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 Fort Greely:
63.973001, -145.716677
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.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Greely ...
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.
In the vicinity of Fort Greely, Delta Junction is located 4 miles [6.4 km]<1> to the North
How Far From Fort Greely to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fort Greely to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fort Greely and extending to:
Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 541 miles [870.7 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Fort Greely to Juneau, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 31 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 22 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 3,210 miles [5,166 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 7 days, a buggy would take 126 days and walking would take 183 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,817 miles [9,361.6 km] and it lies to the north (N).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,524 miles [10,499.4 km] and it lies to the north (N).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,021 miles [8,080.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fort Greely) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Greely. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 63.9730, Longitude: -145.7167
<2>
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.
<3>
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 Fort Greely to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 0.813 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 5.175 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 343.152 degrees.