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 Scott Junction:
47.408253, -91.610444
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 share the name Scott Junction.
Within Minnesota, the name Scott Junction is unique.
Beyond Minnesota, there is another community also named Scott Junction in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Kansas
Bourbon County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Scott Junction [Bourbon County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Scott Junction ...
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.
Baptism Crossing (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Baptism Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Scott Junction to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Scott Junction and extending to:
Two Harbors, which is the Seat of Lake County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<3> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Scott Junction to Two Harbors, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 183 miles [294.5 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 937 miles [1,508 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,045 miles [9,728.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,802 miles [10,946.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,718 miles [7,592.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Footnotes ...
<1>
If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Scott Junction could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 from Point A (ie- Scott Junction) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Scott Junction. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.4083, Longitude: -91.6104 In this case, the coordinates for Scott Junction have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Scott Junction to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.085 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.116 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.024 degrees.