Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above
website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed
sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above,
we pass this GPS location for Adak:
51.873911, -176.633923
Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
We found three communities that share the name Adak.
Within Alaska, the name Adak is unique.
Beyond Alaska.
While we haven't found any other communities named Adak in either the United States or Canada, we know of three communities located outside of the United States and Canada.
Communities Beyond North America ...
Sweden
Distance: 4,294 miles [6,910.5 km]<1> to the north
Turkey
- Erzincan
Distance: 5,796 miles [9,327.8 km]<1> to the north northwest
- Mardin
Distance: 5,886 miles [9,472.6 km] to the north northwest
Curious and Interesting Names Near Adak ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Adak to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Adak and extending to:
Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 1,695 miles [2,727.8 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Adak to Juneau, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 97 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 67 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 4,526 miles [7,283.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 9 days, a buggy would take 177 days and walking would take 258 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,338 miles [10,200 km] and it lies to the north northwest (NNW).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,910 miles [11,120.6 km] and it lies to the northwest (NW).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,930 miles [9,543.4 km] and it lies to the north (N).<7>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Adak) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Adak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 51.8739, Longitude: -176.6339
<2>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>
While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>
The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Adak to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 26.683 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 34.185 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 6.769 degrees.