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 Quinns Store:
Curious and Interesting Names Near Quinns Store ...
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.
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 included the distance from a community such as Quinns Store to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Quinns Store and extending to:
Kenansville, which is the Seat of Duplin County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Quinns Store to Kenansville, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 279 miles [449 km] to the north (N). Driving would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 11 days and walking would take 16 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,099 miles [9,815.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,787 miles [10,922.6 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<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>
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- Quinns Store) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Quinns Store 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 Quinns Store. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8891, Longitude: -77.7326 In this case, the coordinates for Quinns Store have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.461 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.486 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.423 degrees.