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 Becks:
34.988148, -90.852614
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 enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Saint Francis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found four communities that share the name Becks.
Within Arkansas, the name Becks is unique.
Beyond Arkansas, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Iowa
Lee County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Becks [Lee County].
Louisiana
Caddo Parish
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Becks [Caddo Parish].
Pennsylvania
Schuylkill County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Becks [Schuylkill County].
Utah
Salt Lake County
This Becks is located in Salt Lake County and lies 1,212 miles [1,950.5 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Becks that is located in Saint Francis County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Becks.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Becks ...
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.
Barn Crossing (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barn Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 community such as Becks to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Becks and extending to:
Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Becks to Little Rock, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 807 miles [1,298.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 46 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,643 miles [10,690.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,368 miles [11,857.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,244 miles [8,439.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Footnotes ...
<1>
If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Becks could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Becks) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Becks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.9881, Longitude: -90.8526 In this case, the coordinates for Becks have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<3>
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.
<4>
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.
<5>
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 Becks to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.288 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.511 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.702 degrees.