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 Richel Lodge:
45.081889, -109.375436
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.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Richel Lodge ...
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.
Alpine (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alpine have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Richel Lodge to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Richel Lodge and extending to:
Red Lodge, which is the Seat of Carbon County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<3> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Richel Lodge to Red Lodge, with an average speed<4> 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.
Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 164 miles [263.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,701 miles [2,737.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 67 days and walking would take 97 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,676 miles [10,744 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,444 miles [11,980 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,434 miles [8,745.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Footnotes ...
<1>
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.
<2>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Richel Lodge) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Richel Lodge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.0819, Longitude: -109.3754 In this case, the coordinates for Richel Lodge 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 Richel Lodge 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 330.285 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.957 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.846 degrees.