What is the highest mountain in the solar system?

Olympus Mons is the highest mountain in the solar system. It is located on Mars and is approximately 22 km high. To put that in perspective, that is almost three times the height of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, which means that it is built up by repeated lava flows. It is also the largest volcano in the solar system, with a diameter of approximately 600 km.

The reason why Olympus Mons is so much larger than any mountain on Earth has to do with the lack of plate tectonics on Mars. On Earth, mountains are constantly being formed and eroded as the plates that make up the Earth's crust move around. On Mars, there is only one plate, which means that mountains can continue to grow without being eroded away.

Olympus Mons was first discovered in the 19th century by astronomers using telescopes. In the decades since then, numerous missions to Mars have taken detailed photographs and measurements of the mountain.