Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Brilliant, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Brilliant and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Brilliant
- 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 Brilliant:
- 36.955938, -104.534207
- 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 Brilliant
- 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 Colfax County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Colfax County
- Since Brilliant is near Las Animas County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- eBird sighting report for Las Animas 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 Brilliant ...
We found four communities that share the name Brilliant.
Within New Mexico, the name Brilliant is unique.
Beyond New Mexico, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, three are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- British Columbia
- This Brilliant lies 1,076 miles [1,731.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Brilliant that is located in Colfax County.
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
Curious and Interesting Names Near Brilliant ...
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.
- Cokedale
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokedale
- Cokedale is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
- Earl
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast) - Hebron
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south) - Madrid ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
- Madrid is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Maxwell
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
- Maxwell is located in Colfax County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <4>
- Starkville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starkville
- Starkville is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Starkville <4>
- Stonewall
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northwest) - Stonewall Gap
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stonewall Gap have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stonewall Gap
- Stonewall Gap is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Yankee ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
How Far From Brilliant 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 Brilliant 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<5> community of Brilliant once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Brilliant and extending to:
- Raton, which is the Seat of Colfax County, lies just to the Southeast.
- Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 118 miles [189.9 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Brilliant to Santa Fe, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,498 miles [2,410.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 59 days and walking would take 86 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,019 miles [11,296 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,777 miles [12,515.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,692 miles [9,160.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/
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- Brilliant) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Brilliant. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9559, Longitude: -104.5342 |
| <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 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 Brilliant 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> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 Brilliant, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Brilliant to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.903 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.004 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.006 degrees. |