This is the tenth cache in a series dedicated to our Solar
System. Each cache page will have information about the planet (or
dwarf planet) it represents. The series is sponsored by the
Carolina Caching Club.
Eris
Discovery
In July 2005, a team from the California Institute of Technology
headed by astronomer Michael Brown announced the discovery of a
possible "tenth planet," which was temporarily called 2003
UB313. This most distant object so far found in our
solar system is just slightly larger than Pluto and takes 560 years
to make a very skewed orbit of the Sun. Most planets circle the Sun
very near the same plane as Earth's orbit, but the new object's
orbit is off plane. Astronomers studying this object nicknamed it
"Xena" and in 2006 discovered it had a moon, nicknamed
"Gabrielle."
Xena's size helped spark the drive for a decisive definition of
a planet. Under a proposal presented at the start of the triennial
assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006, the
union would have added three more planets to the solar system:
Xena, the asteroid Ceres, and Pluto's satellite Charon. This could
have opened the door to dozens more planets being added as more
large planet-like objects were found beyond Pluto.
New name
On September 13, 2006, the IAU announced the official name of
the object formerly known as Xena. The new name, which had been
submitted by Michael Brown, is Eris, the Greek goddess of strife or
discord. Eris's moon is now Dysnomia, daughter of the goddess Eris,
spirit of lawlessness.
The Geocache Details
This micro cache is hidden in a small container design to blend
in with the surroundings. It's in a well hidden public area
(mini-park) of a Charlotte business park. The parking nearest the
cache is by permit only. There is safe parking in the business park
at the nearby bank or restaurant. Please tread lightly in this area
- during the week people are working all around and like to visit
and take breaks. Be watchful of others around as not to compromise
the cache location. Please resecure the lid tightly and hide the
cache back very well and out of sight of casual lookers. There is
no room for anything to trade, only the log inside.
Please Note: You will need to bring your own pen/pencil to
sign the log!
Links to the other caches in this
series:
The
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto
Eris