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 measurement. The solar system's tallest mountain is possibly the Olympus Mons on Mars with an altitude of 21.9 to 26 km. The central peak of Rheasilvia on the asteroid Vesta is also a candidate to be the tallest, with an estimated at up to between 19 and 22 km from peak to base.

Olympus Mons, the tallest planetary mountain in the Solar System, compared to Mount Everest and Mauna Kea on Earth (heights shown are above datum or sea level, which differ from the base-to-peak heights given in the list).

List

Heights are given from base to peak (although a precise definition for mean base level is lacking). Peak elevations above sea level are only available on Earth, and possibly Titan.^[1] On other planets, peak elevations above an equipotential surface or a reference ellipsoid could be used if enough data is available for the calculation, but this is often not the case.

Planet	Tallest peak(s)	Base-to-peak height	% of radius[n 1]	Origin	Notes
Mercury	Caloris Montes	≤ 3 km (1.9 mi)[2][3]	0.12	impact[4]	Formed by the Caloris impact
Venus	Skadi Mons (Maxwell Montes massif)	6.4 km (4.0 mi)[5] (11 km above mean)	0.11	tectonic[6]	Has radar-bright slopes due to metallic Venus snow, possibly lead sulfide[7]
	Maat Mons	4.9 km (3.0 mi) (approx.)[8]	0.081	volcanic[9]	Highest volcano on Venus
Earth[n 2]	Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa	10.2 km (6.3 mi)[11]	0.16	volcanic	4.2 km (2.6 mi) of this is above sea level
	Haleakalā	9.1 km (5.7 mi)[12]	0.14	volcanic	Rises 3.1 km above sea level[12]
	Pico del Teide	7.5 km (4.7 mi)[13]	0.12	volcanic	Rises 3.7 km above sea level[13]
	Denali (Mount McKinley)	5.3 to 5.9 km (3.3 to 3.7 mi)[14]	0.093	tectonic	Tallest mountain base-to-peak on land[15][n 3]
	Mount Everest	3.6 to 4.6 km (2.2 to 2.9 mi)[16]	0.072	tectonic	4.6 km on north face, 3.6 km on south face;[n 4] highest elevation (8.8 km) above sea level, as well as by wet and dry prominence (but not among the tallest from base to peak, and in distance to Earth's center Mt Chimborazo rises highest).
Moon[n 5]	Mons Huygens	5.3 km (3.3 mi)[20]	0.31	impact	Formed by the Imbrium impact.
	Mons Mouton	6 km (3.7 mi)[20]	0.35	impact	Possibly formed by the South Pole-Aitken basin impact.
	Southern Farside Mountain	7 km (4.3 mi)[20]	0.40	impact	Informal name of the Moon's tallest free-standing mountain. Possibly formed by the South Pole-Aitken basin impact. Not highest lunar peak by prominence, which would be Selenean summit.
	Mons Hadley	4.5 km (2.8 mi)[21][22]	0.26	impact	Formed by the Imbrium impact
	Mons Rümker	1.3 km (0.81 mi)[23]	0.063	volcanic	Largest volcanic construct on the Moon[23]
Mars	Olympus Mons	21.9–26 km (13.6–16.2 mi; 72,000–85,000 ft)[n 6][24][25][26]	0.65	volcanic	Tallest mountain in the Solar System. Rises 26 km above northern plains,[27] (dry prominence) 1000 km away. Summit calderas are 60 x 80 km wide, up to 3.2 km deep;[26] scarp around margin is up to 8 km high.[28] A shield volcano, the mean flank slope is a modest 5.2 degrees.[25]
	Ascraeus Mons	14.9 km (9.3 mi)[25]	0.44	volcanic	Tallest of the three Tharsis Montes
	Elysium Mons	12.6 km (7.8 mi)[25]	0.37	volcanic	Highest volcano in Elysium
	Arsia Mons	11.7 km (7.3 mi)[25]	0.35	volcanic	Summit caldera is 108 to 138 km (67 to 86 mi) across[25]
	Pavonis Mons	8.4 km (5.2 mi)[25]	0.25	volcanic	Summit caldera is 4.8 km (3.0 mi) deep[25]
	Anseris Mons	6.2 km (3.9 mi)[29]	0.18	impact	Among the highest nonvolcanic peaks on Mars, formed by the Hellas impact
	Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp")	4.5 to 5.5 km (2.8 to 3.4 mi)[30][n 7]	0.16	deposition and erosion[n 8]	Formed from deposits in Gale crater;[35] the MSL rover has been ascending it since November 2014.[36]
Vesta	Rheasilvia central peak	20–25 km (12–16 mi; 66,000–82,000 ft)[n 9][37][38]	8.4	impact	Almost 200 km (120 mi) wide. See also: List of largest craters in the Solar System
Ceres	Ahuna Mons	4 km (2.5 mi)[39]	0.85	cryovolcanic[40]	Isolated steep-sided dome in relatively smooth area; max. height of ~ 5 km on steepest side; roughly antipodal to largest impact basin on Ceres
Io	Boösaule Montes "South"[41]	17.5 to 18.2 km (10.9 to 11.3 mi)[42]	1.0	tectonic	Has a 15 km (9 mi) high scarp on its SE margin[43]
	Ionian Mons east ridge	12.7 km (7.9 mi) (approx.)[43][44]	0.70	tectonic	Has the form of a curved double ridge
	Euboea Montes	10.5 to 13.4 km (6.5 to 8.3 mi)[45]	0.74	tectonic	A NW flank landslide left a 25,000 km3 debris apron[46][n 10]
	unnamed (245° W, 30° S)	2.5 km (1.6 mi) (approx.)[47][48]	0.14	volcanic	One of the tallest of Io's many volcanoes, with an atypical conical form[48][n 11]
Mimas	Herschel central peak	7 km (4 mi) (approx.)[50]	3.5	impact	See also: List of largest craters in the Solar System
Dione	Janiculum Dorsa	1.5 km (0.9 mi)[51]	0.27	tectonic[n 12]	Surrounding crust depressed ca. 0.3 km.
Titan	Mithrim Montes	≤ 3.3 km (2.1 mi)[54]	0.13	tectonic[54]	May have formed due to global contraction[55]
	Doom Mons	1.45 km (0.90 mi)[56]	0.056	cryovolcanic[56]	Adjacent to Sotra Patera, a 1.7 km (1.1 mi) deep collapse feature[56]
Iapetus	equatorial ridge	20 km (12 mi) (approx.)[57]	2.7	uncertain[n 13]	Individual peaks have not been measured
Oberon	unnamed ("limb mountain")	11 km (7 mi) (approx.)[50]	1.4	impact (?)	A value of 6 km was given shortly after the Voyager 2 encounter[61]
Pluto	Tenzing Montes, peak "T2"	~6.2 km (3.9 mi)[62]	0.52	tectonic[63] (?)	Composed of water ice;[63] named after Tenzing Norgay[64]
	Piccard Mons[65][66]	~5.5 km (3.4 mi)[62]	0.46	cryovolcanic (?)	~220 km across;[67] central depression is 11 km deep[62]
	Wright Mons[65][66]	~4.7 km (2.9 mi)[62]	0.40	cryovolcanic (?)	~160 km across;[65] summit depression ~56 km across[68] and 4.5 km deep[62]
Charon	Butler Mons[69]	≥ 4.5 km (2.8 mi)[69]	0.74	tectonic (?)	Vulcan Planitia, the southern plains, has several isolated peaks, possibly tilted crustal blocks[69]
	Dorothy central peak[69]	~4.0 km (2.5 mi)[69]	0.66	impact	North polar impact basin Dorothy, Charon's largest, is ~240 km across and 6 km deep[69]
Máni	unnamed	25 km (16 mi)[70]	6.3	impact[70]	Discovered by stellar occultation; it is unclear whether this feature may be a genuine topographic peak or a transiting/occulting satellite.[70]

Tallest mountains by elevation

• Olympus Mons 72,000 ft (22,000 m)
• Equatorial Ridge 65,617 ft (20,000 m)
• Boösaule Mons 59,711 ft (18,200 m)
• Ascraeus Mons 49,000 ft (15,000 m)
• Ionian Mons 41,667 ft (12,700 m)
• Elysium Mons 41,338 ft (12,600 m)
• Arsia Mons 38,386 ft (11,700 m)
• Limb Mountain 36,089 ft (11,000 m)
• Skadi Mons 35,105 ft (10,700 m)
• Euboea Montes 34,449 ft (10,500 m)
• Mauna Kea 33,500 ft (10,200 m)
• Mount Everest 29,029 ft (8,848 m)
• Herschel Peak 22,966 ft (7,000 m)
• Anseris Mons 20,341 ft (6,200 m)
• Tenzing Montes 20,341 ft (6,200 m)
• Denali 20,310 ft (6,190 m)
• Mount Kilimanjaro 19,341 ft (5,895 m)
• Mons Huygens 18,045 ft (5,500 m)
• Aeolis Mons 18,045 ft (5,500 m)
• Piccard Mons 18,045 ft (5,500 m)
• Maat Mons 16,076 ft (4,900 m)
• Wright Mons 15,420 ft (4,700 m)
• Mons Hadley 14,764 ft (4,500 m)
• Butler Mons 14,764 ft (4,500 m)
• Ahuna Mons 13,500 ft (4,100 m)
• Dorothy Peak 13,123 ft (4,000 m)
• Mithrim Montes 10,948 ft (3,337 m)
• Haleakala 10,023 ft (3,055 m)
• Caloris Montes 9,843 ft (3,000 m)
• Io (unnamed peak) 8,202 ft (2,500 m)
• Janiculum Dorsa 4,921 ft (1,500 m)
• Doom Mons 4,757 ft (1,450 m)
• Mons Rümker 4,265 ft (1,300 m)

Gallery

The following images are shown in order of decreasing base-to-peak height.

• 
  Olympus Mons on Mars as viewed from Viking 1 in 1978
• 
  Cassini image of Iapetus's equatorial ridge
• 
  Voyager 1 photo of Io's highest peak, Boösaule Montes "South"
• 
  Ascraeus Mons (THEMIS IR with MOLA altimetry, 3x vertical stretch), Mars
• 
  Io's Euboea Montes (below top left), Haemus Montes (lower right); north is left
• 
  Mauna Kea (from Mauna Loa), Hawaii
• 
  Teide, Canary Islands
• 
  Cassini photo of Herschel crater on Mimas and its central peak
• 
  Magellan SAR image of Skadi Mons in Venus's Maxwell Montes
• 
  Denali (Mount McKinley), Alaska
• 
  Aeolis Mons ("Mount Sharp"), Mars (as viewed by the rover Curiosity on 6 August 2012).^{[n 14]}
• 
  Maat Mons, Venus (radar imaging plus altimetry, 10x vertical exaggeration)
• 
  The Moon's Mons Hadley, near the Apollo 15 landing site (1971)
• 
  Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā/ Chomolungma), Nepal/Tibet
• 
  Ahuna Mons on Ceres, imaged by Dawn from LAMO
• 
  Pluto's possible cryovolcano Wright Mons, showing its central depression
• 
  New Horizons view of Pluto's Tenzing Montes in the left foreground (also in preceding image) and Hillary Montes on the horizon
• 
  Cassini SAR image of Titan's Mithrim Montes, showing three parallel ridges
• 
  Radar-generated view of Titan's cryovolcanic Doom Mons and Sotra Patera (10x vertical stretch)

See also

• Astronomy portal
• Mountains portal
• Lists portal

• List of extraterrestrial volcanoes
• List of highest mountains on Earth
• List of Solar System extremes
  • List of largest craters in the Solar System
  • List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System
  • List of largest rifts, canyons and valleys in the Solar System
• List of mountains on Mars
• Mons (planetary nomenclature)
• Topographic prominence

Notes

1. 100 × ratio of peak height to radius of the parent world
2. On Earth, mountain heights are constrained by glaciation; peaks are usually limited to elevations not more than 1500 m above the snow line (which varies with latitude). Exceptions to this trend tend to be rapidly forming volcanoes.^[10]
3. On p. 20 of Helman (2005): "the base to peak rise of Mount McKinley is the largest of any mountain that lies entirely above sea level, some 18,000 ft (5,500 m)"
4. Peak is 8.8 km (5.5 mi) above sea level, and over 13 km (8.1 mi) above the oceanic abyssal plain.
5. Prominences in crater rims are not typically viewed as peaks^{[citation needed]} and have not been listed here. The highest point on the Moon is the so-called Selenean summit at 5.441°N 158.656°W / 5.441; -158.656, a crater rim on the lunar highland, having an elevation of 10.629 kilometres (6.605 mi).^[17] A notable example is an (officially) unnamed massif on the rim of the farside crater Zeeman that rises about 4.0 km above adjacent parts of the rim and about 7.57 km above the crater floor.^[18] The formation of the massif does not appear to be explainable simply on the basis of the impact event.^[19]
6. Due to limitations in the accuracy of the measurements and the lack of a precise definition of "base", it is difficult to say whether this peak or the central peak of Vesta's crater Rheasilvia is the tallest mountain in the Solar System.
7. About 5.25 km (3.26 mi) high from the perspective of the landing site of Curiosity.^[31]
8. A crater central peak may sit below the mound of sediment. If that sediment was deposited while the crater was flooded, the crater may have once been entirely filled before erosional processes gained the upper hand.^[30] However, if the deposition was due to katabatic winds that descend the crater walls, as suggested by reported 3 degree radial slopes of the mound's layers, the role of erosion would have been to place an upper limit on the mound's growth.^[32][33] Gravity measurements by Curiosity suggest the crater was never buried by sediment, consistent with the latter scenario.^[34]
9. Due to limitations in the accuracy of the measurements and the lack of a precise definition of "base", it is difficult to say whether this peak or the volcano Olympus Mons on Mars is the tallest mountain in the Solar System.
10. Among the Solar System's largest^[46]
11. Some of Io's paterae are surrounded by radial patterns of lava flows, indicating they are on a topographic high point, making them shield volcanoes. Most of these volcanoes exhibit relief of less than 1 km. A few have more relief; Ruwa Patera rises 2.5 to 3 km over its 300 km width. However, its slopes are only on the order of a degree.^[49] A handful of Io's smaller shield volcanoes have steeper, conical profiles; the example listed is 60 km across and has slopes averaging 4° and reaching 6-7° approaching the small summit depression.^[49]
12. Was apparently formed via contraction.^[52][53]
13. Hypotheses of origin include crustal readjustment associated with a decrease in oblateness due to tidal locking,^[58][59] and deposition of deorbiting material from a former ring around the moon.^[60]
14. A linearized wide-angle hazcam image that makes the mountain look steeper than it actually is. The highest peak is not visible in this view.