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 McDowell:
33.636711, -111.674583
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.
Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Fort McDowell
Bird Watching ...
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 Maricopa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found one communities that are also named Fort McDowell.
Within Arizona, the name Fort McDowell is unique.
Beyond Arizona, there is another community also named Fort McDowell in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
California
Marin County
This Fort McDowell is located in Marin County and lies 668 miles [1,075 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Fort McDowell that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of Fort McDowell.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort McDowell ...
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 Fort McDowell to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fort McDowell and extending to:
Phoenix, which is the Seat of Maricopa County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Fort McDowell to Phoenix, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 26 miles [41.8 km] to the west southwest (WSW). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,950 miles [3,138.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take three full days, a buggy would take 77 days and walking would take 111 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,425 miles [11,949.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,189 miles [13,178.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,126 miles [9,858.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
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- Fort McDowell) 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 Fort McDowell 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 Fort McDowell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6367, Longitude: -111.6746 In this case, the coordinates for Fort McDowell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.874 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.606 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.956 degrees.