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 Cave-In-Rock:
Curious and Interesting Names Near Cave-In-Rock ...
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 included the distance from a village such as Cave-In-Rock to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Cave-In-Rock and extending to:
Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 178 miles [286.5 km]<3> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Cave-In-Rock to Springfield, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 611 miles [983.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,416 miles [10,325.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,143 miles [11,495.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,019 miles [8,077.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
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<3>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cave-In-Rock) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Cave-In-Rock 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 Cave-In-Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.4703, Longitude: -88.1662
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.715 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.033 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.985 degrees.