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 Pontiac:
41.731212, -71.478670
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 fourteen communities that are also named Pontiac.
Within Rhode Island, the name Pontiac is unique.
Beyond Rhode Island, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Arkansas
Polk County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Pontiac [Polk County].
Illinois
Livingston County
This Pontiac is located in Livingston County and lies 890 miles [1,432.3 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Livingston County community of Pontiac.
Saint Clair County
This Pontiac is located in Saint Clair County and lies 998 miles [1,606.1 km] to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Clair County community of Pontiac.
Indiana
Boone County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Pontiac [Boone County].
Clay County
This Pontiac is located in Clay County and lies 831 miles [1,337.4 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Pontiac.
Kansas
Butler County
This Pontiac is located in Butler County and lies 1,361 miles [2,190.3 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Pontiac.
Michigan
Oakland County
This Pontiac is located in Oakland County and lies 607 miles [976.9 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oakland County community of Pontiac.
Mississippi
Lamar County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Pontiac [Lamar County].
Missouri
Ozark County
This Pontiac is located in Ozark County and lies 1,183 miles [1,903.9 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ozark County community of Pontiac.
New York
Erie County
This Pontiac is located in Erie County and lies 388 miles [624.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Pontiac.
Ohio
Huron County
This Pontiac is located in Huron County and lies 582 miles [936.6 km]<2> to the west of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Huron County community of Pontiac.
Quebec
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Quebec community of Pontiac.
South Carolina
Richland County
This Pontiac is located in Richland County and lies 731 miles [1,176.4 km]<2> to the southwest of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richland County community of Pontiac.
Washington
King County
This Pontiac is located in King County and lies 2,480 miles [3,991.2 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Pontiac that is located in Kent County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Pontiac.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Pontiac ...
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 that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Pontiac to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Pontiac and extending to:
Providence, which is the State Capital of Rhode Island, lies just to the north northeast (NNE).
The White House (Washington, DC) is 351 miles [564.9 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from Pontiac to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 20 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 14 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,546 miles [8,925.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,251 miles [10,060 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,128 miles [6,643.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.
Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.
Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.
Also keep in mind that Pontiac could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Pontiac) 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 Pontiac 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 Pontiac. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7312, Longitude: -71.4787 In this case, the coordinates for Pontiac have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.317 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.85 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.076 degrees.