What is the highest mountain on Earth? Turns out the answer to that question is more debatable than you might think.

If you measure altitude above mean sea level, then the 29,032-foot (8,849-meter) Mount Everest, which straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal, is clearly the world’s highest.

Yet, if you measure a mountain from its base to its peak, then the 33,500-foot (10,211-meter) Mauna Kea, an inactive shield volcano on the island of Hawaii, would instead come out on top.

But there is one more contender for highest mountain: Mount Chimborazo, an inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Ecuadorian Andes.

When measured from sea level, Chimborazo is about 8,500 feet shorter than Everest at 20,548 feet (6,263 meters). Yet, its peak is actually 6,800 feet farther from Earth’s center, making it the closest point on Earth to the stars… (continue reading on CNN)