Southern Searchlights Mystery Cache
Ngaambul: No response from the owner within the last 28 Days and as per my original note this cache has been archived. If you wish to replace it please submit a new cache via this link.
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
***THE LISTED CO-ORDINATES ARE FALSE***
This cache is about the wonderful science of Astronomy, one of my many interests.
The Southern Sky has some amazing objects contained in its midst, including nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, and all types of star combinations.
This cache in particular involves the 'show-off' stellar performers, some of the brighest stars in our Southern Sky.
Listed below are nine stars, ranked according to their brightness as seen from Earth (apparent magnitute). All these stars are located in 'southern' sky positions (have negative declination). Next to each is their home constellation , colour and distance in light years from the Earth.
1) Sirius - Canis Major, white colour, 8.6 ly
2) Canopus - Carina, yellow-white, 310 ly
3) Alpha Centauri - Centaurus, yellow, 4.4 ly
4) Rigel - Orion, blue-white, 770 ly
5) Achernar - Eridanus, blue-white, 140 ly
6) Hadar - Centaurus, blue-white, 530 ly
7) Spica - Virgo, blue-white, 260 ly
8) Antares - Scorpio, red, 600 ly
9) Fomalhaut - Piscis Austrinus, white, 25 ly
To solve this puzzle, the order of the stars needs to be re-arranged from order of brightness to their order based on most NEGATIVE or most southerly DECLINATION ranked from A to J (letter 'I' omitted).
The corresponding letter for each star based on declination will be assigned the number for each star based on brightness. Eg. if Fomalhaut is the most southerly star in declination (A), but ranked 9 in brightness, then A = 9.
The final cache location is at:
S. 36.0(B-J).(C-D)(F-B)(A+G)
E. 146.5(H-C).(E-G)(J-D)(A+B)
The cache is a 200ml Sistema container with enough room for logbook, pencil and some small swaps.
The final location will be an area where it would be intended that for viewing the southern sky it would be perfect (apart from the rotten background light).
Good luck on the puzzle, enjoy the hunt and most importantly the area!
Ps. The positions are based on epoch J2000. I'm reasonably confident they will remain current for a good while, at least as long as the cache survives anyway.
The rankings for brightness are based on average apparent magnitute (Antares can be brighter than Spica at times as it is a variable star).
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs gerr
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures