RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Virginia >> Fairfax County >> Arcturus >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Arcturus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arcturus and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • 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 Arcturus:
    • 38.738726, -77.044699
    • 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 Arcturus
  • 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 Fairfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fairfax County
    • Since Arcturus is near Prince George's County and also Alexandria City, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prince George's County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alexandria City
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Arcturus

Communities Also Named Arcturus ...

We found one communities that are also named Arcturus.

Within Virginia, the name Arcturus is unique.

Beyond Virginia, there is another community also named Arcturus in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Itasca 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 Minnesota community of Arcturus [Itasca County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arcturus ...

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.

  • Cactus Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Cactus Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus Hill
  • Chapel Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Chapel Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chapel Hill
  • Fair Haven
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Fair Haven is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fair Haven
  • Fort Hunt
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Fort Hunt is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fort Hunt
  • Friendly
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendly is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly
  • Friendly Farms
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendly Farms is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Farms
  • Friendly Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Friendly Hills is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Friendly Hills
  • Gum Springs
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Gum Springs is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gum Springs
  • Harmony Hall
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Harmony Hall is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Hall
  • Hunter
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Hunter is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunter
  • Kerby Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Kerby Hill is located in Prince George's County (MD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kerby Hill
  • Marlin Forest
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Marlin Forest is located in Fairfax County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marlin Forest
  • Continue List   (7 more) ...
    • Memorial Heights
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Memorial Heights is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Memorial Heights
    • Riverside Gardens
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Riverside Gardens is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverside Gardens
    • Riverview
      (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
      • Riverview is located in Prince George's County (MD)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
    • Riverwood
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
      • Riverwood is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverwood
    • Spring Bank
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Spring Bank is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Bank
    • Sunnyview
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Sunnyview is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunnyview
    • Woodland Park
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
      • Woodland Park is located in Fairfax County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

How Far From Arcturus to ...

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 Arcturus to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Arcturus and extending to:

  • Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 85 miles [136.8 km]<2> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from Arcturus to Richmond, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 10 miles [16.1 km] to the north (N). The buggy would take a little over three hours and walking would take four to five hours.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,904 miles [9,501.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,486 miles [7,219.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 Arcturus 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 '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- Arcturus) 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 Arcturus 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 Arcturus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7387, Longitude: -77.0447       In this case, the coordinates for Arcturus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.904 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.431 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.778 degrees.