The world’s deepest hole: This incredible animation shows how Russian scientists drilled the 7.5-mile deep hole that is deeper than the deepest ocean

Ever wondered how deep the world’s deepest hole really is? The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the deepest manmade hole humans ever dug. Located in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, the remote region of the Russian Arctic, the Kola hole reaches approximately 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) below the Earth’s surface and yet still only reaches about 0.2 percent of the distance to the center of the Earth’s crust. The Earth’s core is about 1,802 miles (2,900 kilometers) below Earth’s surface and has a radius of about 2,165 miles (3,485 kilometers).

The Kola Superdeep Borehole is the result of a scientific drilling project of the Soviet Union. Deeper than the deepest ocean, the Kola hole is one of the mega projects ever undertaken by humans. Russian scientists drilled the Kola hole on and off for 24 years from 1970 to 1994.

The project attempted to drill as deep as possible into the Earth’s crust. Drilling of the borehole began on 24 May 1970 using the Uralmash-4E, and later the Uralmash-15000 series drilling rig.

Boreholes were drilled by branching from a central hole. The deepest, SG-3, reached 7.5 miles (12,262 meters; 40,230 ft) in 1989 and is the deepest artificial point on Earth. If we were to journey to the center of the Earth, it would take a lot longer than you might expect. Here’s how deep humans have dug underground.

Below is an incredible animation that shows how deep humans have dug. Hats off to the BusinessInsider team for putting this video together.