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 Rainbow Estates:
35.787374, -78.774172
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.
Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Rainbow Estates
Bird Watching ...
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 Wake County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found two communities that are also named Rainbow Estates.
Within North Carolina, the name Rainbow Estates is unique.
Beyond North Carolina, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Georgia
Gwinnett County
This Rainbow Estates is located in Gwinnett County and lies 328 miles [527.9 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rainbow Estates that is located in Wake County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gwinnett County community of Rainbow Estates.
Maryland
Carroll County
This Rainbow Estates is located in Carroll County and lies 264 miles [424.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Rainbow Estates that is located in Wake County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Carroll County community of Rainbow Estates.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rainbow Estates ...
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 & 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 Rainbow Estates to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rainbow Estates and extending to:
The White House (Washington, DC) is 234 miles [376.6 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could drive a straight line from Rainbow Estates to White House, with an average speed<2>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 14 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,106 miles [9,826.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,801 miles [10,945.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,682 miles [7,534.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- Rainbow Estates) 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 Rainbow Estates 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 Rainbow Estates. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7874, Longitude: -78.7742 In this case, the coordinates for Rainbow Estates have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.028 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.268 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.524 degrees.