Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Altair, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altair and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Altair
- 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 Altair:
- 29.571351, -96.454136
- 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 Altair
- 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 Colorado County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Colorado County
- Since Altair is near Wharton County and also Austin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wharton County
- eBird sighting report for Austin 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 Altair ...
We found one communities that share the name Altair.
Within Texas, the name Altair is unique.
Beyond Texas, there is another community also named Altair in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Altair ...
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.
- Beard
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast) - Bonus
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bonus
- Bonus is located in Wharton County
- Columbus
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Columbus
- Columbus is located in Colorado County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,699 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Columbus <3>
- Eagle Lake
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eagle Lake
- Eagle Lake is located in Colorado County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,770 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Eagle Lake <3>
- Elm Grove
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Helms
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Hillcrest
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
- Hillcrest is located in Colorado County
- Nada
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nada
- Nada is located in Colorado County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nada <3>
- Rock Island
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock Island have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Island
- Rock Island is located in Colorado County
How Far From Altair to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Altair to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Altair and extending to:
- Columbus, which is the Seat of Colorado County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<4> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Altair to Columbus, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 90 miles [144.8 km] to the west northwest (WNW). 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 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,277 miles [2,055.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,140 miles [11,490.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,863 miles [12,654.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,739 miles [9,236 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Altair. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Altair 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. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Altair) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Altair. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.5714, Longitude: -96.4541 In this case, the coordinates for Altair have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Altair to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.262 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.28 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.827 degrees. |