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 Atwater:
34.116398, -118.256464
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 Los Angeles County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found nine communities that are also named Atwater.
There is one other community in California that is also named Atwater.
Beyond California, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
Communities Located In California ...
Merced County
This Atwater is located in Merced County and lies 259 miles [416.8 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merced County community of Atwater.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Georgia
Upson County
This Atwater is located in Upson County and lies 1,942 miles [3,125.3 km]<1> to the east of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Upson County community of Atwater.
Illinois
Macoupin County
This Atwater is located in Macoupin County and lies 1,612 miles [2,594.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Macoupin County community of Atwater.
Kansas
Meade County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Atwater [Meade County].
Michigan
Huron County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Atwater [Huron County].
Minnesota
Kandiyohi County
This Atwater is located in Kandiyohi County and lies 1,454 miles [2,340 km]<1> to the northeast of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kandiyohi County community of Atwater.
Ohio
Portage County
This Atwater is located in Portage County and lies 2,068 miles [3,328.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Portage County community of Atwater.
Saskatchewan
This Atwater lies 1,404 miles [2,259.5 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
Wisconsin
Dodge County
This Atwater is located in Dodge County and lies 1,705 miles [2,743.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Atwater that is located in Los Angeles County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dodge County community of Atwater.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Atwater ...
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 Atwater to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Atwater and extending to:
Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 356 miles [572.9 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Atwater to Sacramento, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 21 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 14 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,291 miles [3,687 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,563 miles [12,171.5 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 8,332 miles [13,409.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,322 miles [10,174.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'
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- Atwater) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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 Atwater 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.
<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 Atwater 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 Atwater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.1164, Longitude: -118.2565 In this case, the coordinates for Atwater have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.259 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.171 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.64 degrees.