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 Fort Robertson:
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Robertson ...
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 Fort Robertson to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Fort Robertson and extending to:
New Bloomfield, which is the Seat of Perry County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Fort Robertson to New Bloomfield, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 27 miles [43.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 102 miles [164.2 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,850 miles [9,414.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,562 miles [10,560.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,437 miles [7,140.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
Footnotes ...
<1>
GPS Coordinates for Fort Robertson: Decimal: 40.36063, -77.384153 DDMMSS: 40° 21' 38", -77° 23' 2"
<2>
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- Fort Robertson) 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 Fort Robertson 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 Fort Robertson. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3606, Longitude: -77.3842 In this case, the coordinates for Fort Robertson have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.997 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.788 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.29 degrees.