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Welcome to jupiter Joe's rockhunting page

You might be asking yourself what is "Rock Hunting" and why is it on a astronomy outreach website... well you are about to find out!

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I first learned about Rock Hunting from a fellow Bronxite, Nicole Perrino, who runs www.bronxmama.com.  Nicole was looking for something to do with her family and to help inspire the community into creativity, soon enough she introduced us all to Rock Hunting! 

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Rock hunting is the activity of painting rocks in an assortment of ways, embellishing them with layers of paint that bring your idea to life and once your vision is captured in paint you proceed to hide the rock for others to find.  It is a way to inspire others to explore and engage in a group activity.

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Well Nicole definitely got me hooked and I immediately thought to myself, " how can I make this relate to astronomy outreach? " In litteral seconds I had my answer, a scale solar system! So as a member of #TheBronxRocks! Bronx rock hunting group I took it upon myself to bridge this activity into a full blown S.T.E.A.M engagement lesson that is fun and educational.

 

So in collaboration with www.thebronxmama.com and the #TheBronxRocks! Bronx rock hunting group, I bring you the  Jupiter Joe's Rock Hunting page!  Here you will find all types of unique rocks listed for you to find.  We will have a scaled solar system, constellation rocks, rocks that represent space exploration missions and more.

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Rock Hunting Resources

Below are the resources available to help you find all of the JJSA rocks.  Because this is an educational endeavor you will need some tools to help you along the way, so be sure to install a program that allows you to find GPS coordinates, I will have links below!

 

Also take a look at the two maps below, they represent the scaled orbit of planets and celestial objects in our solar system.  So when hunting for the JJSA rocks, you should keep in mind that the objects are placed at the right distance from "The Bronx Rocks Sun" on the backs of all the rocks you will find information about the scale of the object in comparison to the others.  This is a true lesson in scale.

I Found a Rock... What Now?

When you find a rock we want to know about it so submit your find to us by clicking on the form button or email link below and add a photo with the rock (RocSelphie), your name or just tag your public social image with both #thebronxrocks & #jjsarocks this way we can see the pictures on both feeds.

You are starting your hunt.... but where do you start?  The easiest thing is to think of this like our Solar system and Start with the Sun but really you can do this hunt in any order.  The first things you will need to do to make this hunt fun is get your friends & family together and do this as a team! Then do the following:

  • If you are on Facebook join #TheBronxRocks, Rockhunting Group

  • Install GPS Status & Toolbox on Android & iOS or similar GPS tool that lets you track coordinates and record coordinates.

  • Click on all the rock images to the right to learn about details including the coordinates of the rocks.

  • Look at our maps below for the general area locations to help you along.

  • get ready for future challenges announced on JJSA social media pages, so follow them all, linked on the bottom.

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Full Solar System
Full Solar System
Inner Solar System

Meet the Rocks!

When coming up with a design for the rocks I wanted to have a wonderful representation of each solar system object that highlighted specific features that make each unique, while still sharing as much knowledge as possible to reinforce the educational aspect.  So using traditional rock painting techniques along with some more advanced applications I was able to do painted rocks with transfer application details on the back to make a crisp text area that shows the scale of that object compared to our "Bronx Rocks Sun" .

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