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 Fairfax Hills:
35.860706, -78.627781
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 one communities that share the name Fairfax Hills.
Within North Carolina, the name Fairfax Hills is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, there is another community also named Fairfax Hills in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Virginia
Fairfax County
This Fairfax Hills is located in Fairfax County and lies 219 miles [352.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Fairfax Hills that is located in Wake County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fairfax County community of Fairfax Hills.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fairfax Hills ...
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.
Cedar Hill (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Fairfax Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fairfax Hills and extending to:
The White House (Washington, DC) is 227 miles [365.3 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Fairfax Hills to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,096 miles [9,810.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,792 miles [10,930.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,672 miles [7,518.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
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- Fairfax Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fairfax Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8607, Longitude: -78.6278 In this case, the coordinates for Fairfax Hills 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 Fairfax Hills 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 308.943 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.182 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.443 degrees.