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 Sunset Hills:
33.627818, -112.035704
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 Sunset Hills
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 nineteen communities that are also named Sunset Hills.
Within Arizona, the name Sunset Hills is unique.
Beyond Arizona, we know of nineteen communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
California
Los Angeles 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 California community of Sunset Hills [Los Angeles County].
San Bernardino County
This Sunset Hills is located in San Bernardino County and lies 302 miles [486 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Sunset Hills.
Georgia
Clayton County
This Sunset Hills is located in Clayton County and lies 1,592 miles [2,562.1 km]<2> to the east of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Sunset Hills.
Paulding County
This Sunset Hills is located in Paulding County and lies 1,558 miles [2,507.4 km] to the east of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Paulding County community of Sunset Hills.
Illinois
Cook 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 Illinois community of Sunset Hills [Cook County].
Will County
This Sunset Hills is located in Will County and lies 1,407 miles [2,264.3 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Will County community of Sunset Hills.
Maryland
Frederick 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 Maryland community of Sunset Hills [Frederick County].
Missouri
Saint Louis County
This Sunset Hills is located in Saint Louis County and lies 1,250 miles [2,011.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Sunset Hills.
North Carolina
Catawba 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 North Carolina community of Sunset Hills [Catawba County].
Guilford County
This Sunset Hills is located in Guilford County and lies 1,824 miles [2,935.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Guilford County community of Sunset Hills.
Mecklenburg County
This Sunset Hills is located in Mecklenburg County and lies 1,770 miles [2,848.5 km] to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mecklenburg County community of Sunset Hills.
Rockingham County
This Sunset Hills is located in Rockingham County and lies 1,823 miles [2,933.8 km] to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockingham County community of Sunset Hills.
Pennsylvania
Beaver 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 Sunset Hills [Beaver County].
Tennessee
Hamblen County
This Sunset Hills is located in Hamblen County and lies 1,628 miles [2,620 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamblen County community of Sunset Hills.
Sullivan County
This Sunset Hills is located in Sullivan County and lies 1,673 miles [2,692.4 km] to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sullivan County community of Sunset Hills.
Utah
Davis County
This Sunset Hills is located in Davis County and lies 507 miles [815.9 km]<2> to the north of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davis County community of Sunset Hills.
Salt Lake County
This Sunset Hills is located in Salt Lake County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km] to the north of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Sunset Hills.
Virginia
Fairfax County
This Sunset Hills is located in Fairfax County and lies 1,953 miles [3,143 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Sunset Hills.
Roanoke City
This Sunset Hills is located in Roanoke City and lies 1,809 miles [2,911.3 km] to the east northeast of the Sunset Hills that is located in Maricopa County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roanoke City community of Sunset Hills.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sunset Hills ...
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 & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Sunset Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Sunset Hills and extending to:
Phoenix, which is the Seat of Maricopa County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Sunset Hills to Phoenix, with an average speed<3> 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.
Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 12 miles [19.3 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take nearly four hours and walking would take five to six hours.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,969 miles [3,168.8 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 112 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,435 miles [11,965.5 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 8,200 miles [13,196.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,139 miles [9,879.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Sunset Hills 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Sunset Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Sunset Hills 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 Sunset Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.6278, Longitude: -112.0357 In this case, the coordinates for Sunset Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.156 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.945 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.152 degrees.