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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ballantine, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ballantine and the surrounding area.
- 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 Ballantine:
- 45.948851, -108.145120
- 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 Ballantine
- 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 Yellowstone County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Yellowstone County
- Since Ballantine is near Big Horn County and also Musselshell County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Big Horn County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Musselshell 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:
- Open the Waymark.com report for Ballantine
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ballantine ...
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.
- Bull Mountain
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
- Bull Mountain is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bull Mountain
- Comanche
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
- Comanche is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche
- Fee
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the northeast)
- Fee is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fee
- Indian Arrow
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Indian Arrow is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Arrow
- Pompeys Pillar
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
- Shepherd
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
- Soda Springs
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)
- Soda Springs is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Waco
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
- Waco is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waco
How Far From Ballantine 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 Ballantine to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Ballantine and extending to:
- Billings, which is the Seat of Yellowstone County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Ballantine to Billings, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 190 miles [305.8 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,646 miles [2,649 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 65 days and walking would take 94 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,594 miles [10,612 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,362 miles [11,848 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,350 miles [8,610 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | 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 from Point A (ie- Ballantine) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Ballantine 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 Ballantine. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.9489, Longitude: -108.1451 In this case, the coordinates for Ballantine have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.374 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.985 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.988 degrees. |
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