This is the ninth cache in a series that creates a model of the Solar System across the Bay Area and the Central Valley of California.
We have placed the Sun at City Plaza Park in downtown San Jose, and have placed Mercury one mile from that location. All the other planets will be placed in orbit at distances from San Jose that match the scale set with the planet Mercury. With this scale, this cache, Pluto, is just over 100 miles away and would have a diameter within this model of 2.6″.
The cache log sheet contains a pair of numbers - labelled Comet Numbers. You should record these numbers - if you find all nine planets, your Comet Numbers will help you find the bonus Halley’s Comet cache. Note: The sum of the numbers will pinpoint an actual location, but the cache is not located there. An offset will be given on the Halley’s Comet page to take you to the actual cache. (The location determined by the sum of the Comet Numbers is fun to look at with a mapping program, but again, the Halley’s Comet cache is not there.)
The container itself is a round metal object, about the size of a canister of shoe polish, or a snuff container, or a hockey puck. Bring a pencil to record your find on the log sheet! There isn't room for one in the cache container!
To open the container, push the middle of the top of the tin. To close it, squeeze it on its sides with the lid in place.
Please put the cache back with the magnets facing up, and so it cannot be seen in its little hiding place.
Is Pluto really a planet?
The status of Pluto is currently under debate. Please check out Much ado about Pluto for an interesting article about Pluto's current status.
Please consider visiting the other caches in the Northern California Solar System Model. You’ll note that there are now other types of objects listed, as well as planets. These are a wonderful extension of the series that bthomas has built. You only need to find the nine planets to determine the location of the Halley’s Comet Cache, but finding the other objects as well is lots of fun!
You can look at a map of the locations of all of the planets in this cache series by examining this map.
Thanks to fizzymagic for the map. Thanks to Buxley for information on the planet diameters with this scale model.