Mount Everest is the highest point above sea level, but because the Earth bulges at the equator, the summit of a volcano in Ecuador sits farther from the centre of the planet, making it the closest piece of land on Earth to outer space.

Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth measured from sea level, at 8,848 metres. It is not the point on Earth’s surface that sits farthest from the centre of the planet. That distinction belongs to Chimborazo, a dormant volcano in the Ecuadorean Andes, whose summit reaches about 6,263 metres above sea level, roughly 2,600 [...] The post Mount Everest is the highest point above sea level, but because the Earth bulges at the equator, the summit of a volcano in Ecuador sits farther from the ce