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 Tappen:
46.873040, -99.623719
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 Tappen.
Within North Dakota, the name Tappen is unique.
Beyond North Dakota, there is another community also named Tappen in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
British Columbia
This Tappen lies 932 miles [1,499.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Tappen that is located in Kidder County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Tappen ...
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 include the distance from a city such as Tappen to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Tappen and extending to:
Steele, which is the Seat of Kidder County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Tappen to Steele, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 54 miles [86.9 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,262 miles [2,031 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 72 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,315 miles [10,163 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,079 miles [11,392.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,024 miles [8,085.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Tappen) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Tappen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.8730, Longitude: -99.6237 In this case, the coordinates for Tappen 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Tappen 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 322.931 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 321.686 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.771 degrees.