Whenever someone is asked about the tallest mountain, the usual answer is Mount Everest, but it is nothing compared to other mountains in our solar system.
The tallest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars, with a height of 16 miles (84,480 feet or 25 kilometers) above the Martian surface.
It is also the largest volcano in the solar system, covering 374 miles (601 km) which is about the same size as the state of Arizona.
Olympus Mons is more than twice the height of Mount Everest, which might seem surprising since Mars has half the diameter of Earth.
Scientists suggest that the extreme height of Olympus Mons and other similar mountains is due to three main reasons.
The first reason is that Mars has experienced much more volcanic activity than Earth, lasting much longer.
The tectonic plates on Mars move more slowly than on Earth, allowing massive mountains to form and remain.
Lastly, as Mars has weaker gravity, only 38% of Earth’s, mountains on Mars can grow taller as weaker gravity doesn’t pull the magma down as much as Earth’s strong gravity does.
The interplay of these forces has allowed Olympus Mons to grow into the largest mountain in the solar system and maintain the size for billions of years in the history of the solar system.
