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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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On those rare clear nights, away from city lights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky. With the naked eye, about 3,000 stars can be seen from horizon to horizon. In amongst these stars are other assorted deep sky wonders, commonly known as nebula. They can be other galaxies, globular clusters of stars, or simply star dust made visible in various shapes by encased stars. A simple pair of binoculars brings many of these objects to greater clarity and brightness.
In the late 1700's, the French astronomer, Charles Messier, compiled a catalog of these nebulous objects. This register remains the most popular list of bright deep-sky wonders. Number 31 on Messier's list, for example, is our nearest neighboring galactic system known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Modern versions of the list contain 110 entries, and a few of these have interesting well-known names. In the following very brief story, there are five specific nouns, each of which is the name for a Messier object. In this story, they are not used in that context.
"Two cachers were up late one night, beating their heads against the wall, trying to solve another caching puzzle. 'You dumbbell, can't you see the order of these numbers?' commented SpeedyJohn. At that moment, the ring of the doorbell could be heard. Dolittle didn't budge, instead thinking of how he could be home soaking in his hot tub whirlpool. SpeedyJohn, on the other hand, raced to the door, opened it, and first saw an owl perched on a tree branch with the full moon shining as a backdrop. A moment later, an eagle flew out of nowhere, scaring the other raptor away. As for who rang the doorbell, it would have been anyone's guess."
Structure for puzzle solution:
1. Identify five nouns in the above paragraph that are well-known Messier object names.
2. List these names in the same order that they appear in the story.
3. Match these names to their respective Messier numbers, that you can find in the Messier Catalog. Each Messier Number is a 2-digit number.
4. You should now have five two digit numbers: AB CD EF GH IJ. Combine them into one number: ABCDEFGHIJ.
5. Separate the numbers into two groups: ABCDE FGHIJ. The first group represents a north coordinate, the second group a west coordinate.
6. Subtract 756 from the north coordinate, and add 14,826 to the west coordinate.
7. "Decimalize" both coordinates, and insert N48* and W122* in front of them, respectively. You now have the proper coordinates for finding the cache.
8. The coordinates listed at the top of this listing are bogus.
9. The final north coordinate may register in your GPSr as being slightly north of the cache. Cache has been moved slightly south due to bank erosion and the encroaching rising sea.
While hunting for the cache, there is no need to approach any structure. Be careful of watching eyes. The 3.5-star difficulty is based on the puzzle. The cache itself deserves a 1 difficulty level. The container is a camoed two-clamp, two compartment lock-n-lock. Please be sure to leave it well hidden as it could get easily muggled. If you find any other type containers nearby, please remove them and let us know.
Extra Credit: Find the constellation within which each of the five Nebula are located. Please do not put these names in your log, as this may compromise some of the puzzle. You may e-mail us the constellation names, and we will let you know how many are correct. You are free to include this score in your log.
Happy hunting, and please place the cache back exactly as you found it!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Chmmyr: Svefg anzr vf fvkgu abha, frpbaq vf svir abhaf sebz gur svefg; lbh'er ba lbhe bja gb svaq gur erznvavat anzrf.
Pnpur: Va gur uvtu pheyl ebbgf bs n qevsgjbbq ybt. Fznyy tenl synfuyvtug