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 Osa:
36.904503, -93.634364
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.
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.
Tom Town ‑ Historic (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Tom Town. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
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 Osa to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Osa and extending to:
Cassville, which is the Seat of Barry County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<4> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Osa to Cassville, with an average speed<5> 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 most of a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 913 miles [1,469.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,651 miles [10,703.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,389 miles [11,891.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,271 miles [8,482.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Footnotes ...
<1>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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>
An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<4>
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- Osa) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Osa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9045, Longitude: -93.6344 In this case, the coordinates for Osa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
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.
<6>
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 Osa to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.246 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.037 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.613 degrees.