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 Back Bay:
42.350097, -71.086996
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 two communities that are also named Back Bay.
Within Massachusetts, the name Back Bay is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Maryland
Anne Arundel County
This Back Bay is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 375 miles [603.5 km]<1> to the southwest of the Back Bay that is located in Suffolk County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Back Bay.
New Brunswick
This Back Bay lies 281 miles [452.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Back Bay that is located in Suffolk County.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Back Bay ...
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 Back Bay to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Back Bay and extending to:
Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies just to the east northeast (ENE).
The White House (Washington, DC) is 392 miles [630.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Back Bay to White House, with an average speed<2>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 23 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 16 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,505 miles [8,859.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,212 miles [9,997.2 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,088 miles [6,579 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
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- Back Bay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>
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.
<3>
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 Back Bay 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 Back Bay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.3501, Longitude: -71.0870 In this case, the coordinates for Back Bay have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 303.993 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.589 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.588 degrees.