Geocaching to the Extreme!

 

Geocaching has taken me to many cool spots, all over the country. I have been to the tops of a couple mountains, gone into caves, found lakes and cliffs and mysterious stone structures hidden deep in the woods. This morning I made a find in a place I’ve never been before. The planet Mars!

                When NASA sent its Perseverance Rover to the red planet, included on it was a tracking number that could be logged on the Geocaching.com web site.

                Travel bugs have been taken into space before, taking rides on the International Space Station but this is the first time one has gone to another planet!

                Launched from Earth in July of 2020, the rover landed on the red planet in February of 2021. On the 17^th of March, the rover sent pictures back to earth. Included in these pictures was one of its calibration chart.  The tracking code is “hidden” on a 1” piece of glass that is part of that target.

                This is one of those things that just tweeks my geek genes! It combines geocaching and astronomy, wow! I love it! There it was 12:40 in the morning and no one to talk to.  There was no one to share my story with, a story that will be told many times later today, starting with this time!

                So, tonight when you look up in the sky and see that red dot not too far away from the Pleiades and the bright star Aldebaran, just think about the rover moving around on its surface, taking pictures and sending them back to earth…and even more exciting, that you can go geocaching there!

Oh, it is the simple things (?) in life that excite me!

 

 

The Sounds of a Saturday Night Under the Stars

 

                Across the street, a neighbor had built a bonfire in his back yard. His kids were running around and yelling, glad to be outside. I’m sure, a few marshmallows were being toasted and burnt. Down the street a party was in progress. Country music drifted into my yard along with a few laughs every so often. Chances are there was a fire down there also. The air smelled good, like summertime.

                In my yard, I was sitting behind the telescope having my own little star party. Drifting around Orion, passing through the Pleiades and whatever constellation struck my fancy. Thanks to some creative (?) parking of my car, the yard was dark. So was the sky, there would be no moon to bother with tonight.

                Double stars, galaxies, some nebula's and a couple star clusters populated my eyepiece. A couple satellites drifted through my field of view as I sat, amazed at what came through my optics. I had no plan, I was just enjoying the view.

                Even though it was cold, the seeing was great. I forgot about how numb my fingers were getting. I also forgot about any stress that had been hanging over my head, the tensions of the world drifted away as I sat in my front yard and traveled light years into the past.

                While I drifted through the stars, I listened to the sounds of the neighborhood. They were the sounds of normalcy. It sounded great and it made me feel wonderful!  

 

Jupiter is there, click on the picture and look close!

                This morning the time was set ahead an hour so after what seemed like a short amount of sleep, I got up for Church. Before I got there, I stopped at the local cemetery and watched the sun brighten the sky in the east. Jupiter was sitting about 10 degrees off the top of the hill. As I watched, all the stars faded and it became the only thing I could see in the sky. I didn’t see the sun come over the horizon, I had a more important place to be! I did see the results of its appearance though. Bright orange sunlight slowly descended on the wall behind the altar during Mass. 

The day is off to a good start!  It’s Pi Day! I think we will bake a pie today to celebrate.