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 Vortex:
37.697309, -83.527130
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 one communities that are also named Vortex.
Within Kentucky, the name Vortex is unique.
Beyond Kentucky, there is another community also named Vortex in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Louisiana
Rapides Parish
This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Vortex [Rapides Parish].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Vortex ...
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 & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Vortex to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Vortex and extending to:
Campton, which is the Seat of Wolfe County, lies just to the North Northwest.
Frankfort, which is the State Capital of Kentucky, lies 81 miles [130.4 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Vortex to Frankfort, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,220 miles [10,010.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,937 miles [11,164 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,812 miles [7,744.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Vortex, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Vortex) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Vortex 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 Vortex. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6973, Longitude: -83.5271 In this case, the coordinates for Vortex have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.823 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.745 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.881 degrees.