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 Meadview:
36.00213, -114.068493
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.
Copper City ‑ Historic (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
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 Meadview to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Meadview and extending to:
Kingman, which is the Seat of Mohave County, lies 54 miles [86.9 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Meadview to Kingman, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 209 miles [336.4 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 12 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,025 miles [3,258.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 4 days, a buggy would take 80 days and walking would take 115 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,344 miles [11,819 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,112 miles [13,055 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,079 miles [9,783.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
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 drawn from Point A (ie- Meadview) 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 Meadview 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 Meadview. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0021, Longitude: -114.0685
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 333.109 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.50 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 323.239 degrees.