If you were to ask the question what is the worlds highest mountain the answer would be Mount Everest. What if the question was what is the worlds highest point? By that question we mean the point on the Earth that is closest to the moon. Again, most would say Everest. But what if we said Everest was not the highest point on Earth? Do you remember when we said the Earth is not round, that it is more like a beach ball that has someone sitting on top of it? It is because of the Earth’s shape that Everest isn’t the highest point. The highest point, the peak closest to the moon is actually Mount Chimborazo in the Andes, not the Everest Himalayas.
So if the highest point is not Everest in the Himalayas, then what is and why? To get the answer Joseph Senne, an engineer/surveyor, did the calculations while looking at mountains around the equator, which is the thickest part of Earth. He did the calculations and got the director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson to check his figures. The conclusion… Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo is the closest to the moon, and technically the highest point on Earth.
When measured from sea level Mount Everest’s elevation is 8,848 m (29,029 ft), while Mount Chimborazo’s elevation is 6,268 m (20,564 ft), a total difference of 2580 m (8465 ft) in Everest’s favour. But when you take into consideration the odd shape of Earth Mount Chimborazo is actually about 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) higher than Everest. This means Mount Chimorazo is the closest to the moon.
