Crux Mystery Cache
Cape Geckos: Archiving this one.
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Ever since Saturday Night Video Cache was released by Cape Doc I have wanted to do another night cache but haven’t found any nearby. So I decided to put this one together… Obviously with a compass you can do it during the day but how much fun would that be? The area is relatively safe at night but as always please be vigilant. Bring a torch just in case.
Crux is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, but is one of the most distinctive. Its name is Latin for cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross. Crux is a modern constellation and has no Greek or Roman myths associated with it.
It is easily visible from the southern hemisphere at practically any time of year, although it is also visible near the horizon from tropical latitudes of the northern hemisphere, for a few hours every night, during the spring months; for instance, from Cancun – or any other place at latitude 25º N or less, with unobstructed view to the South.
The brightest star (at the foot of the cross) in Crux is called Acrux. Acrux is actually two stars, 200 light-years away, orbiting each other, but they are so far away that we see them as one star. Despite its small area, Crux contains at least ten open clusters visible with small telescopes.
Seeing as the celestial south pole is not indicated by a bright star like it is in the Northern hemisphere, Crux can be used to find this southern celestial pole. In order to do this you will need to find the constellation. Look for the cross (with the smaller 5th star a little inside the cross between the right and bottom stars) which is often upside down to us. You will also need to locate the two pointers Alpha and Beta Centauri.
There are a few ways of doing this and two of these are explained below
Using the length of the cross:
1. Draw a line linking the top and bottom stars of the cross and extend this through the bottom star.
2. Measure along this line 4.5 times the length of the cross. The point on the sky where you end up is the South Celestial Pole.
3. Point at this point and drop your arm down to the horizon, this is South.
Using the cross and the pointers:
1. Draw a line linking the top and bottom stars of the cross and extend this through the bottom star.
2. Draw an imaginary line joining the two pointer.
3. Draw another imaginary line perpendicular to the one between the pointers and extend this until it intersects with the one extending out the bottom of the cross.
4. Point at this point and drop your arm down to the horizon, this is South.
Now you have no excuse to get lost!
Now in order to do this you need to be somewhere where there is an open sky and a cache nearby so here are your instructions…
Stand at approximately S33 58.208 E018 28.871 (you can park here too).
Follow any of the instructions above and locate south just to prove that you can (obviously you can check yourself or even skip this step if your GPS has an electronic compass - but that would be cheating wouldn't it?). While pointing South with your right hand, hold out your left arm perpendicular to this and point. Look at where your left hand is pointing – this is pretty much the GZ. The cache is a magnetic micro and is retrievable from the outside. Please bring your own pen.
If you would like to know more or see more in the night sky visit www.iziko.org.za/planetarium and download and print the latest sky map.
Sources: Wikipedia & www.csiro.au
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng gur obggbz bs gur pbeare cbfg pybfrfg gb lbh
Treasures
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