Point Nemo is farther from land than anywhere else in the ocean
Nearly 1,670 miles from the closest coast, this South Pacific location can put passing astronauts closer than people on land. Finding its exact position is a surprisingly intricate mapping problem.
At Point Nemo, the shortest journey to land stretches roughly 2,688 kilometers, or 1,670 miles, across the South Pacific. NOAA identifies it as the ocean location farthest from any coastline. [1] The distance is so great that astronauts passing near overhead can be closer than anyone standing on land, a comparison that depends on where the spacecraft is at that moment. [1] [3] [4]
Three islands define the distance
NOAA places Point Nemo at approximately 48°52.6′ south, 123°23.6′ west. Its closest land is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn group to the north, Motu Nui near Easter Island to the northeast, and Maher Island off Antarctica to the south. [1]
That arrangement gives the place its geographical distinction: three widely separated coastal points are approximately equally far away. Survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela identifies the Ducie point more specifically as the southern shore of Pandora, a small islet on the atoll’s rim. [2] The name honors Captain Nemo, the submarine commander in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. [1]
A location calculated from coastlines
Finding the oceanic pole of inaccessibility requires comparing distances across the curved surface of Earth. Lukatela describes the task as finding the ocean position whose nearest coastline is as far away as possible. His calculations use geodesics, the shortest paths along an ellipsoid, rather than straight lines drawn on a flat map. [2]
The familiar coordinates should still be treated as approximate. In a 2022 re-examination, Lukatela compared different coastline datasets and obtained different positions, with discrepancies around Antarctica especially important. A computer can calculate a result to many decimal places, but those digits cannot make the underlying coastal measurements more accurate. The exact answer depends on how reliably the shorelines have been mapped. [2]
When space can be closer
NASA describes the International Space Station’s altitude as about 400 kilometers, or 250 miles. [3] Its orbit reaches approximately 51.6 degrees north and south of the equator, placing Point Nemo within the band of Earth it can pass over. [4] Those figures explain the striking comparison: during a sufficiently close pass, the crew can be much nearer than the closest land. [1] [3] [4]
Calling astronauts the “usually nearest humans” goes further than those distances establish. That would require knowing the station’s position and the locations of people on ships or aircraft. The orbital comparison is conditional; it does not establish who is closest at any arbitrary moment. [1] [3] [4]
Remote enough to attract visitors
People do travel through the region. The Ocean Race reported its boats racing past Point Nemo during the seventh leg of the 2017–18 event. [5] Explorer Chris Brown also describes reaching the commonly accepted coordinates aboard a March 2024 expedition and entering the water there. His account records visits to two alternative positions derived from Lukatela’s calculations. [6]
Point Nemo’s record measures distance from land. Visitors can change its human company without changing the geographical question that makes this stretch of ocean extraordinary. [1] [2] [5] [6]
Story context and image credits
Geography explainer. Originally shared on Instagram October 11, 2026 at 05:25:57 UTC. Expanded website article added October 13, 2026.
View the full photo-credit recordView the original Instagram publicationSources & notes
- [1] NOAA National Ocean Service: Where is Point Nemo?oceanservice.noaa.gov
- [2] Hrvoje Lukatela: Point Nemo, revisitedlukatela.com
- [3] NASA Scientific Visualization Studio: Landsat Spots the ISSsvs.gsfc.nasa.gov
- [5] The Ocean Race: 8 facts about Point Nemoarchive.theoceanrace.com
- [6] Chris Brown / Poles of Inaccessibility: Point Nemoinaccessibility.net
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