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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 Great Belt, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Great Belt 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 Great Belt:
- 40.808424, -79.803119
- 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 Great Belt
- 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:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Butler County
- Since Great Belt is near Armstrong County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Armstrong County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland 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 Great Belt
Curious and Interesting Names Near Great Belt ...
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.
- Bonnie Brook
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Bonnie Brook is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonnie Brook
- Bricker Crossroads
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Bricker Crossroads is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bricker Crossroads
- Butler
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Carbon Center
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Carbon Center is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon Center
- Coal Hollow
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Coal Hollow is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Hollow
- Dennys Mills
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
- Herman
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Houseville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Houseville is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Houseville
- Leasureville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
- Lucasville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
- Lucasville is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lucasville
- Mineral Spring
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Mineral Spring is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Spring
- Nixon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
- Nixon is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nixon
- Rockdale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Rockdale is located in Butler County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockdale
How Far From Great Belt to ...
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 Great Belt to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Great Belt and extending to:
- Butler, which is the Seat of Butler County, lies just to the Northwest.
- Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 157 miles [252.7 km]<2> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Great Belt to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 197 miles [317 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,929 miles [9,541.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,649 miles [10,700.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,524 miles [7,280.7 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 '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- Great Belt) 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 Great Belt 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 Great Belt. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.8084, Longitude: -79.8031 In this case, the coordinates for Great Belt have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.448 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.502 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.201 degrees. |
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