Jupiter has 63 known moons. Europa is one of the four largest
moons, which were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Europa is
slightly smaller than the Earth’s moon.
It is believed that Europa, like the Earth, has an iron core, a
rocky mantle, and a surface ocean of salty water. The ocean covers
the entire surface and is frozen, possibly with a layer of liquid
water beneath the surface. The surface of Europa is extremely
smooth.
For more information on Europa check out:
NASA's Solar System Exploration Page for Europa
Not far from the cache’s actual location sits an erratic, that
while perhaps not as smooth as Europa, represents Europa to me.
Please ignore the fact that my Io and Europa are completely out of
scale with each other and the descriptions presented.
If you’ve never hiked and cached Black Rock Forest before, here
is another reason to visit and see what this area has to offer. If
you’ve been there, done that, then here is a reason to visit again.
Parking for this cache is the same as for brian b’s Jupiter’s
Boulder cache (GCEA67). I too have had no issues with parking.
This cache is one of a set of caches I am placing for my 1st
year anniversary of Geocaching. I've enjoyed my experiences over
the past year and met many great and friendly people along the way.
These caches are my way of saying thank you.
To determine the actual coordinates for Europa you must complete
the word search by finding the following five words and making a
few calculations based on the starting grid coordinates (X,Y) of
the words. Where X is the column and Y is the row.
CALLISTO EUROPA GANYMEDE IO JUPITER
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
|
1 |
N
|
Z
|
D
|
E
|
D
|
M
|
Y
|
N
|
A
|
G
|
|
2 |
C
|
O
|
B
|
D
|
F
|
F
|
V
|
Y
|
N
|
P
|
|
3 |
B
|
P
|
R
|
G
|
C
|
A
|
L
|
L
|
I
|
S
|
|
4 |
E
|
N
|
T
|
Q
|
F
|
I
|
L
|
L
|
A
|
C
|
|
5 |
H
|
I
|
B
|
D
|
R
|
V
|
A
|
I
|
O
|
J
|
|
6 |
R
|
K
|
Y
|
L
|
Y
|
Z
|
Y
|
H
|
F
|
S
|
|
7 |
Q
|
B
|
V
|
O
|
I
|
L
|
L
|
Y
|
R
|
N
|
|
8 |
Y
|
E
|
U
|
R
|
O
|
P
|
N
|
A
|
N
|
F
|
|
9 |
W
|
H
|
C
|
V
|
G
|
R
|
E
|
Y
|
N
|
P
|
|
10 |
R |
L |
Y |
Y |
S |
U |
I |
I |
E |
T |
After finding the five words, determine the coordinates for
"Europa" by solving the following six equations and making the
necessary substitions
The cache is at
N41 23.ABC W74 02.DEF |
|
A = EuropaX - JupiterX
B = EuropaY
C = EuropaY + IoX
D = JupiterY - IoX
E = GanymedeX - EuropaX
F = CallistoY – EuropaY |
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
As best I can tell, there are at least two ways to solve the
puzzle. One of the solutions is a little more difficult than the
other. Have fun.