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 Twin Pines:
36.879037, -76.391889
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 two communities that share the name Twin Pines.
Within Virginia, the name Twin Pines is unique.
Beyond Virginia, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
California
Placer County
This Twin Pines is located in Placer County and lies 2,407 miles [3,873.7 km]<1> to the west northwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Placer County community of Twin Pines.
Georgia
Cherokee County
This Twin Pines is located in Cherokee County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<1> to the west southwest.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Twin Pines.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Twin Pines ...
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.
Churchland (Less than 2 miles to the south)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Churchland have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Twin Pines to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Twin Pines and extending to:
Richmond, which is the State Capital of Virginia, lies 73 miles [117.5 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Twin Pines 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 143 miles [230.1 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,955 miles [9,583.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,649 miles [10,700.5 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,531 miles [7,291.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Twin Pines) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Twin Pines. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.8790, Longitude: -76.3919 In this case, the coordinates for Twin Pines have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<2>
The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<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 Twin Pines to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 307.632 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.837 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.215 degrees.