Munich's antipode - a spacecraft graveyard

The point on the Earth's surface furthest from Munich is a remote location in the South Pacific Ocean. To be exact, Munich's global antipode is on the Southern rim of the South West Pacific Basin. This is approximately 1,500 Km south-east of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The antipode's nearest landmass is the Chatham Islands, 700 Km to the North-West.

Map right by: mapquest.com

By taking Munich's global coordinates to be: 48'08 North, 11'34 East

This places the antipode at: 48'08 South, 168'26 West

Click for Google Map's view of Munich's antipode.

The Chatham Islands

The Chatam Islands belong to New Zealand and are home to 750 Islanders. The Islands lie very close to the international date line and are the first inhabited land in the world to greet the first dawn.

If you'd like to visit these Islands the best route is to take one of the many international flights to Auckland, NZ, and then one of the regular NZ domestic flights out to the Islands.

Spacecraft Graveyard

If you'd like to visit the exact geographical opposite to Munich, you might be able to catch a lift with one of the many Tuna fishing boats which go out that way. Take care though - this is the part of the world where old spacecraft and satellites are de-orbited. In fact the Russian spacestation Mir was crashed back to Earth at exactly this spot. Bits of this and many other spacecraft now litter the ocean floor at a depth of about 5,000 meters.

How about that?

Europe's "Jules Verne" space freighter was brought down in this spot yesterday.

BBC article: Space freighter de-orbit

Quite fitting really, the exact opposite of Munich is a dump!

And you can get something to eat other than pork.