Which is closer to the surface of the moon, the summit of Mount Everest or Ecuador?

Contrary to popular belief, the answer is Ecuador, as the Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. As the Earth is constantly spinning, centrifugal force causes it to bulge out at the equator much like a water balloon would if you placed it on a table and pressed on the top.

Let’s look at Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. The summit of Chimborazo is 6,267 m (20,561 ft) above sea level, which is quite large but not quite the highest mountain in the Andes. If you take into account the Earth’s equatorial bulge, a straight line from the summit down to the estimated centre of our planet would be 6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi).

Now look at Mount Everest, widely known as the tallest mountain in the world. The summit of Everest is 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level, but a straight line from the summit to the centre of the Earth would only be 6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi).

So even though the summit of Chimborazo is about 2,400 m closer to sea level than Everest, it’s still 2,100 m further away from the centre of the Earth! By this logic, three more mountains (Huascaran, Cotopaxi and Kilimanjaro) around the world are actually “higher” than Everest as well.

Sadly our newly defined rules aren’t taken into account when deciding on the world’s highest mountain, so although Chimborazo is ranked the highest in distance from the centre of the Earth, Mount Everest still wins since we always measure to sea level.

If you’re a climber and neither one these appeals, you could always try Gangkhar Puensum in Bhutan. It’s considered the highest unclimbed mountain in the world¹.

We can’t always be perfect right? Even some of history’s best architects made mistakes when they designed some of the world’s most beautiful structures. Maybe the ground was too unstable, or adding another 20 meters to the top wasn’t such a great idea, in any case here is a list of five sites that ended up just a little bit different from what the designer imagined…

Asinelli and Garisenda Towers in Bologna, Italy - The Asinelli (the taller tower) has a height of 92 m and overhang of 2.2 m, while the Garisenda (the smaller tower) has a height of 48 m and overhang of 3.2 m. The Asinelli tower was used as a prison back in 14th century and since then has been used in scientific experiments related to Earth’s gravitation, and served as a sight post in World War II.

Pagoda at Chongsheng Temple in Yunnan, China - The Three Pagodas were all built between 850-950 AD in the form a symmetric triangle north of the ancient city of Dali. The tallest pagoda reaches a height of 69.1 m, but over 1,000 years of earthquakes below a weak foundation has caused the left pagoda to tilt. Today, the local government has taken great measures to strengthen the base and preserve these structures for years to come.

The Crooked House in West Midlands, England - Originally built as a farmhouse in 1765, subsidence from local mining in the 1800s left one side of this building sitting four feet below the other side! Today the building serves as a restaurant/pub that offers some very intriguing optical illusions like glasses sliding across tables and marbles rolling uphill.

The Leaning Tower of Suurhusen, Germany was, after some debate declared the most tilted tower in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, with its steeple inclined at a head-tilting angle of 5.19 degrees. The church was built with foundations made from oak tree trunks, and when water was drained from the ground in the 19th century the trees rotted resulting in the Earth sinking underneath the tower.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy - What list would be complete without the most famous leaning tower of them all, the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Thanks to Google’s ultra-high resolution of the area, you can look into the center of the tower from above and even see tourists gathering at the base of the tower. Unfortunately, the Street View car never really gets close enough to see the tower itself, but we have a great view of the perimeter wall that surrounds the Piazza dei Miracoli.

For a list of leaning towers around the world, check out this Wikipedia article.

Today, February 3rd, is the 51st anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly.

The day before his death, Buddy Holly and associated acts Dion & The Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, had played the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. After issues with their tour bus, and due to appear in Moorhead, Minnesota the next night, the group decided to charter a small plane from the nearby Mason Airport.

There was only space on the small plane for 3 passengers, so there was much debate as to who would fly. Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts had tuned down a seat on the plane, and Ritchie Valens won his seat in a coin toss. One of Holly’s bandmates had given up his seat for J. P. Richardson, jokingly saying “I hope your plane crashes”.

And tragically, shortly after take off, the small plane crashed into a nearby field, killing all 3 musicians and the pilot. A memorial at the crash site depicts Holly’s trademark glasses.

Holly was buried in his hometown of Lubbock on 7th February 1959, where there is now a 8/12 ft bronze statue.

The crash is referenced in Don McLean’s 1971 hit American Pie as “the day the music died“.

Today is Groundhog Day, a North American festival which reckons that:

if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If the groundhog sees its shadow because the weather is bright and clear, it will be frightened and run back into its hole, and the winter will continue for six more weeks.

So in celebration, we’re posting Woodstock, Illinois, the location where most of the scenes from the excellent Bill Murray comedy of the same name were filmed (although it was actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania). And yes, in our thumbnail of the town square you can actually see “Gobbler’s Knob”…

For fans of the movie, the official Woodstock website has a PDF map which identifies all the locations used.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day.

Welcome to Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. Only 817 km (508 miles) from the North Pole, Alert¹ has a chilly average high temperature of -14.7 C (6 F), and winter lows of around -46 C (-51 F)!

For 10 months out of the year, Alert is either in complete sunlight or darkness all day long. The remaining two months offer a tease of the regular sun up, sun down process the rest of the world is used to.

According to the 2006 Canadian census, Alert is home to only five permanent residents, but the presence of a military intelligence facility adds 74 more temporary residents.

The facility is known as Canadian Forces Station Alert (CFS Alert), and houses a weather station, a Global Atmosphere Watch laboratory, and its own airport.² The 74 crew members are often referred to as “The Frozen Chosen”.

So what is there to do in Alert? Downtown Alert has everything you need; general stores, all-you-can-eat buffets, $2.50 drinks, and a workout facility which gives out free t-shirts to those who complete 500km of exercise.

“Top of the World Radio” CHAR-FM used to broadcast trivia games and music to the residents, but when CHAR moved to cable broadcasting in 2006, Alert’s over-the-air service ended.

Most of Alert’s supplies are shipped in via C-130 aircraft just once a week, but you can see some infrastructure in the area thanks to Google’s high resolution images. Some of the notable sights include the 8 fuel tanks used for providing heat, and water pumps that supply potable water to the base.

One of the most photographed objects in Alert is likely its sign. Originally built in 1967, the “Alert Sign” has been highly customised over the years by station personnel, each wishing to add their own personal touch to the post.³

For more information on Alert, check out this great article by Jerry Proc or of course, Wikipedia.

Thanks to Tom for the suggestion!