Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mars, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mars and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Mars
- 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 Mars:
- 35.424968, -116.889759
- 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 Mars
- 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 San Bernardino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for San Bernardino 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
Communities Also Named Mars ...
We found ten communities that share the name Mars.
Within California, the name Mars is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, nine are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Dade 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 Florida community of Mars [Dade County].
- Palm Beach County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Mars [Palm Beach County].
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Manitoba
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Michigan
- Nebraska
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Florida
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mars ...
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.
- Apollo
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Copper City
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Copper City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copper City
- Copper City is located in San Bernardino County
- Echo
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Goldstone ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
How Far From Mars 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 Mars to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Mars and extending to:
- San Bernardino, which is the Seat of San Bernardino County, lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<3> to the south southwest. If you could drive a straight line from Mars to San Bernardino, with an average speed<5>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 334 miles [537.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,188 miles [3,521.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 86 days and walking would take 125 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,449 miles [11,988 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 8,218 miles [13,225.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,204 miles [9,984.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Mars. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for San Bernardino County: www.sbcounty.gov/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Mars 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> | 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 Mars, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 from Point A (ie- Mars) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mars. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4250, Longitude: -116.8898 In this case, the coordinates for Mars have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Mars 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 335.315 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 335.115 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.858 degrees. |