The Hunt. At a southern viewpoint with several other caches nearby. A small tin, almost a regular size cache, than can hold several items. Be sure to note the location of the Moon in the log.
Name. The Greeks called her Gaia while the Romans referred to her as Terra among other names. Earth is Old English and German in origin, related to the Old Saxon ertha, the Dutch aerde, and the German erda, all of which may have come from a phonetic name for farmer in ancient Egypt. In any case, our relationship to the planet developed long before we understood what it really was. As the earth mother, her symbol is the Greek sign for sphaira, sphere.
Factoids. Earth and its satellite, the Moon, occupy a sweet spot around the Sun where temperatures never get too high nor too low to support varied forms of life. If her orbit changed and carried her closer to the Sun, she would roast and life as it now exists would be destroyed. Swinging too far away from the Sun, she would freeze into a ball of ice.
Her magnetic field shields life against deadly, electrically charged particles that stream outward from the Sun, as well as create beautiful aurora displays. In the Solar System, only Pluto, with its companion Charon, has a satellite so close to its own size.
- Distance from Sun = 1 AU = 93 million miles
- Diameter = 7918 miles
- Satellites = 1
- Mean surface temperature = 287 K (57 F)
