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 Grand Junction:
35.049996, -89.188810
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 Grand Junction
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 Fayette County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found four communities that are also named Grand Junction.
Within Tennessee, the name Grand Junction is unique.
Beyond Tennessee, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Colorado
Mesa County
This Grand Junction is located in Mesa County and lies 1,100 miles [1,770.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Grand Junction that is located in Fayette County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mesa County community of Grand Junction.
Idaho
Kootenai County
This Grand Junction is located in Kootenai County and lies 1,670 miles [2,687.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the Grand Junction that is located in Fayette County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kootenai County community of Grand Junction.
Iowa
Greene County
This Grand Junction is located in Greene County and lies 553 miles [890 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Grand Junction that is located in Fayette County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Greene County community of Grand Junction.
Michigan
Van Buren County
This Grand Junction is located in Van Buren County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Grand Junction that is located in Fayette County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Van Buren County community of Grand Junction.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Grand Junction ...
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 city such as Grand Junction to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Grand Junction and extending to:
Somerville, which is the Seat of Fayette County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Grand Junction to Somerville, with an average speed<3> 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 four to five hours.
Nashville, which is the State Capital of Tennessee, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 720 miles [1,158.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,574 miles [10,579.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,296 miles [11,741.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,171 miles [8,321.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- Grand Junction) 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 Grand Junction 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 Grand Junction. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.0500, Longitude: -89.1888 In this case, the coordinates for Grand Junction have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.24 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.306 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.969 degrees.