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 Moiese:
47.372402, -114.263522
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.
Kicking Horse (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
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 Moiese to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Moiese and extending to:
Polson, which is the Seat of Lake County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Moiese to Polson, 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 most of a day.
Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 118 miles [189.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,943 miles [3,127 km] to the east (E). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 76 days and walking would take 111 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,644 miles [10,692.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,413 miles [11,930.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,458 miles [8,783.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Moiese) 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 Moiese 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 Moiese. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.3724, Longitude: -114.2635
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 334.276 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 334.774 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.577 degrees.