Sky at Night

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?
--
Pete
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:32:35 +0000, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?

Ok - I answered that quickly - it's the tallest in the world which is
obviously what he meant. If it were side by side with Everest, then
from base to top, MK would be higher but as a fair chunk of it is
under the ocean, it's not.
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk
Last updated 4th February 2006

"Pete Lawrence" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:32:35 +0000, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?

Ok - I answered that quickly - it's the tallest in the world which is
obviously what he meant. If it were side by side with Everest, then
from base to top, MK would be higher but as a fair chunk of it is
under the ocean, it's not.
--

And apparently the top of Mt Chimborazo in Ecuador is the highest point on
earth, measured from the centre, but you probably already knew that.

Robin

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 23:31:07 -0000, "Robin Leadbeater"
wrote:



"Pete Lawrence" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:32:35 +0000, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?

Ok - I answered that quickly - it's the tallest in the world which is
obviously what he meant. If it were side by side with Everest, then
from base to top, MK would be higher but as a fair chunk of it is
under the ocean, it's not.
--

And apparently the top of Mt Chimborazo in Ecuador is the highest point on
earth, measured from the centre, but you probably already knew that.

No I didn't, but I do now - thanks Robin.
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.digitalsky.org.uk
Last updated 4th February 2006

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message
...


"Pete Lawrence" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:32:35 +0000, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?

Ok - I answered that quickly - it's the tallest in the world which is
obviously what he meant. If it were side by side with Everest, then
from base to top, MK would be higher but as a fair chunk of it is
under the ocean, it's not.
--

And apparently the top of Mt Chimborazo in Ecuador is the highest point
on
earth, measured from the centre, but you probably already knew that.

Robin

That's a good one.

If we're into fascinating factoids, how about the fact that the Mississippi
delta is 6km 'higher', (i.e. further from the centre of the Earth) than its
source.

So the flow of the Mississippi is centrifugal rather than gravitational?
That does put a new "spin" on things! Presumably when mountaineers start
hearing about Chimborazo's status they'll be desperate to get that one done
"because it's there" as well.

"OG" wrote in message
...

"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message
...

And apparently the top of Mt Chimborazo in Ecuador is the highest point
on
earth, measured from the centre, but you probably already knew that.

Robin

That's a good one.

If we're into fascinating factoids, how about the fact that the
Mississippi
delta is 6km 'higher', (i.e. further from the centre of the Earth) than
its
source.

It already has been "Done"

--
Mr Andrew R Green B.Sc(Hons) FRAS.

In article ,
Pete Lawrence wrote:
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:32:35 +0000, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 +0000, Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:

Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

From base to top it is, isn't it?

Ok - I answered that quickly - it's the tallest in the world which is
obviously what he meant. If it were side by side with Everest, then
from base to top, MK would be higher but as a fair chunk of it is
under the ocean, it's not.

Far more impressive is a comparison of the volume of the two mountains.
Being a shield volcano, Mauna Kea is very gently sloping, and its volume
is *immense*. At the US Geological Survey volcano observatory at
Kilauea they have a wonderful cross section scale diagram of the two
mountains against each other. They don't even show the entirety of
mauna kea - the diagram is about two feet wide and only shows the
central portion of the mountain. Everest is about four inches wide at
the same scale. (all this is from memory, so don't take those
measurements as gospel)

When I went to Hawaii for my honeymoon my wife and I did the drive up
Mauna Kea to look at the observatories. Unfortunately it was a cloudy
day (typical - one of the least cloudy places on earth, unless I'm
there). It was even sleeting, and this was the middle of August...

Tim

JRS: In article , dated Mon,
6 Feb 2006 22:19:47 remote, seen in news:uk.sci.astronomy, Jonathan
Silverlight posted :
Interesting remark by Chris Lintott in "The Sky at Night".
'Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world".

Is it not really the lowest mountain, if you go down to the bottom of
it?

--
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