Northern Lights Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Northern lights ('Aurora borealis'
in the north, and 'Aurora australis' in the south)
originate from our sun.
The sun gives off high-energy charged particles (ions) that travel
out into space at speeds of 186 to 745 miles per second. A cloud of
such particles is called a plasma. A stream of plasma coming from
the sun is known as a solar wind.
As the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth's magnetic
field, some of the particles are trapped by it and follow the lines
of magnetic force down into the ionosphere (about 37 to 372 miles
above its surface).
As the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere, they
start to glow, producing the spectacle that we know as the auroras,
both northern and southern. The array of colors consists of red,
green, blue and violet. |
The Northern Lights are constantly in motion
because of the changing interaction between the solar wind and the
earth's magnetic field.
A solar wind can easily generate up to 1 million megawatts of
electricity in an auroral display. This activity can (and usually
does) cause interference with power lines, radio and television
broadcasts, and satellite communications (including GPS
receivers).
By studying the auroras, scientists hope to learn more about the
solar wind, how it affects the earth's atmosphere, and how the
energy of the auroras might be exploited for useful purposes.
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Ok, so what does all this have to do with the geocache? Absolutely
Nothing! We think it's always fun and interesting to learn
something we never knew before. The cache container is a large pill
container that houses a few small tradable items and a log. It's a
rather typical and NON-spectacular hide, (nowhere NEAR as
spectacular as the auroral display) but you'll understand the name
of the cache when you arrive and find it.
We wanted to place this cache over a year ago, and had everything
ready to go. When we went out to actually place it, the coords put
it approx. 375 feet away from
ncmtnluver's now archived, P&G#3. We had her cache on our
watchlist ever since. Yesterday, she archived it, so today we
placed ours. Thanks again, ncmtnluver, for the entire series of
"Devious" caches you &
Pur24karet created. They were great!
Eighth-To-Find honors go
to:
papermanone & catlover
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Additional Hints
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