Key Points
- Point Nemo, located in the South Pacific, was computed in 1992.
- It's equidistant (2,688 km) from Ducie, Motu Nui, and Maher Islands.
- Over 250 deorbited spacecraft have been sunk there since the 1970s.
Point Nemo is where the South Pacific Ocean meets the closest landmass, the position having the highest latitude 48°52.6′S, 123°23.6′W, and is thus very remote on Earth.
Point Nemo was named after Captain Nemo of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (nemo has the meaning nemo in Latin of no one in Latin) and was computed in 1992 by Croatian-Canadian engineer Hrvoje Lukatela by computer modeling.
Placed between the South Pacific Gyre which is a large rotating current system roughly twice the size of North America with the horizon joining the circle of the ocean without disruption. Formal geographic information as accessible through ocean facts of NOAA.
Accurate Location and Distance Measures
Point Nemo is centrally located between three closest landmasses, namely Ducie Island (Pitcairn Islands), to the north, Motu Nui (near Easter Island/Rapa Nui), to northwest, and Maher Island (off Antarctica), to the south.
The deepest are approximately 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) and there is not even a patch of land in sight. Commercial Flight 30 Auckland to Buenos Aires flies over it to reach it by air but sea journeys require weeks in solitude.
Nearest landmass Direction (km) Coordinates
| Nearest Landmass | Direction | Distance (km) | Coordinates Reference |
| Ducie Island (Pitcairn) | North | 2,688 | 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W |
| Motu Nui (Easter Island) | Northwest | 2,688 | NOAA ocean service |
| Maher Island (Antarctica) | South | 2,688 | Britannica pole entry |
Source:National Ocean Service
Ecology and Unique Phenomena
The nearest people to the Point Nemo are, ironically, astronauts of the International Space Station, as they are orbiting at 400km above the surface, which is closer than dwellers on the surface.
South Pacific Gyre traps the plastics causing starvation of marine life which results in a biological desert with little plankton or fish. This area is the best in terms of water clarity since it is isolated but the presence of microplastic makes it an environmental concern.
Spacecraft Cemetery Role
More than 250 deorbited spacecraft, such as the Mir Station of Russia and the intended ISS retirement, have since the 1970s been aiming towards this spacecraft graveyard to minimise the risks.
Uncontrolled reentries incinerate during its distance and pieces of debris sink as far as 4 km. Active monitoring is not done, but ESA and NASA are monitored through orbital models.
Exploration Problems and Influence on Culture
Visitors are infrequent; the sailing races such as The Ocean Race pass by it, there being no permanent station because of logistics.
Sci-fi runs on its mystique, as with Verne, to recent reports of sea monsters or vanished underwater ships. Gyre plastics can be investigated by future robotic probes.
Point Nemo is a representation of the wilderness of the Earth, so its condition revolves around the health of the ocean and the dreams about space.
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