The Mithrim Montes are a range of mountains on
Titan, the largest
moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
of the planet
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
. The range is located near Titan's
equator
The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
, between 1–3° south and 126–8° west
[International Astronomical Union]
"Mithrim Montes"
''Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature''. Accessed Nov 14, 2012. and consists of three parallel ridges that are oriented east–west, spaced about 25 km apart.
They are located within the region
Xanadu. The highest peak is about high and is located on the southernmost of the ridges; it is the highest known peak on Titan.
The Mithrim Montes are named after the
Mithrim Mountains, a range in
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
's fictional world of
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the Setting (narrative), setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Midgard, Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf'' ...
.
This follows a convention that Titanean mountains are named after mountains in Tolkien's work. The name was formally announced on November 13, 2012.
[Jennifer Blue]
"Eight New Names for Titan Surface Features"
. ''USGS Astrologeology Science Center''. Nov 13, 2012.
See also
*
List of tallest mountains in the Solar System
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 measurem ...
References
Mountain ranges
Surface features of Titan (moon)
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