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 Pend Oreille Village:
48.868254, -117.365800
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 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 Pend Oreille County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
Curious and Interesting Names Near Pend Oreille Village ...
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.
Aladdin (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Aladdin have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Pend Oreille Village to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Pend Oreille Village and extending to:
Newport, which is the Seat of Pend Oreille County, lies 49 miles [78.9 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Pend Oreille Village to Newport, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 285 miles [458.7 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,093 miles [3,368.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 82 days and walking would take 119 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,609 miles [10,636.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,375 miles [11,868.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,460 miles [8,787 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Footnotes ...
<1>
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.
<2>
If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database.
<3>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Pend Oreille Village) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pend Oreille Village. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.8683, Longitude: -117.3658 In this case, the coordinates for Pend Oreille Village have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
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.
<6>
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 Pend Oreille Village to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.849 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.853 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.394 degrees.