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 Houghton:
47.660932, -122.205957
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 seven communities that are also named Houghton.
Within Washington, the name Houghton is unique.
Beyond Washington, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Colorado
Las Animas County
This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Houghton [Las Animas County].
Iowa
Lee County
This Houghton is located in Lee County and lies 1,575 miles [2,534.7 km]<2> to the east of the Houghton that is located in King County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Houghton.
Maine
Oxford County
This Houghton is located in Oxford County and lies 2,425 miles [3,902.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Houghton that is located in King County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oxford County community of Houghton.
Michigan
Houghton County
This Houghton is located in Houghton County and lies 1,560 miles [2,510.6 km]<2> to the east of the Houghton that is located in King County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Houghton County community of Houghton.
New York
Allegany County
This Houghton is located in Allegany County and lies 2,149 miles [3,458.5 km]<2> to the east of the Houghton that is located in King County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegany County community of Houghton.
South Dakota
Brown County
This Houghton is located in Brown County and lies 1,139 miles [1,833 km]<2> to the east of the Houghton that is located in King County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brown County community of Houghton.
Wisconsin
Bayfield County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Houghton [Bayfield County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Houghton ...
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 community such as Houghton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Houghton and extending to:
Seattle, which is the Seat of King County, lies just to the West Southwest.
Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 53 miles [85.3 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Houghton to Olympia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,314 miles [3,724 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,768 miles [10,892 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,530 miles [12,118.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,653 miles [9,097.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Houghton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 from Point A (ie- Houghton) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>
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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Houghton 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.
<4>
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.
<5>
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 Houghton 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 Houghton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.6609, Longitude: -122.2060 In this case, the coordinates for Houghton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.771 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.313 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.671 degrees.