This is the second in our series of caches related to our
celestial neighborhood.
(Slightly out of order)
This second one is dedicated to
Venus.
Venus is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every
224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman
goddess of love. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object
in the night sky. Because Venus is an inferior planet from Earth,
it never appears to venture far from the Sun: its elongation
reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum
brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, for
which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening
Star.
This cache location should be away from the city
lights far enough that you can see Venus if you arrive at the
appropriate times. We wouldn't suggest that you look for the cache
in the dark however because of the creek.
Classified as a terrestrial planet, it is sometimes called Earth's
"sister planet" because they are similar in size, gravity, and bulk
composition. Venus is covered with an opaque layer of highly
reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from
being seen from space in visible light. Venus has the densest
atmosphere of all the terrestrial planets, consisting mostly of
carbon dioxide, as it has no carbon cycle to lock carbon back into
rocks and surface features, nor organic life to absorb it in
biomass. A younger Venus is believed to have possessed Earth-like
oceans, but these totally evaporated as the temperature rose,
leaving a dusty dry desertscape with many slab-like rocks. The
water has most likely dissociated, and because of the lack of a
planetary magnetic field, the hydrogen has been swept into
interplanetary space by the solar wind. The atmospheric pressure at
the planet's surface is 92 times that of the Earth. Venus's surface
was a subject of speculation until some of its secrets were
revealed by planetary science in the twentieth century. It was
finally mapped in detail by Project Magellan in 1990–91. The
ground shows evidence of extensive volcanism, and the sulfur in the
atmosphere may indicate that there have been some recent eruptions.
However, it is an enigma why no evidence of lava flow accompanies
any of the visible caldera. There are a low number of impact
craters, demonstrating that the surface is relatively young,
approximately half a billion years old. There is no evidence for
plate tectonics, possibly because its crust is too strong to
subduct without water to make it less viscous. Instead, Venus may
lose its internal heat in periodic massive resurfacing events.
Decon (Not the rat poison). Contains log and pencil only. Some
room for very small trade items.
May not be accessible in winter
FTF Prize: Venus magic towel.
STF Prize: Venus magic towel.
The Celestial Series:
Celestial Views I - Mercury
Celestial Views II - Venus
Celestial Views III (Take 2) - Earth
Celestial Views IV - Mars
Celestial Views V - Asteroid Queen
Celestial Views VI - Jupiter the Gas Giant
Celestial Views VII - Saturn (Coming Soon)
Celestial Views VIII - Neptune King of the Seas (Coming Soon)
Celestail Views IX - Uranus (Comming Soon)
Celestial Views X - Pluto (Yeah we still think its a planet)
(Coming Soon)