about 35.5 km

So, without counting the water above the canyon walls, Monterey Canyon is just slightly shallower—by around 130 meters (430 feet)—than the deepest section in the Grand Canyon. Monterey Canyon and the channel that extends from it ends on the Monterey Deep Sea Fan, which is a flat muddy expanse beyond the canyon mouth.

Vescovo’s trip to the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, back in May, was said to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded, at 10,927 meters (35,853 feet).

That means that most people can dive up to a maximum of 60 feet safely. For most swimmers, a depth of 20 feet (6.09 metres) is the most they will free dive. Experienced divers can safely dive to a depth of 40 feet (12.19 metres) when exploring underwater reefs.

Thalassophobia, or a fear of the ocean, is a specific phobia that can negatively affect your quality of life. If you feel you need help overcoming your fear of the ocean, a mental health professional can help.

80 percent

To date, scientists have explored about 4 percent of the visible universe. That’s made up of planets, stars and galaxies that astronomers can see. Yet, there’s a vast part – the other 96 percent – that scientists cannot see.

Outer space is not completely empty—it is a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles, predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, neutrinos, dust, and cosmic rays. Outer space does not begin at a definite altitude above the Earth’s surface.

The purpose of NASA was not to explore oceans; it was to explore space and the atmosphere.