NOTE: The listed coordinates are NOT the position of the cache. You must first find all 15 Solar System objects in the Vgr2 Solar System Model and collect information at each of those caches before you can find this one. This link will take you to a list of those caches.
What this cache is:
This is a cache representing the Voyager 2 spacecraft, a 1,592 lb robotic space probe of the outer Solar System and beyond. It is located approximately 221.2 miles from the Vgr2 - Sun cache in Concord, CA. This represents the approximate scale distance of Voyager 2 from the Sun as of February 2016.
Voyager 2
Voyager 2 was launched August 20, 1977. It remains operational, currently pursuing its extended mission to locate and study the boundaries of the Solar System, including the Kuiper belt and beyond. Its original mission visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; and it was the first probe to provide detailed images of Uranus and Neptune along with their moons. Since its planetary mission is over, Voyager 2 is now described as working on an interstellar mission, which NASA is using to find out what the solar system is like beyond the heliosphere. Like Voyager 1 three years before, Voyager 2 crossed into the heliosheath, the last section of the heliosphere before interstellar space, in October 2007.
This is one of the bonus caches in a series that creates the model of the Solar System with objects located (where possible) in different California Counties, USGS Quadrangle sections, and DeLorme pages that are primarily north of Concord. For this cache:
Parking for this cache is available within 150 feet. The coordinate accuracy was +/- 15 feet at the time of the reading. The elevation is approximately 5,300 feet. Keep that in mind when attempting this in the Winter where snow and ice conditions may limit access. The container itself is a regular sized ammo can.
The Sun for the Vgr2 Solar System Model is located near the center of Concord in a triangle bounded by I-680, CA-4, and CA-242 and is named Vgr2 - Sun. Objects are placed at a distance from Vgr2 - Sun relative to their average orbital distance (+/- 5%). The scale used is 2 miles for every Astronomical Unit. An Astronomical Unit is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth. With this scale, Neptune, the farthest planet, is in the range of 59.5 to 60.9 miles distant. Eris, the farthest dwarf planet, is in the range of 128.6 to 142.1 miles distant. Sorry folks, Pluto is now classified as a dwarf planet and is in the range of 75.0 to 82.9 miles distant.
Prerequisite:
To find the cache, you must have found all 15 object caches (the sun, the 8 planets, the 5 dwarf planets, and the asteroid belt), and collected the number associated with the coordinate code letters from each of those caches.
What to do if you have found all 15 object caches:
The cache is located at: North QP KJ.HGF and West AYX VU.TSR. To derive the final coordinates for you search, do the following math (the small letters correspond to the value you recorded when you found the other 15 caches):
- A = a - 0
- F = f + 5
- G = g + 3
- H = h - 1
- J = j + 0
- K = k - 4
- P = p - 5
- Q = q - 4
- R = r + 1
- S = s - 0
- T = t + 1
- U = u + 0
- V = v - 1
- X = x - 7
- Y = y - 4
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
If you can't get the coordinates to come out right, recheck your work and try again. If you are still having problems, send me a message with the coordinates you derived and the data values you used for the coordinate code letters.
Why the difficulty rating of 5.0?
This cache has a difficulty rating of 5.0 due to the large amount of travel required to reach it (over 1,200 miles total for most folks.) The cache itself, if it were just a single-stage, would have a difficulty rating of 1.5. If you do your homework, it is possible to do this entire series in three (long) days. The total round trip from the Vgr2 - Sun cache to the Voyager 2 (2016 February) cache is some where between 1,100 - 1,300 miles, depending how often you double back to for missed exists, find other caches, etc.
Upon placement, the cache contained:
- Log book (bring your own writing instrument)
- FTF grand prize: Last pages of the log book have 4 $10 FTF Prize Gift Certificates and instructions on how to redeem them.
- Geocaching Swag
Why is the cache located in this area?
As of February 2016, Voyager 2 was at a distance of 110.49 AU (approximately 10.3 billion miles) from the Sun. At the above distance, light or radio waves, which travel at 670,616,629 miles per hour, take over 15.3 hours to reach the Earth from Voyager 2. As a basis for comparison, the Moon is about 1.4 light-seconds from Earth, the sun is approximately 8.5 light-minutes away, and the nearest star is 4.3 light-years away. As of February 2016, Voyager 2 was traveling at a speed of approximately 34,500 miles per hour. I hope to be placing an additional cache every other year to mark the anniversary of its launch.
Other stuff:
Please consider visiting the other caches in the Vgr2 Solar System Model. This link will take you to a list of the Vgr2 caches. You may also pick from the table below.
For more information on Voyager 2, visit its Wikipedia description.
For more information on the Solar System, visit its Wikipedia description.
The idea was inspired by TeamJiffy's great series I finished at the end of 2008; Northern CA Solar System Model: Comet Halley
Special Thanks:
I want to say a special thanks to the following cachers that have agreed to act as maintenance backup for this cache.