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 Rohwer:
33.763092, -91.273500
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.
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.
Catfish Point Landing (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
Catfish Point Landing is located in Bolivar County (MS)
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 Rohwer to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Rohwer and extending to:
Arkansas City, which is the Seat of Desha County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rohwer to Arkansas City, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 87 miles [140 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 866 miles [1,393.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,721 miles [10,816.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,443 miles [11,978.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,319 miles [8,560.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Rohwer) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Rohwer 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 Rohwer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.7631, Longitude: -91.2735
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.455 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.541 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.103 degrees.