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 Swift River:
42.446311, -72.858946
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 Swift River
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 Hampshire County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found one communities that are also named Swift River.
Within Massachusetts, the name Swift River is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, there is another community also named Swift River in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Yukon
This Swift River lies 2,681 miles [4,314.7 km]<1> to the northwest of the Swift River that is located in Hampshire County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Swift River ...
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.
Baptist Corner (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
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 Swift River to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Swift River and extending to:
Northampton, which is the Seat of Hampshire County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Swift River to Northampton, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 92 miles [148.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 6 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 328 miles [527.9 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,576 miles [8,973.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,287 miles [10,117.9 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,162 miles [6,698.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- Swift River) 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 Swift River 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 Swift River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4463, Longitude: -72.8589 In this case, the coordinates for Swift River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.047 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.791 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.342 degrees.