The cache is NOT at the given coordinates. If you go to these coordinates, bring your waterproof shoes.
Background Information. Since I did a cache a while back for my oldest granddaughter (GC7JGGD, Emily’s Cache), I felt that I need to be fair and develop a cache for my grandson. My grandson, Jacob, wants to be an Aerospace Engineer. So, as a high school junior, he signed up for a NASA program where they sent him challenging questions. The problem below is not ‘exactly’ the problem they sent because I had to fudge the numbers to get the correct coordinates.
A few years ago, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere over an undisclosed location, and startled onlookers with its fiery appearance and shockingly loud noise. NASA estimates the asteroid was approximately 15 meters in diameter with a mass of approximately 10,000 metric tons and traveled approximately 25 kilometers per second. Infrasound stations nearby and as far away as Antarctica and nearly half-way around the world detected the low-frequency sound waves generated by the meteor. The infrasound data indicates that the event, from atmospheric entry to the meteor’s airborne disintegration took 11 seconds. The entry angle to horizontal was about 23° and the terminal part of the fireball was at 25 km altitude. (Note: use 6523 km as the earth’s radius.
e: What is the straight-line distance (in kilometers) the asteroid traveled between the point it entered the atmosphere and where it disintegrated? This is W 97 40.e
F: From the center of the earth, what is the angle (in degrees) between the point where the asteroid disintegrated and the point where it would have landed? This is N 30 30F
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