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 Big Laurel:
36.979814, -83.217119
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 Big Laurel
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 Harlan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found three communities that are also named Big Laurel.
Within Kentucky, the name Big Laurel is unique.
Beyond Kentucky, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
North Carolina
Madison County
This Big Laurel is located in Madison County and lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Big Laurel that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Big Laurel.
Swain County
This Big Laurel is located in Swain County and lies 113 miles [181.9 km] to the south of the Big Laurel that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Swain County community of Big Laurel.
Virginia
Wise County
This Big Laurel is located in Wise County and lies 32 miles [51.5 km]<1> to the east of the Big Laurel that is located in Harlan County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wise County community of Big Laurel.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Laurel ...
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 Big Laurel to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Big Laurel and extending to:
Harlan, which is the Seat of Harlan County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Big Laurel to Harlan, with an average speed<2> 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.
Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 123 miles [197.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 361 miles [581 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 21 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,241 miles [10,043.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,953 miles [11,189.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,829 miles [7,771.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Big Laurel) 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 Big Laurel 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 Big Laurel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9798, Longitude: -83.2171 In this case, the coordinates for Big Laurel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.632 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.423 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.957 degrees.