List of tallest mountains in the Solar System
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This is a list of the tallest mountains in the Solar System. This list includes peaks on all celestial bodies where significant mountains have been detected. For some celestial bodies, different peaks are given across different types of measurement. The solar system's tallest mountain is the central peak of
Rheasilvia Rheasilvia is the most prominent surface feature on the asteroid Vesta and is thought to be an impact crater. It is in diameter, which is 90% the diameter of Vesta itself, and is 95% the mean diameter of Vesta, . However, the mean is affect ...
on the asteroid Vesta, estimated at up to 25 km from peak to base. Among the
terrestrial planets A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, ...
the tallest mountain is
Olympus Mons Olympus Mons (; Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Olympus Mons is about two and a h ...
on
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
, at 21.9 km. __TOC__


List

Heights are given from base to peak (although a precise definition for mean base level is lacking). Peak elevations above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
are only available on Earth, and possibly Titan. On other worlds, peak elevations above an
equipotential surface In mathematics and physics, an equipotential or isopotential refers to a region in space where every point is at the same potential. This usually refers to a scalar potential (in that case it is a level set of the potential), although it can ...
or a reference ellipsoid could be used if enough data is available for the calculation, but this is often not the case.


Tallest mountains by elevation

*
Olympus Mons Olympus Mons (; Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Olympus Mons is about two and a h ...
*
Equatorial Ridge Equatorial ridges are a feature of at least three of Saturn's moons: the large moon Iapetus and the tiny moons Atlas and Pan. They are ridges that closely follow the moons' equators. They appear to be unique to the Saturnian system, but it i ...
* Boösaule Mons *
Ascraeus Mons Ascraeus Mons is a large shield volcano located in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. It is the northernmost and tallest of three shield volcanoes collectively known as the Tharsis Montes. Discovery The volcano's location corresponds to t ...
* Ionian Mons *
Elysium Mons Elysium Mons is a volcano on Mars located in the volcanic province Elysium, at , in the Martian eastern hemisphere. It stands about above its base, and about above the Martian ''datum'', making it the third tallest Martian mountain in terms o ...
*
Arsia Mons Arsia Mons is the southernmost of three volcanoes (collectively known as Tharsis Montes) on the Tharsis bulge near the equator of the planet Mars. To its north is Pavonis Mons, and north of that is Ascraeus Mons. The tallest volcano in the So ...
* Limb Mountain * Skadi Mons * Euboea Montes * Haleakala *
Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
*
Teide Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the List of islands in th ...
* Herschel Peak * Anseris Mons *
Tenzing Montes The Tenzing Montes (formerly Norgay Montes) are icy mountains near the Hillary Montes that reach up to above the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, bordering the southwest region of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tombaugh Regio (or the pa ...
*
Denali Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
* Mount Kilimanjaro *
Mons Huygens Mons Huygens is the Moon's tallest mountain (but not its highest point, which is Selenean Summit). It is about high and is located in the Montes Apenninus. Adjacent to the west is Mons Ampère. The Montes Apenninus were formed by the impact tha ...
*
Aeolis Mons Mount Sharp, officially Aeolis Mons (), is a mountain on Mars. It forms the central peak within Gale (crater), Gale crater and is located around , rising high from the valley floor. Its ID in the United States Geological Survey's Gazetteer of ...
* Piccard Mons *
Maat Mons Maat Mons is a massive shield volcano on the planet Venus and the planet's second-highest mountain and highest volcano. It rises above the mean planetary radius at , and nearly 5 km above the surrounding plains. It is named after the Egyp ...
* Wright Mons *
Mons Hadley Mons Hadley is a massif in the northern portion of the Montes Apenninus, a range in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. It has a height of above the adjacent plain and a maximum diameter of 25 km at the base. To the southwest of thi ...
* Butler Mons * Mauna Kea *
Ahuna Mons Ahuna Mons () is the largest mountain on the dwarf planet and asteroid Ceres. It protrudes above the cratered terrain, is not an impact feature, and is the only mountain of its kind on Ceres. Bright streaks run top to bottom on its slopes; these ...
* Dorothy Peak * Mithrim Montes *
Caloris Montes The Caloris Montes (Latin for "Heat's Mountains") are a range of mountains on Mercury. They are a system of linear hills and valleys that extend more than 1000 km to the northeast from the mountainous rim of Caloris Basin in the Shakespeare qu ...
* Io (unnamed peak) * Janiculum Dorsa * Doom Mons *
Mons Rümker Mons Rümker is an isolated volcanic formation that is located in the northwest part of the Moon's near side, at selenographic coordinates 40.8° N, 58.1° W. The feature forms a large, elevated mound in the northern part of the Oceanus Procellaru ...


Gallery

The following images are shown in order of decreasing base-to-peak height. File:Olympus Mons alt.jpg ,
Olympus Mons Olympus Mons (; Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Olympus Mons is about two and a h ...
on Mars as viewed from ''
Viking 1 ''Viking 1'' was the first of two spacecraft, along with '' Viking 2'', each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976, the first successful Mars la ...
'' in 1978 File:Iapetus equatorial ridge.jpg , '' Cassini'' image of Iapetus's
equatorial ridge Equatorial ridges are a feature of at least three of Saturn's moons: the large moon Iapetus and the tiny moons Atlas and Pan. They are ridges that closely follow the moons' equators. They appear to be unique to the Saturnian system, but it i ...
File:PIA00323 Boösaule Montes crop2 sharp.png , ''
Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin ''Voyager 2'', ''Voya ...
'' photo of Io's highest peak, Boösaule Montes "South" File:Ascraeus Mons Flank Terraces.jpg ,
Ascraeus Mons Ascraeus Mons is a large shield volcano located in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. It is the northernmost and tallest of three shield volcanoes collectively known as the Tharsis Montes. Discovery The volcano's location corresponds to t ...
(
THEMIS In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, fai ...
IR with MOLA altimetry, 3x vertical stretch), Mars File:PIA00327 crop 2x.png , Io's Euboea Montes (below top left), Haemus Montes (lower right); north is left File:Mauna Kea from Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii - 20100913.jpg , Mauna Kea (from
Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...
),
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
File:Teide 2011.jpg,
Teide Teide, or Mount Teide, ( es, El Teide, Pico del Teide, , "Peak of Teide") is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its summit (at ) is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the List of islands in th ...
, Canary Islands File:Herschel crater on Mimas PIA12570 crop.jpg , ''Cassini'' photo of Herschel crater on Mimas and its central peak File:Maxwell Montes of planet Venus.jpg , ''
Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...
''
SAR SAR or Sar may refer to: Places * Sar (river), Galicia, Spain * Sar, Bahrain, a residential district * Sar, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Sar, Tibet, Tibet Autonomous Region of China * Šar Mountains, in southeastern Europe ...
image of Skadi Mons in Venus's
Maxwell Montes Maxwell Montes is a mountain massif on the planet Venus, of which a peak ( Skadi Mons) is the highest point on the planet's surface. General description Located on Ishtar Terra, the more northern of the planet's two major highlands, Maxwell ...
File:Mount McKinley Denali Closeup 2800px.jpg ,
Denali Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
(Mount McKinley),
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
File:673885main PIA15986-full full.jpg , Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), Mars (as viewed by the rover ''
Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...
'' on 6 August 2012). File:Venus - 3D Perspective View of Maat Mons.jpg ,
Maat Mons Maat Mons is a massive shield volcano on the planet Venus and the planet's second-highest mountain and highest volcano. It rises above the mean planetary radius at , and nearly 5 km above the surrounding plains. It is named after the Egyp ...
, Venus (radar imaging plus altimetry, 10x vertical exaggeration) File:Apollo 15 Rover, Irwin.jpg , The Moon's
Mons Hadley Mons Hadley is a massif in the northern portion of the Montes Apenninus, a range in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. It has a height of above the adjacent plain and a maximum diameter of 25 km at the base. To the southwest of thi ...
, near the
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...
landing site (1971) File:Everest kalapatthar.jpg ,
Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...
(Sagarmāthā/ Chomolungma),
Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
/
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
File:PIA20349 crop - Ceres' Ahuna Mons side view.jpg ,
Ahuna Mons Ahuna Mons () is the largest mountain on the dwarf planet and asteroid Ceres. It protrudes above the cratered terrain, is not an impact feature, and is the only mountain of its kind on Ceres. Bright streaks run top to bottom on its slopes; these ...
on Ceres, imaged by ''
Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...
'' from LAMO File:Pluto possible cryovolcano - Wright Mons.jpg ,
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...
's possible
cryovolcano A cryovolcano (sometimes informally called an ice volcano) is a type of volcano that erupts volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane into an extremely cold environment that is at or below their freezing point. The process of formation is known ...
Wright Mons, showing its central depression File:PIA19947-NH-Pluto-Norgay-Hillary-Mountains-20150714.jpg , '' New Horizons'' view of Pluto's
Tenzing Montes The Tenzing Montes (formerly Norgay Montes) are icy mountains near the Hillary Montes that reach up to above the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, bordering the southwest region of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tombaugh Regio (or the pa ...
in the left foreground (also in preceding image) and
Hillary Montes The Hillary Montes or (less officially, Hillary Mountains) are mountains that reach above the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto. They are located northwest of Tenzing Montes in the southwest border area of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tomb ...
on the horizon File:PIA20023 - Radar View of Titan's Tallest Mountains.jpg , '' Cassini'' SAR image of Titan's Mithrim Montes, showing three parallel ridges File:Sotra Facula.jpg , Radar-generated view of Titan's cryovolcanic Doom Mons and
Sotra Patera Sotra Patera (named after Sotra island in Norway) is a prominent depression on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It was formerly known as Sotra Facula; the current name was approved on 19 December 2012. It is a possible cryovolcanic caldera a ...
(10x vertical stretch)


See also

*
List of extraterrestrial volcanoes This is a list of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes located beyond planet Earth. They may be designated mons (mountain), patera (an irregular crater) or tholus (small mountain or hill) in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's ...
*
List of highest mountains on Earth Currently, There are at least 108 mountains on Earth with elevations of or greater above sea level. The vast majority of these mountains are located on the edge of the Indian and Eurasian plates in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The di ...
* List of Solar System extremes **
List of largest craters in the Solar System Following are the largest impact craters on various worlds of the Solar System. For a full list of named craters, ''see List of craters in the Solar System''. See also * List of Solar System extremes ** List of largest lakes and seas in the ...
** List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System **
List of largest rifts, canyons and valleys in the Solar System Following are the longest, widest, and deepest rifts and valleys in various worlds of the Solar System. List See also * List of Solar System extremes ** List of largest craters in the Solar System ** List of tallest mountains in the Solar Sys ...
*
List of mountains on Mars by height This is a list of mountains on Mars by elevation, the vertical position relative to the areoid, which is the Martian vertical datum (the surface defined as zero elevation by average martian atmospheric pressure and planet radius). Elevation is ''n ...
*
Mons (planetary nomenclature) Mons (plural: montes , from the Latin word for "mountain") is a mountain on a celestial body. The term is used in planetary nomenclature: it is a part of the international names of such features. It is capitalized and usually stands after the p ...
*
Topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...


Notes


References


External links

* 3-D anaglyphs of Rheasilvia's central peak at photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov
top view
an
side view
* Color views of Rheasilvia's central peak at Planetary.org

(peak is at upper right) an



from 21 September 2012 (smaller color-balanced view
here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...
)
Color view
of Aeolis Mons by Seán Doran
High resolution video
of overflight of lower slopes of Aeolis Mons by Seán Doran
Gigapixel panorama of the Mt. Everest area
by
David Breashears David Finlay Breashears (born December 20, 1955) is an American mountaineer, filmmaker, author, and motivational speaker. In 1985, he reached the summit of Mount Everest a second time, becoming the first American to reach the summit of Mount Evere ...
{{Solar System table Tallest Solar System Mountains, tallest in the Solar System
Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
Mountains Mountains in the Solar System