You should be standing in front of a sundial dedicated to Paul Nohr.
Paul had been intrigued with Astronomy since he was seven years old. In 1946 he saw an amazing meteor storm which looked as if it was raining stars. After high school, Paul studied astronomy and physics at Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati.
As resident astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory for twenty years, Paul worked mostly alone, and mostly at night; providing technical support for the astronomy lab at U.C., writing software for astronomy education and research, and in his spare time conducted spectroscopic and photoelectric observations of variable stars. Paul would eventually become Program Coordinator of the U.C. Observatory.
He would maintain, design, and sometimes fabricate equipment. In fact, Paul spent a couple of years dismantling and re-building the Observatories two telescopes; the 1845 Merz and Mahler, and the 1904 Alvin Clark and Sons.
The City of Cincinnati as well as the scientific community, and indeed the nation, owes Paul a debt of gratitude for restoring and maintaining these two important scopes. What you see around you here today would not be, but for the efforts of Paul Nohr and a few others who saved the buildings from the wrecking ball in 1986!
On a heading of 340°, you should be standing in front of an old evergreen where you will find the SUN. Stand on it carefully, as it is very HOT!
The SUN is a hot ball of fire 865,000 miles in diameter, with a surface temperature of 10,000 degrees F. It is about 4.6 billion years old and is 93,000,000 miles or 1 Astronomical Unit (A.U.) from earth. Sunlight takes roughly 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth, traveling at 186,282 miles per second. Only 2 billionths of the SUN's light reaches the EARTH, the rest is lost in space.
Travel now you must. a distance of 2,798,800,000 miles or 30 A.U.'s; past the small inner planets, past the giant gas planets, and Uranus to the outer reaches of the solar system to find NEPTUNE.
Head due West on the Planet Walk where each foot = 8.2 million miles! You do the math!
I hope you brought your overcoat! NEPTUNE, at 31,763 miles in diameter, and with a surface temperature of -353 degrees F is one cold place. NEPTUNE’S atmosphere is made up of Hydrogen, Helium, Methane, and Acetylene.
NEPTUNE was discovered by means of mathematics before being seen through a telescope. Astronomers had noticed that URANUS was not always in the position they predicted for it.
In 1843 John C. Adams, an English astronomer and mathematician, and Urbain J.J. Leverrier, a young French mathematician began working on the problem. On Sept. 23, 1846 NEPTUNE was found by Johann G. Galle, director of the Urania Observatory in Berlin, Germany, near the position predicted by Adams, and Urbain, who are credited with the discovery. The planet was named NEPTUNE, after the Roman sea god.
NEPTUNE has four faint rings and eight known moons: Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, and Nereid.
From NEPTUNE, on a heading of 44 Degrees travel 372'to the standing cellulose.
On a heading of 114 Degrees and 30 paces you will find the 1881 Monoliths.
On a heading of 140 Degrees and 39 paces, you need to travel back in time to pay a visit with John, who traveled a long way to Mt. Ida helping to lay a stone of the original building. The name of Mt. Ida was later changed in honor of John.
On a heading of 142 Degrees, travel 49 paces to see the man in the moon and his rock.
"DON'T PANIC", you're almost there! On a heading of 26 Degrees, travel you must 354' where you will find what you seek. Make sure you duck as you go around to make the grab.
I hope you have enjoyed your adventure. Stop back sometime to look through the telescopes.