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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 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.

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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).
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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.

More information Planet, Tallest peak(s) ...

Tallest mountains by elevation

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

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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.
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