Jupiter is a domineering object in our Solar Ssytem, and has a number of unique properties. First, as is obvious, it is the largest planet in our solar system. Next, it is the closest of the four Gas Giants to our Sun. Third, it orbits our Sun in just about 12 years, yet rotates on its axis in a little more than 10 hours. It is a ball of dense hydrogen, helium, water, nitrogen and other gases over a tiny rocky core. It has a unimaginatively dynamic atmosphere, complete with criss-crossing jet streams, lightning, and huge hurricane-like storms, one larger than our own Earth (the Great Red Spot; a new storm called the Little Red Spot developed before the eyes of the astronomical community in the past half dozen years, watched closely by the Hubble Space Telescope). The planet has a massive magnetic field, which when interacting with the solar wind, generates aurora at the polar regions, just like Earth (except the displays are far more…widespread).
The planet is 5.2 AU away from our Sun (where 1 AU is the mean distance between the Sun and the Earth). If you found the Sun cache (GC10HDR) and still have the coordinates, you’ll find it is approximately 5.2 miles away from this cache.
In 1994 Jupiter was the scene of an collision of an interplanetary scale, when Comet Schoemaker-Levy 9 Smashed into it with multiple impacts (as the comet had broken up due to gravitational influences of Jupiter). The event was witnessed by every available observatory – ground-based and space-based – available. Some of the impact sites in Jupiter’s atmosphere were so huge small and moderate sized telescopes could see them from the ground. Several impact sites were as large as our planet Earth.
All that withstanding, Jupiter has over 60 moons orbiting it. The four largest can easily be seen from small, Earth-based telescopes (even the so-called “K-Mart Specials” will show you the four Galilean Moons with ease). Each of them have their own uniqueness in the universe.
Io is the closest of the Galilean Moons, and the most dynamic. It is 1/3 the size of Earth (i.e., larger than our Moon) and is the most volcanic-active body in our solar system. It sports hundreds of active volcanoes, some of them that regularly spew plumes of debris 500 km above it’s surface.
Europa is the next moon out, and is covered with an icy crust, laced with numerous unexplained cracks. Popular opinion is that if there is any life as we recognize it on any body in our solar system, if there are oceans under Europa’s ice sheet, it might be found there. But it’ll be a long time before we learn what is really down there.
The next moon out is Ganymede, which is the largest moon in our solar system – one and a half times larger than our own Moon, and larger than even the planet Mercury! Recent discoveries have shown that the moon has it’s own magnetic field, leading to the thought that it has an iron core, much like Earth and Mercury.
Callisto is the outermost of the four Galilean Moons. It, too, is one of the largest moons in the solar system, being nearly the same size as the planet Mercury. It has seen a lot of action in its time, being one of the most cratered moons in the solar system.
On February 28, 2007, the New Horizons spacecraft, bound for Pluto, passed within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter, taking unprecedented images of the planet and its moons. Check them out here:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos.html
Note, given that Jupiter's orbit is not perfectly circular, the distance between it and the Sun ranges from 4.9 to 5.5 AU. If 1 AU were the equivalent of 1 mile, you will find the distance between this cache and The Sun cache (GC10HDR) to be about 5 miles miles. Keep the distance to the Sun cache in mind when you are doing this, to give you an idea of just how vast interplanetary distances are - to say nothing of interstellar distances!
The cache you are seeking is a micro. Room enough for a logsheet and a small geocoin. It is hidden in an area that should not pose many difficulties for the seasoned or relatively new cacher.