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 West Hawley:
42.527585, -72.946764
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 West Hawley
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 Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found one communities that are also named West Hawley.
Within Massachusetts, the name West Hawley is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, there is another community also named West Hawley in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Pennsylvania
Wayne County
This West Hawley is located in Wayne County and lies 135 miles [217.3 km]<1> to the west southwest of the West Hawley that is located in Franklin County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of West Hawley.
Curious and Interesting Names Near West Hawley ...
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 West Hawley to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in West Hawley and extending to:
Greenfield, which is the Seat of Franklin County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from West Hawley to Greenfield, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 96 miles [154.5 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 three full days and walking would take 6 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 329 miles [529.5 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 6,288 miles [10,119.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,163 miles [6,699.7 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 from Point A (ie- West Hawley) 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 West Hawley 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 West Hawley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5276, Longitude: -72.9468 In this case, the coordinates for West Hawley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.089 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.852 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.343 degrees.