CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A pickup traveling at high speed along Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake Monday morning crashed into another vehicle and then a restaurant, resulting in two people being flown out of county for medical care.
The crash occurred at Howard's Grotto, 14732 Lakeshore Drive, at approximately 11:10 a.m., according to radio reports.
Witnesses reported an older model red pickup hauling a load of rocks was traveling at a high rate of speed down Lakeshore Drive, and ran other drivers off the road.
Clearlake Police Lt. Tim Celli said police received calls of an erratic driver speeding down Lakeshore Drive, and dispatched an officer to the area.
Before the officer arrived, Celli said they received reports of the crash.
According to witnesses, the pickup hit another vehicle – reported to be a Jeep Cherokee – and flipped multiple times before hitting the restaurant. Rocks were reported to be all over the roadway, which also was blocked with emergency vehicles.
Additional fire units were dispatched to assist with extricating the occupants of the pickup from the wreckage, reports from the scene indicated.
Two air ambulances were dispatched, with REACH 6 and CalStar 4 responding. Both set down at a landing zone set up at Redbud Park.
Celli said the drivers of each of the vehicles were flown out of county. He said that based on the information he had early Monday afternoon, he was unaware of there being other occupants in the vehicles.
The investigation was still under way shortly before 2:30 p.m., Celli said, with Sgt. Tim Hobbs, the investigating officer, still on scene at that point.
“We have secured evidence,” said Celli, adding that he didn't have the names of the drivers.
Celli anticipated a police report being issued later on Monday.
Howard's Grotto had been closed on Monday, according to a message left on the restaurant's answering machine.
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.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Firefighters are continuing their efforts to contain a wildland fire that broke out on Saturday morning in the Mendocino National Forest.
The High Glade Fire, currently burning on the forest's Upper Lake Ranger District, is holding at approximately 350 acres and is estimated at 5 percent containment, according to the report from forest spokesperson Tamara Schmidt.
There was minimal fire growth overnight and, as long as wind speeds remain low, there is little potential for growth, Schmidt said.
Hand crews, engine crews and aviation resources continued making progress on the fire Sunday in an effort to increase containment. However, as the fire continues to burn, Schmidt said smoke will remain visible in the area.
The High Glade Fire was spotted early Saturday morning. Schmidt said the cause of the fire is under investigation.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Hundreds of people gathered in Sacramento's Capitol Park on Saturday to witness the re-dedication of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Originally dedicated in 1988, the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial has stood as a testament to the 5,823 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice at the request of our nation.
“I am honored to see so many people here today with us to honor and remember, not only the men and women who lost their lives in Vietnam during that very unpopular war, but also those who came back, became parents, artists, community leaders or most importantly, our neighbors and loved ones,” said CalVet Secretary Peter J. Gravett.
The ceremony today involved three parts.
The first was a motorcycle run with more than 300 riders making their way from Raley Field to the memorial.
A ceremony in honor of prisoners of war and those still missing in action took place following the motorcycle ride.
The main ceremony involved some very heartfelt speeches by Sister Linda McClenahan, chairwoman of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee; Stan Atkinson, longtime friend of B.T. Collins and supporter of the memorial; Peter J. Gravett, CalVet secretary; and Col. Rocky Chavez, California State Assembly.
“We are very grateful for the support demonstrated to Vietnam veterans and this memorial,” said Pete Conaty, Pete Conaty and Associates and committee co-chair. “We thank all our sponsors, the hardworking planning committee, volunteers and all the attendees at this event.”
Two very poignant events during the ceremony included the unveiling of PFC Ralph Henry Johnson’s newly engraved name. PFC Johnson is a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.
The other touching moment came when several wreaths were laid at the memorial by different veterans’ service organizations. These two occasions brought many of the attendees to tears.
The ceremony concluded with a touching rendition of Amazing Grace by the Scottish American Military Society.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Firefighters on Sunday continued making progress on wildland fires in Lake County and in neighboring Sonoma County.
Dry and windy conditions over the last several days have added to the challenges for firefighters, but Sunday's conditions proved calmer.
Cal Fire said two Lake County wildfires were contained on Sunday.
The Bruner Fire, which began on Friday off of Bruner Drive and Al Drive at the Kono Tayee subdivision near Lucerne, was fully contained Sunday morning at 50 acres, the agency said.
On Sunday afternoon, firefighters contained the Dam Fire near Clearlake at 23 acres. That fire had started on Saturday afternoon.
Another fire that started on Saturday, the High Glade Fire – located on the Mendocino National Forest's Upper Lake Ranger District – continued to burn actively on Sunday.
Forest officials said the fire had burned 350 acres, with little potential for new growth, and is estimated to be 5 percent contained.
The region's biggest wildland fire, the McCabe fire, reached 3,300 acres on Sunday, with 65 percent containment, according to Cal Fire.
The fire, which began early Friday morning, is burning in and around The Geysers geothermal steamfield, just inside the Sonoma County line. One power plant cooling tower has so far been destroyed.
Cal Fire said firefighters made significant progress on the fire on Sunday, aided by favorable weather conditions.
Two injuries have been reported so far, according to Cal Fire, with radio traffic Sunday night indicating another injury had taken place, involving a firefighter who may have suffered heat exhaustion.
Approximately 1,684 personnel were assigned to the incident on Sunday, along with 111 fire engines, 65 fire crews, two air tankers, six helicopters, 16 dozers and nine water tenders, according to Cal Fire.
Officials said there would be a significant release of equipment off the incident on Monday and Tuesday, with full containment expected on Wednesday.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has a whole new group of cats waiting for adoption this week.
They include orange tabbies and calicoes, ranging in age from 6 to 7 months.
In addition to spaying or neutering, cats that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are microchipped 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 there, hoping you'll choose them.
The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (other cats pictured on the animal control Web site that are not listed here are still “on hold”).
Orange tabby
This orange tabby of undetermined gender is 6 months old.
The cat has a short coat and is of medium size.
Find the cat in cat room kennel No. 6b, ID No. 38523.
Female orange tabby
This female orange tabby is 6 months old.
She has a short coat and a curly tail, and has not yet been spayed.
She's in cat room kennel No. 82a, ID No. 38524.
Female orange tabby
This female orange tabby is 6 months old.
She has a short coat and a curly tail, and has not yet been spayed.
She's in cat room kennel No. 82b, ID No. 38525.
Tortie point
This calico with tortie point markings is 7 months old.
She has a short coat and has not yet been spayed.
Find her in cat room kennel No. 84a, ID No. 38527.
Tortie point
This calico with tortie point markings is 7 months old.
She has a long coat and has not yet been spayed.
Find her in cat room kennel No. 85a, ID No. 38526.
Female orange tabby
This female orange tabby is 6 months old.
She has a short coat and a curly tail, and has not yet been spayed.
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.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force arrested a local man and seized drugs and stolen firearms following a Wednesday search warrant service.
Fred Ralph Pearl, 33, of Nice was arrested in the case, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
On Wednesday, narcotics detectives secured a search warrant for Pearl, his home and vehicles, serving the warrant at 2 p.m. that day at Pearl’s residence in the 7000 block of Pyle Road in Nice, Brooks said.
When narcotics detectives entered the home, Pearl was located and detained without incident. Brooks said detectives immediately noticed several bags of marijuana, digital scales and packaging materials, which were in plain view.
During the search, detectives located a large gun safe with its door open, Brooks said. Inside the safe was a loaded Glock 9 millimeter pistol. A records check of the firearm revealed it had been stolen from a Lake County residence on Oct. 5.
In the room where Pearl was located, detectives found several bags of processed marijuana, which were packaged in 1 pound increments. Brooks said there also was a large amount of untrimmed marijuana, a digital scale and several pairs of trimming scissors.
On a shelf next to the digital pound scale was a glass methamphetamine pipe, which was caked with a white residue. Next to the pipe was a black pouch. Inside the pouch detectives located three bags containing a translucent crystalline substance, which was later determined to be methamphetamine, Brooks said.
Under a chair, near the area where Pearl was located, detectives found another black pouch. Inside the pouch was $2,700 and another bindle containing methamphetamine, according to Brooks.
In the corner of the room detectives located a 12-gauge shotgun and a lever action .22-caliber rifle. Brooks said a records check of both firearms revealed the .22-caliber rifle was stolen from Mendocino County during a burglary.
In the same area of the room, detectives located several boxes of ammunition and indicia for Pearl. They also located a bottle of liquid Ketamine and a bottle of Epinephrine, Brooks said. On a shelf, detectives found a glass baking dish that contained a dark colored substance, recognized to be honey oil, or concentrated marijuana.
In the rear of the residence, narcotics detectives located another gun safe. The door of the safe was open, and inside were several bags of processed marijuana and a loaded .38-caliber revolver. Also inside the safe was a black bag containing a 1911 .45 caliber pistol, Brooks said. Next to the gun safe was a cardboard barrel, which contained several pounds of untrimmed marijuana.
Pearl told detectives that he did not have a medical marijuana recommendation. He admitted to growing some of the marijuana and said he purchased the rest. Brooks said Pearl said the firearms located on the property were not his and denied having any knowledge of them.
Pearl was arrested for the cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, possession of a controlled substance, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, manufacturing a controlled substance and receiving stolen property. Brooks said Pearl was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. His bail was set at $100,000.
Narcotic detectives located and seized a total of six firearms, 60.8 pounds of untrimmed marijuana, 21.8 pounds of processed marijuana, 5.1 grams of methamphetamine, one bottle of Epinephrine, one bottle of Ketamine and approximately 1 ounce of honey oil. Brooks said the $2,700 was seized pending asset forfeiture proceedings.
The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be reached through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Mustangs football team saw what had been a dominating season come to a sudden end at the hands of an old nemesis last Friday on Bill Foltmer Field.
The Salesian Pride of Richmond eliminated Middletown from the North Coast Section Championship Division V tournament 21-13.
It was the third time in six years Salesian eliminated Middletown, each time winning on a score in the game’s last four minutes.
It had been a spectacular year for Middletown, from a last minute come-from-behind win at Salesian in their opener, to a North Central I league season in which they defeated league runner-up Saint Helena 21-6 and beat every other one of their seven opponents by at least 32 points.
The only blemish on their record was an administrative error which caused that season-opening win to be forfeited to Salesian, leaving Middletown with a 10-1 record and Salesian at 6-5 prior to last Friday's game.
Things started will for the Mustangs, with Lake County’s rushing leader Austin Benson scoring on a 40-yard run and the team threatening to score again late in the first quarter.
But Middletown lost big lineman Travis Titus to a leg injury that first quarter, the second threat was denied in the red zone, then De-Angelo Hernandez capped a Salesian drive with a 9-yard run to tie the game, and the young Pride seemed to gain maturity and confidence as the game wore on.
Brad Beckwith led Middletown to a strong start in the second half with a 40-yard kickoff return which set up his 2-yard touchdown run, giving Middletown a 13-6 lead. But Salesian soon tied the game on a 1-yard run by Galuega Toailoa.
Middletown briefly appeared to take the lead again in the middle of the final quarter, but Beckwith’s run was called back by a holding penalty, the Mustangs gave up the ball on downs at the 13, and Salesian’s offensive line and senior running back Hernandez took over from there.
Hernandez pounded out a steady drive that ended with a two-yard run, plus a two-point conversion run by Toailoa for a 21-13 lead.
Despite losing the ball on a fumble, Middletown held Salesian to gain another chance, and a desperate last minute effort returned them again inside the 20, but an incomplete pass and quarterback sack ended the game and the season.
Quarterback Josiah Amos completed eight of 18 passes for 122 yards with two interceptions.
After the game, Coach Foltmer said like most teams this season, Salesian’s defense keyed on stopping Benson, which opened up some passing opportunities, but several passes that could have been caught were not.
Salesian plays Valley Christian of Dublin in the championship game at Chabot College in Hayward at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30.
Next year Salesian will return a majority of their starters, as their squad this season was mostly juniors and the sophomore Toailoa.
Middletown will turn primarily to players from its junior varsity, which had a perfect 10-0 this season.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The ripple on the waters of Clear Lake at Lakeport's Library Park and the sound waves made by the trumpets of Lake County Military Funeral Honors Team buglers L. Boyd Green and William “Bill” Vann blended perfectly for their resonant version of “Taps.”
Only a few days earlier the two men had performed their unique echoing call to rest in the solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., the nation's most hallowed ground where the late President John F. Kennedy was honored in a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death this past week.
They also played in a spot overlooking the Rose Garden and at the gravesite of Green's ancestor, John Green, who was among the first soldiers in George Washington's Army to be buried at Arlington.
Green and Vann, who have played “Taps” together at close to 1,000 military funerals for Lake County's fallen and other ceremonies, were among 100 buglers present.
“It was cold and wet with buglers from all over America,” said Vann. “But Arlington is really a beautiful place and it was such a thrill to be there. There was a lot of patriotism, that's for sure.”
Green and Vann brought a lot of patriotism with them on their trip to Washington.
Militarily, Green served a four-year hitch in the Air Force and Vann was forced to abandon his plan of becoming a career soldier after six and a half years.
“A .50-calibre machine gun smashed my foot,” he said.
But their lengthy volunteerism in honoring the county's war veterans more than speaks to their dedication.
Both have ample heritage in serving the country. Green's 92-year-old brother-in-law is one of the rare survivors of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. His grandson formerly served in the Marines.
“My father was a crew member of a B29 bombing Normandy,” said Vann. “I have an uncle who was awarded the Medal of Honor in the Korean War, another uncle who was in Vietnam, and a brother who was in the Army. So it kind of runs in the family.”
The two men's eternal connection to playing “Taps” at military funerals and ceremonies is a matter meriting consideration for Guinness or Ripley.
Most especially Green, who says he played “Taps” for the first time at a military funeral when he was 10 years old – although he would not confirm Vann's estimate that he has played at 20,000 events in the 68 years since then.
“That seems a little bit high, but I managed the American Legion, DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) in the town of Greeley, Colorado, and played not every day, but every week,” said Green.
A Nebraskan, Green learned to play the trumpet from three brothers who were boyhood friends and their father.
“I stopped counting at a thousand I can't remember when,” said Vann with regard to how many times he has played “Taps” at a ceremony.
“It's nothing like Boyd's done. He would be a hard act to follow,” added Vann, who is 27 years younger than Green. “I travel with different organizations like 'Bugles Across America.' There are 7,000 (buglers) around the country.”
Vann's dedication runs so deep that he showed up for one military funeral in a wheelchair.
He first learned to play the trumpet as a youth in San Mateo and Alabama, where his father once share-cropped and where he was first trumpet in his high school band.
Both men acknowledged that, with the dwindling number of buglers in the country, they are “dinosaurs.”
And both are adamantly opposed to fake renderings of “Taps” at military funerals on what have come to be known as “digital trumpets” that are increasingly being used because of the shortage of real buglers.
Instead of a bugler playing the 24 notes of “Taps,” a computerized chip implanted in the horn renders the song. A push of a button starts the horn.
“I think it's a disservice and so do the people who were there at Arlington,” said Green.
“It just reeks of dishonor,” says Vann. “I've been at a funeral where the bugle player pushed a button and it played reveille. And I've had people (with fake bugles) tell me, 'Hey, I'm the bugler.' And I'll say, 'If you're the bugler you're not going to be going to a military funeral sounding like that ... no, you're not a bugler.'”
For Green and Vann, each ceremony provides an opportunity to play “Taps” once more with feeling. For them, that feeling never gets old.
“You wouldn't believe how many times we're crying when we're playing,” Vann asserted. “I'd say 70 percent of the time. The reason for 'Taps' in my opinion is to help a family get through their mourning. So from the time I hit that first note till I get to the end if I have touched them with my playing I have helped them to begin recovering. If you do it right, when you get to that last note they can now carry on.”
It may be a while before a Lake Countian participates to the level Green and Vann did at the memorial for Kennedy at Arlington.
“It was the 50th anniversary of JFK's death,” said Vann. “It won't happen again.”
Editor's note: A video of parts of the Arlington event, which honored both Kennedy and his bugler, Keith Clark, can be seen below. At the 5:40 minute mark, bagpipers play, followed by the buglers.
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – New puppies and dogs are waiting for adoption this week at Lake County Animal Care and Control.
This week's dogs range in age from 9 weeks up to 8 years, with most already altered and ready for new homes.
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.
In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .
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”).
Female shepherd mix puppy
This female shepherd mix puppy is 9 weeks old.
She has a short brown coat, weighs 10 pounds and has been spayed.
Find her in kennel No. 3a, ID No. 38391.
Male shepherd mix puppy
This male shepherd mix puppy is 9 weeks old.
He has a short brown coat, weighs 10 pounds and has been neutered.
He's in kennel No. 3b, ID No. 38392.
Male Chihuahua mix
This male Chihuahua mix is 8 years old.
He has a short white coat, weighs 9 pounds and has been neutered.
He's in kennel No. 4, ID No. 38357.
Labrador Retriever mix
This female Labrador Retriever mix is 1 year old.
She has a short black coat and weighs nearly 56 pounds. Shelter staff did not report if she had been altered.
Find her in kennel No. 12, ID No. 38257.
Male Chihuahua mix
This male Chihuahua mix is 3 years old.
He has a short red coat and weighs 5 pounds. He has not yet been neutered.
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.
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.
NICE, Calif. – Nice Mutual Water Co.'s plant is back up and running after a storm-caused power outage late last week, but the company is asking customers to conserve through Tuesday while the district's tanks refill.
General Manager David Fultz said the water plant lost power due to the windstorm that hit last Thursday night and continued through Friday morning.
Nice was one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. Power in some areas of the county, including Nice, stayed off into Saturday night and early Sunday, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which had more than two dozen crews in the county working to restore power.
Fultz said Nice Mutual's water plant, which serves 1,060 customers, had power restored on Saturday at around 5 p.m., after the power had been off for 45 hours due to the windstorm.
“We never lost pressure and we always had some water in the tanks,” he said.
It was the longest time the plant has gone without power in Fultz's six years with the company.
“We're making water at full capacity right now,” he said early Monday afternoon.
Besides the power issues, the water plant and its tanks came through the storm in good condition, Fultz said.
The district's water supply dropped during the outage, but so did usage, said Fultz. Some leaks due to pipes broken during the storm also were reported.
At one point on Saturday, Nice's low water situation was presenting concerns for Northshore Fire, with Deputy Chief Pat Brown reporting that they were unable to send water tenders to the Dam Fire because of it.
Fultz anticipated the district's water tanks would be full once again on Monday night.
As the tanks are replenished, Fultz asked community members to conserve water through Tuesday.
He said the district has lost its phone lines, which help the tanks communicate with the pumps. That has meant district staff are needing to manually monitor operations in the short-term.
The district's office phone lines also are down, so Nice residents with water-related emergencies are asked to call the answering service number at 707-995-8149.
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.
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A fire in and around The Geysers geothermal steamfield continued to grow on Saturday, but firefighters were able to increase containment on the blaze.
The McCabe Fire, which began early Friday morning in the midst of a major windstorm, is located on the Sonoma County side of the steamfield, with officials reporting that it has been moving toward Lake County.
By Saturday night, it had grown to 3,000 acres, with containment at 25 percent, according to Cal Fire.
It's expected to be contained on Wednesday, Cal Fire said.
So far, one structure – a geothermal plant cooling tower – has been destroyed, with about a dozen other structures threatened, the agency said.
Initially, 278 Calpine employees were evacuated from the company's geothermal power plant for their safety. Cal Fire said that, as it becomes safe, the employees are being allowed to return to work in the compound.
Cal Fire said fire crews have been challenged by the strong and erratic winds blowing through the region in recent days, as well as the area's steep, rugged terrain.
On Saturday, 120 fire engines, 68 fire crews, 27 bulldozers, 14 helicopters and a total of 1,758 personnel were assigned to the McCabe Fire, according to Cal Fire.
The fire has led to road closures for the general public on portions of Cloverdale-Geysers Road and Healdsburg-Geyser Road at Mercuryville, with Cal Fire noting that residents are allowed to use the roads to access their homes.
In addition to Cal Fire, cooperating agencies include a number of fire agencies from Sonoma and Napa counties, as well as Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, state Office of Emergency Services, California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and Sonoma County Fire Services.
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.
On April 27, a blast of light from a dying star in a distant galaxy became the focus of astronomers around the world. The explosion, known as a gamma-ray burst and designated GRB 130427A, tops the charts as one of the brightest ever seen.
A trio of NASA satellites, working in concert with ground-based robotic telescopes, captured never-before-seen details that challenge current theoretical understandings of how gamma-ray bursts work.
“We expect to see an event like this only once or twice a century, so we're fortunate it happened when we had the appropriate collection of sensitive space telescopes with complementary capabilities available to see it,” said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos, thought to be triggered when the core of a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, collapses under its own weight, and forms a black hole.
The black hole then drives jets of particles that drill all the way through the collapsing star and erupt into space at nearly the speed of light.
Gamma-rays are the most energetic form of light. Hot matter surrounding a new black hole and internal shock waves produced by collisions within the jet are thought to emit gamma-rays with energies in the million-electron-volt (MeV) range, or roughly 500,000 times the energy of visible light.
The most energetic emission, with billion-electron-volt (GeV) gamma rays, is thought to arise when the jet slams into its surroundings, forming an external shock wave.
The Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope captured the initial wave of gamma rays from GRB 130427A shortly after 3:47 a.m. EDT April 27. In its first three seconds alone, the “monster burst” proved brighter than almost any burst previously observed.
“The spectacular results from Fermi GBM show that our widely accepted picture of MeV gamma rays from internal shock waves is woefully inadequate,” said Rob Preece, a Fermi team member at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who led the GBM study.
NASA's Swift Gamma-ray Burst Mission detected the burst almost simultaneously with the GBM and quickly relayed its position to ground-based observatories.
Telescopes operated by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico as part of the Rapid Telescopes for Optical Response (RAPTOR) Project quickly turned to the spot.
They detected an optical flash that peaked at magnitude 7 on the astronomical brightness scale, easily visible through binoculars. It is the second-brightest flash ever seen from a gamma-ray burst.
Just as the optical flash peaked, Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT) detected a spike in GeV gamma-rays reaching 95 GeV, the most energetic light ever seen from a burst. This relationship between a burst's optical light and its high-energy gamma-rays defied expectations.
“We thought the visible light for these flashes came from internal shocks, but this burst shows that it must come from the external shock, which produces the most energetic gamma-rays,” said Sylvia Zhu, a Fermi team member at the University of Maryland in College Park.
The LAT detected GRB 130427A for about 20 hours, far longer than any previous burst. For a gamma-ray burst, it was relatively nearby. Its light traveled 3.8 billion years before arriving at Earth, about one-third the travel time for light from typical bursts.
“Detailed observations by Swift and ground-based telescopes clearly show that GRB 130427A has properties more similar to typical distant bursts than to nearby ones,” said Gianpiero Tagliaferri, a Swift team member at Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy.
This extraordinary event enabled NASA's newest X-ray observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), to make a first-time detection of a burst afterglow in high-energy, or “hard,” X-rays after more than a day. Taken together with Fermi LAT data, these observations challenge long-standing predictions.
GRB 130427A is the subject of five papers published online Nov. 21. Four of these, published by Science Express, highlight contributions by Fermi, Swift and RAPTOR. The NuSTAR study is published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
