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 Girdwood:
60.953777, -149.160962
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 one communities that are also named Girdwood.
Within Alaska, the name Girdwood is unique.
Beyond Alaska, there is another community also named Girdwood in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Ontario
This Girdwood lies 2,588 miles [4,165 km]<1> to the east.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Girdwood ...
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 that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Girdwood to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Girdwood and extending to:
Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 544 miles [875.5 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Girdwood to Juneau, with an average speed<3>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 3,336 miles [5,368.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 7 days, a buggy would take 131 days and walking would take 190 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,021 miles [9,689.9 km] and it lies to the north (N).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,718 miles [10,811.6 km] and it lies to the north (N).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,251 miles [8,450.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Girdwood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Girdwood to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Girdwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 60.9538, Longitude: -149.1610
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 3.741 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 8.431 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 346.003 degrees.