Point Nemo, the Loneliest Place in the Ocean
The point in the ocean farthest from land is so remote that the nearest humans are often the astronauts passing overhead. It's also where spacecraft go to die.
What was reported
Point Nemo, named after Captain Nemo of Jules Verne's novel, is the place in the ocean farthest from any land: about 2,700 kilometres from the nearest islands. It was worked out by a survey engineer in 1992 using computer models.
It's so remote that when the International Space Station passes overhead, its crew, about 400 kilometres up, are the closest people. Space agencies use the area as a graveyard, steering old satellites and spacecraft to crash there. The Russian space station Mir came down nearby in 2001.
Explanations offered
The area is chosen as a spacecraft cemetery because it's far from shipping routes and people. It's also poor in sea life, since few nutrients reach the water there. In H. P. Lovecraft's fiction, the sunken city of R'lyeh lies not far away, and in 1997 the mysterious 'Bloop' sound was recorded in the region.
- When
- Calculated in 1992
- Where
- Point Nemo, the South Pacific Ocean
- Witnesses
- Navigators, scientists and space agencies
- Status
- A real place
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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