. And by studying galaxies closer to us, Spitzer has deepened our understanding of how galaxy formation has evolved during the universe's lifetime.
Spitzer also has a keen eye for interstellar dust, which is prevalent throughout most galaxies. Mixed with gas in massive clouds, it can condense to form stars, and the remains can give birth to planets. With a technique called spectroscopy, Spitzer can analyze the chemical composition of dust to learn about the ingredients that form planets and stars.
In 2005, after NASA's Deep Impact mission intentionally slammed into Comet Tempel 1, the telescope analyzed the dust that was kicked up, providing a list of materials that would have been present in the early solar system. What's more, Spitzer found a previously undetected ring around Saturn, composed of sparse dust particles that visible-light observatories can't see.
In addition, some infrared wavelengths of light can penetrate dust when visible light cannot, allowing Spitzer to reveal regions that would otherwise remain obscured from view.
"It's quite amazing when you lay out everything that Spitzer has done in its lifetime, from detecting asteroids in our solar system no larger than a stretch limousine to learning about some of the most distant galaxies we know of," said Michael Werner, Spitzer's project scientist.
To deepen their scientific insights, Spitzer scientists have frequently combined their findings with those of many other observatories, including two of NASA's other Great Observatories, Hubble and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Some of Spitzer's greatest scientific discoveries, including those regarding exoplanets, weren't part of the mission's original science goals. The team used a technique called the transit method, which looks for a dip in a star's light that results when a planet passes in front of it, to confirm the presence of two Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
Then Spitzer discovered another five Earth-size planets in the same system — and provided crucial information about their densities — amounting to the largest batch of terrestrial exoplanets ever discovered around a single star.
One of the first observatories to distinguish the light coming directly from an exoplanet, Spitzer harnessed the same capability for another first: detecting molecules in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. (Previous studies had revealed individual chemical elements in exoplanet atmospheres.) And it provided the first measurements of temperature variations and wind in an exoplanet atmosphere as well.
"When Spitzer was being designed, scientists had not yet found a single transiting exoplanet, and by the time Spitzer launched, we still knew about only a handful," said Sean Carey, manager of the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California. "The fact that Spitzer became such a powerful exoplanet tool, when that wasn't something the original planners could have possibly prepared for, is really profound. And we generated some results that absolutely knocked our socks off."
One of Spitzer's major strengths is its sensitivity — that is, its ability to detect very faint sources of infrared light. Earth is a major source of infrared radiation, and trying to see faint infrared sources from the ground is like trying to observe stars while the Sun is up. That's a major reason why Spitzer's designers made it the first astrophysics observatory in an Earth-trailing orbit: Far from our planet's heat, Spitzer's detectors wouldn't have to contend with our planet's own infrared radiation.
Different infrared wavelengths can reveal different features of the universe. Some ground telescopes can observe in certain infrared wavelengths and provide valuable scientific insights, but Spitzer can achieve greater sensitivity than even much larger ground telescopes and see much fainter sources, such as extremely distant galaxies.
What's more, it was designed to detect some infrared wavelengths that Earth's atmosphere entirely blocks, rendering those wavelengths beyond the reach of ground-based observatories.
What is infrared light and how do we use it to study the universe? Infrared radiation, or infrared light, is a type of energy that we humans can't see but can feel as heat.
All objects in the universe emit some level of infrared radiation, whether hot or cold, making an infrared telescope like NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope very useful in detecting objects that might seem invisible.
Spacecraft can generate infrared heat too, so Spitzer was designed to stay cool, operating at temperatures as low as minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 267 degrees Celsius).
In 2009, Spitzer exhausted its supply of helium coolant, marking the end of its "cold mission." But Spitzer's great distance from Earth has helped keep it from warming up too much — it still operates at about minus 408 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 244 degrees Celsius) — and mission team members found they could continue observing in two infrared wavelengths. Spitzer's "warm mission" has lasted for over a decade, nearly twice as long as its cold mission.
The original mission planners didn't expect Spitzer to operate for 16-plus years. This extended lifetime has led to some of Spitzer's most profound science results but has also posed challenges as the spacecraft drifts farther from Earth.
"It wasn't in the plan to have Spitzer operating so far away from Earth, so the team has had to adapt year after year to keep the spacecraft operating," said Joseph Hunt, Spitzer project manager. "But I think overcoming that challenge has given people a great sense of pride in the mission. This mission stays with you."
On Jan. 30, 2020, engineers will decommission the Spitzer spacecraft and cease science operations. During the 2016 NASA Senior Review process, the agency made a decision to close out the Spitzer mission.
The closeout was initially planned for 2018 in anticipation of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will also conduct infrared astronomy.
When Webb's launch was postponed, the Spitzer mission was granted its fifth and final extension. These mission extensions have given Spitzer additional time to continue producing transformative science including pathfinding work for Webb.
JPL manages and conducts mission operations for the Spitzer mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at IPAC at Caltech. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The week, Sonoma County authorities, with the assistance of state and federal law enforcement agencies, cited a Rohnert Park masseuse for solicitation of prostitution and posted two massage businesses as dangerous buildings during the course of an undercover operation.
Tonga Ball, 61, was cited and released for solicitation of prostitution on Thursday evening, according to Sgt. Juan Valencia of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
Valencia said that Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit detectives conducted an undercover operation, specifically targeting possible human trafficking, in the massage parlor business.
He said detectives collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Homeland Security, and Sonoma County Code Enforcement for this multi-agency joint operation.
An undercover detective entered the Green Rose Therapy business, in Penngrove to receive a massage, Valencia said.
Valencia said Ball escorted the undercover detective into a room and began to give the detective a massage. Shortly thereafter, Ball solicited the detective to perform a lewd act for money.
Detectives entered the business and detained Ball. Valencia said there were no other employees or clients inside the business at the time.
A detective and a FBI agent conducted an interview with Ball regarding possible human trafficking, Valencia said.
Ball said she was there on her own free will and the business was not involved in any human trafficking operation. Ultimately, Ball was cited and released for solicitation for prostitution, Valencia said.
A Sonoma County Code Enforcement Agent entered the business and found multiple violations, including being a public nuisance, change of occupancy, commercial tenant improvements without permits and unpermitted substandard construction. Valencia said the business was posted as being a dangerous building and the specific tenant spaces cannot be occupied until the violations have been corrected.
Upon completion of the investigation at Green Rose Therapy, Valencia said detectives and Sonoma County Code Enforcement agents went to Penngrove Relax Center to conduct an inspection of the business. Multiple violations were present at this location and the business was posted as being a dangerous building.
“The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office would like to thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Homeland Security and Sonoma County Code Enforcement for their assistance with this investigation,” Valencia said.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner's Office is seeking help from the public in identifying a young man who was hit and killed by a motor vehicle earlier this week.
Lt. Shannon Barney said that shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday a pedestrian was struck and killed by a motor vehicle on Highway 101 between ReTech and Ukiah.
The decedent is believed to be a Hispanic male, estimated to be between 18 and 25 years, approximately 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing approximately 140 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, Barney said.
Barney said the man was wearing black Nike low top tennis shoes, black jogger-style pants, a two-toned gray Reebok hooded sweatshirt and a light gray short-sleeved shirt with a pink flamingo print. He had no identification on his person.
Officials are asking anyone who might recognize the description or who might have information to please contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Dispatch at 707-463-4086 or the Mendocino County Coroner's Office at 707-463-4421.
Barney said the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office would like to be able to contact and notify the decedent's next of kin and return his remains to his family.