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 Blue Ball:
39.493392, -84.336330
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 Blue Ball
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 Butler County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found three communities that are also named Blue Ball.
Within Ohio, the name Blue Ball is unique.
Beyond Ohio, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Arkansas
Scott County
This Blue Ball is located in Scott County and lies 602 miles [968.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Blue Ball that is located in Butler County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Blue Ball.
Delaware
New Castle County
This Blue Ball is located in New Castle County and lies 467 miles [751.6 km]<1> to the east of the Blue Ball that is located in Butler County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the New Castle County community of Blue Ball.
Pennsylvania
Lancaster County
This Blue Ball is located in Lancaster County and lies 441 miles [709.7 km]<1> to the east of the Blue Ball that is located in Butler County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Blue Ball.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Ball ...
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 Blue Ball to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Blue Ball and extending to:
Hamilton, which is the Seat of Butler County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Ball to Hamilton, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
Columbus, which is the State Capital of Ohio, lies 78 miles [125.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 392 miles [630.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,170 miles [9,929.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,894 miles [11,094.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,770 miles [7,676.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Blue Ball) 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 Blue Ball 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 Blue Ball. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4934, Longitude: -84.3363 In this case, the coordinates for Blue Ball have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.319 degrees.
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.573 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.707 degrees.