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 Foster:
41.800099, -71.732846
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 are also named Foster.
Within Rhode Island, the name Foster is unique.
Beyond Rhode Island, there is another community also named Foster in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Wisconsin
Clark County
This Foster is located in Clark County and lies 980 miles [1,577.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Foster that is located in Providence County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Foster.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Foster ...
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 community such as Foster to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Foster and extending to:
Providence, which is the Seat of Providence County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Foster to Providence, with an average speed<2> 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 five to six hours.
Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies 16 miles [25.7 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 343 miles [552 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,554 miles [8,938.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,260 miles [10,074.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,136 miles [6,656.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Foster) 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 Foster 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 Foster. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8001, Longitude: -71.7328 In this case, the coordinates for Foster have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.458 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 300.021 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.154 degrees.