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 Midnight:
33.049571, -90.573426
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 two communities that share the name Midnight.
Within Mississippi, the name Midnight is unique.
Beyond Mississippi, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Idaho
Valley County
This Midnight is located in Valley County and lies 1,551 miles [2,496.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Midnight that is located in Humphreys County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Valley County community of Midnight.
New Mexico
Taos County
This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Midnight [Taos County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Midnight ...
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.
Anchorage (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Anchorage have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Lake City. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
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 Midnight to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Midnight and extending to:
Belzoni, which is the Seat of Humphreys County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Midnight to Belzoni, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
Jackson, which is the State Capital of Mississippi, lies 56 miles [90.1 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 856 miles [1,377.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,729 miles [10,829.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,447 miles [11,984.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,322 miles [8,564.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
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- Midnight) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Midnight. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0496, Longitude: -90.5734 In this case, the coordinates for Midnight have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<2>
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 Midnight, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>
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.
<4>
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.
<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 Midnight 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 315.951 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.86 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.929 degrees.