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 Great Bend:
41.972022, -75.744631
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 Great Bend
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 Susquehanna County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found four communities that are also named Great Bend.
Within Pennsylvania, the name Great Bend is unique.
Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Kansas
Barton County
This Great Bend is located in Barton County and lies 1,236 miles [1,989.1 km]<1> to the west of the Great Bend that is located in Susquehanna County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barton County community of Great Bend.
New York
Jefferson County
This Great Bend is located in Jefferson County and lies 142 miles [228.5 km]<1> to the north of the Great Bend that is located in Susquehanna County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Great Bend.
North Dakota
Richland County
This Great Bend is located in Richland County and lies 1,080 miles [1,738.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Great Bend that is located in Susquehanna County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of Great Bend.
Ohio
Meigs County
This Great Bend is located in Meigs County and lies 380 miles [611.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Great Bend that is located in Susquehanna County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meigs County community of Great Bend.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Great Bend ...
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 Great Bend to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Great Bend and extending to:
Montrose, which is the Seat of Susquehanna County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Great Bend to Montrose, 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 130 miles [209.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 222 miles [357.3 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,715 miles [9,197.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,430 miles [10,348.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,305 miles [6,928.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'
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- Great Bend) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Great Bend 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 Great Bend. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.9720, Longitude: -75.7446 In this case, the coordinates for Great Bend have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.86 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.756 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 302.88 degrees.