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Mars (Bloomington Solar System) Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

ErWenn: I'm going to have to retire the planets as they disappear. It just takes too much time to replace them.

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Hidden : 6/12/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This 2-inch model of the planet Mars is part of a 1:133,700,000 scale model of the solar system and is hidden right along the B-Line Trail. The old hide required a little bushwhacking, but the new hide is much easier to get to. Please bring your own writing implement.

This cache is part of a 1:133,700,000 scale model of the solar system. The dome on the Monroe County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington serves as a model of the sun. Mars is about 6750-6790 kilometers in diameter and ranges from 207 to 249 million km from the sun, so this model is roughly 2 inches in diameter and about 1.16 miles from the Courthouse dome, just at its aphelion (the point in its orbit where it is furthest from the sun).

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, a rocky world with a slight reddish tint due to the presence of iron oxide on its surface. It's not as red as you might expect it to be because most photos you've seen have been "enhanced" quite a bit. The surface of Mars has craters like Earth's moon and volcanoes, valleys, and polar ice caps like Earth.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, but they have not been included in the model because at this scale, Phobos is only a couple hairs' breadths in width and Deimos is even smaller. If you want, you can imagine a tiny speck orbiting about 3 inches above the surface of the model of Mars and an even tinier speck oribiting about 7 inches from the surface.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fubhyqa'g or gbb uneq gb svaq. Ybbx ybj.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)