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 Grand Junction:
47.729068, -116.973809
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 found four communities that share the name Grand Junction.
Within Idaho, the name Grand Junction is unique.
Beyond Idaho, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Colorado
Mesa County
This Grand Junction is located in Mesa County and lies 730 miles [1,174.8 km]<1> to the southeast of the Grand Junction that is located in Kootenai County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mesa County community of Grand Junction.
Iowa
Greene County
This Grand Junction is located in Greene County and lies 1,174 miles [1,889.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Grand Junction that is located in Kootenai County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Grand Junction.
Michigan
Van Buren County
This Grand Junction is located in Van Buren County and lies 1,540 miles [2,478.4 km]<1> to the east of the Grand Junction that is located in Kootenai County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Buren County community of Grand Junction.
Tennessee
Fayette County
This Grand Junction is located in Fayette County and lies 1,670 miles [2,687.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Grand Junction that is located in Kootenai County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Grand Junction.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Grand Junction ...
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.
Alpha ‑ Historic (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpha have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Grand Junction to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Grand Junction and extending to:
Boise City, which is the State Capital of Idaho, lies 286 miles [460.3 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Grand Junction to Boise City, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 17 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 12 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,071 miles [3,333 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 81 days and walking would take 118 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,675 miles [10,742.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,441 miles [11,975.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,513 miles [8,872.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Grand Junction) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Grand Junction. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7291, Longitude: -116.9738 In this case, the coordinates for Grand Junction have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<2>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>
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.
<5>
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 Grand Junction to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.481 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.35 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.264 degrees.