Sudip Aich captured this image of the Himalayas at sunrise on November 29, 2018. He was perched at Sandakphu, the highest point of the Darjeeling district on the West Bengal-Nepal border. The peak on which he was standing is at 11, 900 feet (3,627 meters). It offers outstanding views of the mountains surrounding it, which is why Sudip Aich said:
This is one place that you need to go, no matter how many wonderful places within the Himalayas you have been to.
From Sandakphu, you can see four of the five highest peaks in the world, Mount Everest (29,029 feet; 8,848 meters), Kangchenjunga (28,169 feet; 8,586 meters) , Lhotse (27,940 feet; 8,516 meters), and Makalu (27,838 feet; 8,485 meters).
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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