Also Antipodean Islands, Antipode Islands. Small volcanic island group in the extreme South Pacific Ocean, 880 km SE of New Zealand, of which they are a territory; coordinates 49.68S latitude, 178.77E longitude. Surface 62 km² (24 sq. mi.); max. elevation 366m (1201 ft). Uninhabited but rich in wildlife; national nature reserve.
Their geographic location places them roughly at the antipodes of London, England which is the reason for the name given them by the British explorers who visited them ca. 1800. The islands lie in a swift ocean current which produces a wake visible from space that was first photographed by Skylab in the 1970s.
Sources:
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
NASA
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History