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 Bridgewater:
41.525928, -73.360952
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 Bridgewater
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 Litchfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found two communities that are also named Bridgewater.
Within Connecticut, the name Bridgewater is unique.
Beyond Connecticut, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
New York
Oneida County
This Bridgewater is located in Oneida County and lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Bridgewater that is located in Litchfield County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oneida County community of Bridgewater.
Vermont
Windsor County
This Bridgewater is located in Windsor County and lies 149 miles [239.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Bridgewater that is located in Litchfield County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Windsor County community of Bridgewater.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bridgewater ...
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 Bridgewater to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bridgewater and extending to:
Hartford, which is the State Capital of Connecticut, lies 38 miles [61.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Bridgewater to Hartford, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 265 miles [426.5 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 15 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,634 miles [9,067 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,342 miles [10,206.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,218 miles [6,788.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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- Bridgewater) 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 Bridgewater 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 Bridgewater. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5259, Longitude: -73.3610 In this case, the coordinates for Bridgewater have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.466 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.112 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.008 degrees.