Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Star of the West, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Star of the West and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Star of the West
- 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 Star of the West:
- 34.243488, -93.825198
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Star of the West
- 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 Pike County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pike County
- Since Star of the West is near Howard County and also Montgomery County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Howard County
- eBird sighting report for Montgomery County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Curious and Interesting Names Near Star of the West ...
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.
- Brushy ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west) - Cooper ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Daisy
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Daisy
- Daisy is located in Pike County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 109 people
- Green Plains
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Plains have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Plains
- Green Plains is located in Howard County
- Henry
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Hopper
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Kirby
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
- Kirby is located in Pike County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kirby <2>
- Muddy Fork
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Muddy Fork have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Muddy Fork
- Muddy Fork is located in Howard County
- Nathan
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nathan
- Nathan is located in Pike County
- Reed
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south) - Rough Edge ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rough Edge have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rough Edge
- Rough Edge is located in Howard County
- Slip-Up and Hitch ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Slip-Up and Hitch have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slip-Up and Hitch
- Slip-Up and Hitch is located in Howard County
How Far From Star of the West to ...
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 Star of the West to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Star of the West once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Star of the West and extending to:
- Murfreesboro, which is the Seat of Pike County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Star of the West to Murfreesboro, with an average speed<5> 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.
- Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 95 miles [152.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 983 miles [1,582 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,796 miles [10,937.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,526 miles [12,111.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,404 miles [8,696.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Arkansas: https://portal.arkansas.gov/
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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | 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 Star of the West, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Star of the West) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Star of the West. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.2435, Longitude: -93.8252 |
| <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 Star of the West 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 318.143 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.569 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.139 degrees. |