Geocaching Event Planned to Coincide with Lunar Eclipse Viewing Party at Bishop Museum
Hawai‘i geocachers will have a lunar cache hunt on August 27 coinciding with the Lunar Viewing Party at Bishop Museum . The Museum will be toasting the August 27, 2007 total lunar eclipse with a Lunar Viewing Party from 9:30 p.m. August 27 through 1:30 a.m. the following morning. Telescopes will be pointed the moon’s way and volunteers from the Hawaiian Astronomical Society will be on hand to assist viewers in seeing the eclipse. Admission is $3 per person.
Geocaching is an outdoor “treasure hunt” open to anyone with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and access to the internet. A GPS receiver may be purchased for as little as $100, and uses signals from GPS satellites orbiting the Earth to determine a particular location anywhere on the planet. Individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the geochaching.com web site. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches, which range from messages or puzzles to small trinkets or toys for “trade”. Once found, the finder places another item at the cache site then adds a message to the web site and the game continues.
Geocaching is a relatively new phenomenon. It started in 2000 when computer consultant Dave Ulmer wanted to test the accuracy of the new GPS system technology by hiding a navigational target in the woods. There are currently over 400,000 caches worldwide including at least 400 on O‘ahu. Caches are hidden mostly in remote locations that require hiking or other physical activity, but sometimes can be placed in interesting easily-accessed areas, like the Bishop Museum . For more information about geocaching, visit http://www.geocaching.com.
Local geocacher and astronomer Gareth Wynn-Williams will also give a presentation about geocaching during the Lunar Viewing Party at Bishop Museum . In addition, local geocachers will be on the Museum’s Great Lawn to guide those interested to several caches hidden on the grounds during the eclipse. GPS units will be demonstrated by the volunteer guides but visitors can bring their own as well.
Several other guest lecturers from the University of Hawai‘i will be present to talk about the moon and some of the past, present and future research surrounding it in the J. Watumull Planetarium and Science on a Sphere beginning at 9:30 p.m.
The lunar eclipse begins with the partial phase at 10:50 p.m. and moves into the total phase at 11:52 p.m. before it ends around 1:25 a.m. A lunar eclipse can only occur at Full Moon and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. When an eclipse of the Moon takes place, everyone on the night side of the can see it. Total eclipses are beautiful events to behold. The Moon’s appearance darkens into an eerie copper color as light from the sun is filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere and indirectly reaches the moon. If the Earth had no atmosphere, the moon would be totally dark during an eclipse. The last time Hawai‘i experienced a total lunar eclipse was in 2003, however it was in its last stages at moonrise while the sky was still relatively light. Hawai‘i will be in a prime spot this year to watch the eclipse with the moon high overhead in dark skies.
The doors to the Lunar Viewing Party open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $3 per person. Parking in the Bishop Museum parking lot is free. For more information about Lunar Viewing Party or the Lunar Geocache event, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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