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 Alandale:
34.256836, -77.884430
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 enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected New Hanover County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found two communities that share the name Alandale.
Within North Carolina, the name Alandale is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Georgia
Hall County
This Alandale is located in Hall County and lies 339 miles [545.6 km]<1> to the west of the Alandale that is located in New Hanover County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Alandale.
Illinois
Madison County
This Alandale is located in Madison County and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Alandale that is located in New Hanover County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Alandale.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alandale ...
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.
Council Heights (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Council Heights 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 Alandale to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alandale and extending to:
Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 113 miles [181.9 km]<1> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could drive a straight line from Alandale to Raleigh, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 323 miles [519.8 km] to the north (N). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,133 miles [9,870.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,818 miles [10,972.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,705 miles [7,572 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alandale) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alandale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2568, Longitude: -77.8844 In this case, the coordinates for Alandale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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>
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.
<4>
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 Alandale to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.557 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.503 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.686 degrees.