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 Santa Rita:
37.691597, -121.858012
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.
Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Santa Rita
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 Alameda County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found eight communities that are also named Santa Rita.
There are two communities within California that are also named Santa Rita.
Beyond California, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Located In California ...
Monterey County
This Santa Rita is located in Monterey County and lies 67 miles [107.8 km]<1> to the south of the Santa Rita that is located in Alameda County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Monterey County community of Santa Rita.
Santa Barbara County
This Santa Rita is located in Santa Barbara County and lies 224 miles [360.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Santa Rita that is located in Alameda County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Santa Barbara County community of Santa Rita.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Arizona
Santa Cruz County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arizona community of Santa Rita [Santa Cruz County].
Montana
Glacier County
This Santa Rita is located in Glacier County and lies 897 miles [1,443.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Santa Rita that is located in Alameda County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Glacier County community of Santa Rita.
New Mexico
Grant County
This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Santa Rita [Grant County].
San Juan County
This community is historic and although located in San Juan County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Juan County community of Santa Rita.
Texas
Cameron County
This community is historic<3> and although located in Cameron County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cameron County community of Santa Rita.
Reagan County
This Santa Rita is located in Reagan County and lies 1,230 miles [1,979.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Santa Rita that is located in Alameda County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Reagan County community of Santa Rita.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Santa Rita ...
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 Santa Rita to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Santa Rita and extending to:
Oakland, which is the Seat of Alameda County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Santa Rita to Oakland, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 64 miles [103 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,405 miles [3,870.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 94 days and walking would take 137 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,410 miles [11,925.2 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 8,177 miles [13,159.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,226 miles [10,019.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- Santa Rita) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Santa Rita 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.
<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 Santa Rita, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Santa Rita 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 Santa Rita. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6916, Longitude: -121.8580 In this case, the coordinates for Santa Rita have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.721 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.57 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.82 degrees.